The Government on Tuesday ordered an audit of Safaricom’s M-Pesa money transfer system just a day after the mobile phone service firm signed a deal with Western Union for international cash transactions…
Full story: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/500454/-/u0kd67/-/index.html
Categories: Money Matters
DISCLAIMER:
Reposted with permission from Kumekucha. The original article can be found here…
It seems that ordinary Kenyans are constantly on a collision course with the rich and corrupt in this country. Even as the MPs refusal to pay taxes and the media bill fiasco rages there is more trouble brewing in the horizon with the M-Pesa controversy. Truly bado mapabano.
Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom.
I know business is terribly boring to many of you my dear readers, but kindly bear with me for a few minutes and I will explain in simple terms what every Kenyan must know.
Acting Finance Minister has ordered an audit of Safaricom’s M-Pesa and has expressed fears that the popular service could be used for money laundering saying that the relevant experts and government bureaucrats should investigate the matter urgently. The timing of the statement was not lost on keen observers because Safaricom’s parent company, Vodafone had just finalized a mega deal with Western Union that will allow direct transfer of funds to M-Pesa subscribers in Kenya on their phones.
Let us not waste time with many words. What Michuki is saying is RUBBISH!!! Pure and simple. And there are many reasons for this. Firstly saying that somebody would use M-Pesa to launder cash is like saying that thugs will use 5 rounds revolvers to outgun the flying squad’s automatic AK-47s and Israeli Uzis. M-Pesa has a limit of Kshs 35,000 for every individual transaction. For money laundering to work well, one needs huge transactions to clean money and that is why the Nakumatt Supermarkets route for money launders worked like a dream. Just think about it, how many transactions of Kshs 35,000 would one need to “clean” a mere billion shillings? Mind boggling isn’t it? Then there are a couple of other safeguards that Safaricom have put in place that I will not go into just now.
So now that we have established that Michuki is talking rubbish, let us try and figure out exactly what is really happening here.
We know for a fact that the Finance Minister has close contacts of many years in the local Banking industry, some sources even claim has substantial interests. It is clear that the pressure on Michuki to talk as he is talking is coming from mainstream banks. So the next question is how does a money transfer service mainly for ordinary folk like M-Pesa threaten the banking industry?
First of all I want to remind you that the remittance of Money back home by Kenyans in the diaspora has been the main foreign exchange earner for Kenya for a number of years now (but the government only started talking about it recently). All that money until now has been paid through the banks. You can imagine how much mainstream banks are earning from it in terms of commissions when people go to them to cash in funds from Western Union. Indeed that is one of the very few big profit areas remaining for banks these days. One of the reason is that big banks like Barclays and Standard Chartered have not been able to figure out yet how to attract back the small man in large enough numbers to make a difference. Well there is also the little matter of numerous Kenyans who were chased away (and abusive language was used) by these banks when they closed numerous “small accounts” as they were drunk with Treasury Bill interest profits. The banks said that these small customers were not viable and were a waste of time. Which was probably true at the time because widespread use of ATMs had not yet penetrated this market. My point is that too many Kenyans still have bitter memories of these big banks.
Then the big customers they were relying on when they chased away “small accounts” are dwindling in number, besides they are too few to go round the numerous banks we have in Kenya all scrambling for them. (Did you know that Kenya has the highest number of banks in sub-Saharan Africa at 46? Higher than Nigeria and South Africa?). Not to mention the global economic melt down that has hit some local banks very hard.
Secondly Zain have announced that plans are at an advanced stage to launch cell phone banking in Kenya. M-Pesa is strictly a money transfer service and it has already proved to be devastating to banks, now imagine what the effect of a full cell-phone banking service would be? And to make matters worse, this comes at a time when banks have been hit hard by the Equity Bank phenomenon. As you read this we have a total about 4 to 5 million account holders in Kenya. Out of those over 2.5 million (and rapidly growing) are with Equity Bank. The big banks have tried everything, including spreading malicious lies that Equity is in financial trouble or is headed for collapse. It has not worked. They have also poached staff in hoards from Equity, but they have still not been able to replicate the Equity Bank magic. Well I have some free advice for them. The executives who make key decisions at these banks need to move from Westlands and Kilimani and live somewhere like Dandora or Eastlands for a month to even begin to understand the ordinary Kenyan, the very person they are trying to attract as a client.
The bottom line is that M-Pesa is a very convenient service for many poor and middle class Kenyans and they have responded by using it in such huge volumes. The service is a vital lifeline for many ordinary wananchi now.
Contrast that with the real money launderers of Kenya who are Mr Michuki’s colleagues in the crowded grand coalition cabinet. Remember the still unresolved Anglo-Leasing scam? Remember the leaked Kroll report which detailed billion of shillings being laundered abroad, some of it from Nigeria’s former dictator Sani Abacha coming to Kenya on transit abroad? Ironically the worst crimes in Kenya’s financial sector have been committed by the so called big banks. Citibank for instance is the main bank that has been used by the likes of Gideon Moi to transfer huge sums of stolen public funds overseas, according to the Kroll report and other impeccable sources.
So what is Michuki really up to? Is the idea to shut down M-pesa so that the big banks benefit? Or perhaps to introduce new regulations to ensure that all the cash passes directly through banks who will charge hefty commissions of course?
