LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – mobile money opens new opportunities in Africa

Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – mobile money opens new opportunities in Africa

By Paul Walter | Mon 18th February 2013 - 11:23 am

Follow @paulwalteruk

Lynne Featherstone writes on Huffington Post about the exciting innovation of mobile money:

There is money in the air in Mozambique. The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and I have just watched Nilza and Herculano transfer 100 meticais (about two pounds) via mobile phone. They may both be standing in front of us for this demonstration, but in a country where less than 12% of adults have a bank account, the benefits of these mobile money systems can be large.

The Department for International Development (DFID) supported the launch of M-Pesa mobile money transfer when it was first launched in Kenya in 2007, and we went to check it out ahead of its launch in Mozambique. Mobile money means more small, safe, cashless transactions can happen – urban workers can send money back to rural homes; small shops and stalls can trade more and grow their business.

You can read the full article here.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.

Read more by Paul Walter or more about africa.
This entry was posted in LibLink.

Advert

One Comment

Richard Dean 19th Feb '13 - 12:10am

I presume then that, although “less than 12% of adults have a bank account”, everyone has a mobile phone?

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Most Read

Op-eds

Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good… (Caron Lindsay)
Accountability and international law (Anne-Marie Simpson)
Good luck Scotland and England (Caron Lindsay)
We need a tax rise to fund additional defence spending (Simon McGrath)
Putting Liberal values into practice in the heart of London (Victor Chamberlain)

Advert

Recent Comments

David Raw
@ Neil Hickman Thanks for stirring a memory Neil. I was employed at LPO (Party HQ) way back in June 1964, and took part in the massive international campaign...
Tom Reeve
What strikes me about this discussion is what is absent from it. We are debating how to fund services to the last decimal place, and nobody mentions that the we...
paul barker
I wasn't able to make any of the Party discussions on this but I would have supported forming this Coalition anyway. I feel that Libdem & Green members have...
Neil Hickman
The current World Cup, beside being a monumental exercise in chiselling, is a massive ego trip for one of the most unpleasant and dangerous individuals on the p...
Tom Bailey
Thumbs up to this article. FWIW, I feel that something has changed in this Iran~US~Israel “debacle”, that will transform the region. Iran, in their Memora...