Category Fintech & Emerging Markets

Earlier this year I was kicking around the idea of angel investing in some African start-ups.  I asked my VC friends what I should do to prepare, and their advice was to firstly come up with a good thesis.  Without a thesis,…

A colleague sent me some research on Microfinance last night.  I’ve spent most of my career in the sector, moving from pure microfinance in my early twenties to tech-enabled microcredit and savings in my late twenties.  The research I’ve read…

Acquiring customers on a digital application in Africa is difficult.  Consumers are in this weird place where they are leapfrogging a lot of crap services.  However, they’re still in a very young industry and don’t have a lot of options.…

The company I’ve worked at for 3 years just raised $52 million.  I couldn’t be prouder of the current team and those that were here at the beginning.  It’s a phenomenal achievement and big validation of our model. Go read…

Heavy off of my post yesterday about good regulation, here’s a chart showing the impact of bad regulation!  MTN’s market value has dropped below Safaricom’s, despite MTN having over 100 million more subscribers than Safaricom.  The hefty fines levied against…

Buried half way down some Legislation from the European Union is a bank shattering piece of legislation that will change the banking landscape in the European Union.  The legislation, dubbed PSD2, for Revised Payment Service Directive, opens the door to…

Where are the banks in fintech?  I came across an article by McKinsey today which outlines how a bank can move towards digitizing lending. Lending is a cornerstone of banking, and it forms one of the more important parts of…

I’m a big fan of fintech.  It’s awesome.  It’s where I hope to spend my career.  There’s innovation occurring across the sector, from different stores of value to entirely new means of exchange.   I’ve focused the better half of the last…

Account penetration in Africa is growing thanks to mobile money.   The percentage of account penetration in Africa is now led by Kenya, which is in front of a BRIC country- South Africa – mostly due to the success of M-Pesa and…

I am working in Accra, Ghana right now, and will be here for 5 days.  JUMO works with MTN Ghana on a financial services product called QWIKLOAN, which is in my opinion one of the greatest mobile money products ever…

There’s an African proverb that goes “When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that dies.”  The saying is applicable to wars, policy, labour, and a multitude of other scenarios.  I hadn’t heard of it before this week when a twitter…