Fintech, blockchain and startups in Africa and other emerging markets, 2016-2019.
Here’s a summary from the Communications Authority of Kenya on sector performance and trends on the key segments of mobile telephony and electronic transactions for the financial year 2016/2017 (July – September): Mobile Telephone Subscriptions: 38.5M subscribers, down from 39.7M. A decline of 3.0% from…
I read many articles out there on how mobile finance startups are abusing people’s data and people need to be careful of the startups that are offering mobile finance products. I think this attitude is generally bad for the people…
I lived in Tanzania for five and a half years. In that time, I saw some phenomenal changes in the penetration of mobile products. I pulled some stats today to show what I mean. In 2009, when I…
MNOs are the digital distribution network in Africa. They’ve invested massively in laying out cables and towers, and they’ve done a great job of it. Mobile penetration is increasing across Africa, and 3G is becoming more readily available. Read the…
I really respect The Economist trying to write about Fintech in Africa without focusing on M-Pesa. Usually the narrative about Africa is pretty stale. However; this article focuses on M-Kopa, an asset financing company that started out with solar lamps. M-Kopa’s…
I’m increasingly worried about the negative effects of regulation on startups in Africa. Regulation is best done with a light touch, and laid out in a consistent framework. While Africa is celebrated for it’s diversity, that shouldn’t extend to a…
Why build a platform? That’s a question we wrestled with at Jumo when deciding between building a marketplace platform or continuing our successful mobile credit business. We chose to go platform because we believe it allows for better choices for…
My friend Mbwana told me this at dinner the other night. We were at his favorite Indian restaurant in Nairobi, and I was lamenting the fact that the mobile lending space was getting crowded with new entrants, all who are…
The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee lays out the problems humans will face as technology rapidly consumes more of our daily lives. The second half of the book is about ‘bounty and spread,’ meaning the rewards and…
I bought two Amazon Echo Dot’s this Christmas and set one of them up last night. It connected to my bluetooth speaker, but didn’t connect to my Amazon Fire Stick. I’m not sure if I haven’t been able to figure…
End of the year is here and our office is shutting down on Thursday. At the end of each year I run a retrospective with my team on our accomplishments and failures for that year. In a startup, it’s easy…
This weekend I’m going to the Cape Town Sevens and a summer concert at Kirstenbosch Gardens. I won’t have much time to read, but I plan on getting through Jeremy Epstein’s e-book on blockchains. It’s called “Block Chains in the…