Learning From Kenya: Mobile Money Transfer and Co-Working Spaces

Since Africa is trying to solve problems that we in the Western world do not have, it’s tempting to say that innovation there isn’t really relevant to us. But upon visiting Africa, one realizes that to ignore its recent innovations is a big mistake.

Take the case, for example, of the most modern payment technology commonly used today in the North: the credit card. It has hardly changed since the 50s in the last century. If they really wanted to simplify our lives, the heads of Visa, MasterCard and American Express would take a trip through Africa.

In Kenya, you’ll find M-Pesa. It’s not a banking system for mobile phones, but a technology that facilitates money transfers. This is a major difference, since M-Pesa doesn’t require users to have a bank account, a necessity its Kenyan innovators were responding to...