This 60 Minutes interview details how a Cellphone Company in Kenya circumvented the nation's Central Banking System to help out the poor and is now becoming the greatest force for good in a 3rd World Nation. And believe it or not, it's not through cryptocurrency but old cell phones.
Like many poor nations, it's hard for someone to send money to their families. Many have no bank accounts and if they try to send cash it disappears. So SafariComm decided to become like a bank and allow their cellphone users to deposit money and send/receive cash through their cellphones. They now call this cellphone currency "M-Pesa" and tons of stores around Kenya accept it as payment.
Now the poor can safely transfer money, develop a credit history, and get micro-loans without needing a bank. The video goes on to tell that the US Banking industry is blocking this kind of technology from our borders.
But it does beg the question of do we need cryptocurrency to accept and receive payment?
Are there companies with simpler technologies that can do the same thing!
Would love to get your thoughts.
I had never heard about SafariComm.
I love these stories about economic development efforts in the 3rd World (like microloans).
Great idea.
And great post.
Thanks! What amazed me was that they didn't have to use cryptocurrency bc the poor don't have smart phones. But they do have basic cell phones.
You've got one of the more interesting bios I've read.
Best of luck with your work.
I help out other liberty-minded filmmakers so if you know any send them my way.
Congratulations @dugan! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
To support your work, I also upvoted your post!
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPIs there such a system in place to buy and sell microloans?
Example I make an account and put 100 bucks in and it gets split and sent to people who need ..say 17 bucks to buy a chicken..then they sell the eggs for a month and pay back 18.
The only thing I know of is a non-profit Kiva.org which doesn't let you actually collect any interest. I agree with you, why couldn't you earn a $1 on a microloan while also helping someone out in a 3rd world country. Makes sense to me.