I’ve worked in consumer lending since I graduated college. Form the dusty streets of Dar es Salaam to the mountains of Cape Town, I’ve witnessed most of the spectrum in consumer lending. When I started in microfinance, it was a…
If the number of credit providers in a country was a reliable heuristic for identifying a credit bubble, you would say that yes, Kenya is in a credit bubble. However, that is unfair since while it might be a reliable…
What makes a good collection method? The collections game has largely stayed the same, with methods based on direct debits or some form of peer or authority pressure remaining the most popular. Payroll lending and some digital lenders use direct…
This is another one of those models no one pays attention to because it isn’t apparent. But once it is apparent it kicks ass. This model applies at scale, not as it scales. The idea is that when a system…
Blockchain is all the rage. People all around the world participated in a wild run-up of the price of the blockchain currencies/assets last year, and are now suffering significant losses in the sell-off. But this was a small piece of…
I’ve been in the mobile money space now for nine years. It’s been a highly entertaining ride, and I’ve learned loads about different models in the space. From managing a mobile wallet for a large telecom in Tanzania to rolling…
Today we have a deadly combination for decision making, falsification and confirmation bias. Falsification was popularized by Sir Karl Popper, a philosopher. Falsification is the idea that the only way to test the validity of any theory was to prove…
I’m reading Homo Deus right now and the third section has started. In it, Y.K. Harrari begins by analyzing the two systems of thought that humans make decisions by. He calls these the experience side, and the narrative side. The…
I have a feeling people talk about tradeoffs with a bit too much confidence, as if they understood how easy it is to make a tradeoff. I feel this because I think I am one of those people. I talk…
An article came out today on Buzzfeed about the Aadhar ID system in India. I’ve been following Aadhar’s development for some time, and am happy to see some skepticism come out around it. There’s no doubt the system, which aims…
One of our staff writes a quarterly round up of the mobile money scene. I thought I’d share it with you this quarter. Always interesting times in this sector… Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) An evident push for industry…
Here’s a brief interview on mobile finance in East Africa by Greta Bull, from Mastercard. It’s a good synopsis of Tanzania, the market that I’ve spent most of my time in, and the characteristics there that led to interoperability. Interoperability…