Paul Walter

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

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

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 or more about .
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 *

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

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Catherine Royce
    What I want to know is when we will introduce 10% and 30% bands so tax is much more progressive , even 5% increments or 1% as the Swiss do it, the 20-40% cliff...
  • David Raw
    It appears that the lessons of 2010-15 have not been learned for people who weren’t around when all of that occurred, and as someone whose dad was involved in...
  • Nigel Jones
    The comments here are just the kind of discussion that should have taken place before considering any such announcement. When we debated FPC's planned program l...
  • Colin Brown
    I was a bit shocked to hear this. It struck me as a very poor idea. I understand it to be, actually, regressive in nature, nowhere near as progressive as it sou...
  • Nonconformistradical
    @expats "I live in a semi rural Suffolk village with an hourly bus service" Lucky you. Some of us have no regular bus services at all....