Categories: Money Matters
DISCLAIMER:
Reposted with permission from Kumekucha. The original article can be found here…
It is ironic that one of the reasons why Michael Joseph was posted to Kenya by Vodafone was because it was felt that he did not have the necessary “papers” to head a Vodafone operation in Europe or elsewhere. So Africa was the place. And yet keen observers have been able to quickly identify this man as one of the major driving forces behind the phenomenal success of Safaricom.
He came up with and pushed the M-Pesa idea very hard even when it looked like a pretty risky venture that could go badly wrong. But what really bawled me over were the recent events at the mobile phone operator.
It all started when Zain (formerly Celtel) came up with the Kshs 3 a minute call rate and were quickly followed by Orange mobile’s Kshs 1 a minute call rate.
I must admit that even I thought that this was the beginning of the end of Safaricom. I said to myself that their M-Pesa service would come in very handy now that there would be greatly reduced profits from their core revenue source of talk air time. And there were good reasons for this deduction. The Safaricom IPO had caused a lot of anger against the company as the shares continue to plummet. Then it was clear that what was going to result was a price war of sorts. Maybe Safaricom would have to come up with a call rate of 90cts a minute or something, thought.
But even as the dark clouds continued to gather rapidly at the Safaricom headquarters along Waiyaki Way in Nairobi, Michael Joseph and his troops were preparing to pull yet another rabbit from the hat.
That “rabbit from the hat” was the Jibambie campaign where call charges are pegged on the air time value that a customer purchases with a Kshs 1,000 scratch card qualifying for a kshs 3 per minute call rate (lower than the Kshs 4 rate that has always been charged to post paid customers).
This single idea completely changed the ground rules. Kshs 1,000 cards have suddenly become very popular which in turn has greatly revived the dealer and re-seller interest which had rapidly been waning in the days when Bamba Mbao (The Kshs 20 scratch card) ruled. Naturally with higher commission potential, every small shop and retail outlet now sells the Safaricom Kshs 1,000 scratch cards these days. Imagine what that does to the company treasury apart from helping the company avoid an ugly price war and in the process completely changing the ground rules? So far there has been absolutely no response from their competitors to this “checkmate” move.
Categories: Money Matters
Categories: Quotes
Michael Joseph of Safaricom highlights the promise – & peril – of doing business in Africa…
Full story: http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=11488505&subjectid=894408
Categories: Money Matters
It’d be a big enough mistake to get an ordinary mortal fired but when Sir Alan Sugar claimed the iPod would be dead within a year, he had no idea that he’d got it wrong 174 million times. The Amstrad boss is just one of ten luminaries featured in a new list of the worst technology predictions of all time.
Sir Alan Sugar...
An Apple iPod...
Spectacularly wrong: Sir Alan Sugar (above) claimed the iPod (below) would be dead within a year…
But should he be worried about his lack of foresight, he’s in good company, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The list was compiled by Gadget Magazine, T3 & reveals how other industry leaders have also written off televisions, X-rays, telephones & jumbo jets.
Sir Alan Sugar made his dire prediction in an interview in February 2005.
“Next Christmas, the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput,” he said. Since then, the music player has become one of the best-selling gadgets of all time with makers Apple selling 174 million units.
Bill Gates, meanwhile, enters the top ten twice with a pair of astonishingly inaccurate predictions. His first gaffe came in 1981 when he stated that no personal computer would ever need more than 640KB of memory. Most now operate with at least 2 gigabytes, 3,500 times the figure. As if this wasn’t bad enough, he struck again in 2004 when he told the World Economic Forum that spam e-mails “would be solved within two years.
I) BRITAIN DOESN’T NEED TELEPHONES…
Made in 1878 by Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer at the Post Office. “The Americans have need of the telephone but we don’t. We have plenty of messenger boys,” he said.
II) X-RAYS ARE A HOAX…
Lord Kevlin, President of the Royal Society, was clearly unconvinced when he made his comments in 1883.
III) THERE WILL NEVER BE A BIGGER PLANE (& it only held ten people)…
The maiden flight of the Boeing 247 took place in 1933. Speaking after the happy event, an engineer repeatedly said: “There will never be a bigger plane built.” (The world’s biggest plane is currently the Airbus A380 can carry up to 853 people.)
IV) TV WON’T LAST…
Darryl Zanuck, 20th Centurt Fox movie mogul was responsible for this clanger back in 1946. He claimed the technology had a short shelf life because people will “soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
V) HOMES WILL BE CLEANED WITH NUCLEAR HOOVERS…
Back in the 1950s, Alex Lewyt, President of the Lewyt Corp. Vacuum Co., claimed it was only a matter of time before nuclear power was used in the home. “Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years.
VI) LETTERS WILL BE DELIVERED BY ROCKET…
“We stand on the threshold of rocket mail,” said U.S. Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield in 1959.
VII) COMPUTERS AREN’T FOR HOME USE…
In 1977, Ken Olsen, the President, Chairman & Founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) claimed there was no reason for anyone to want a personal computer.
VIII) YOU’LL ONLY EVER NEED 640KB OF MEMORY…
Bill Gates’ first entry into the chart with his 1981 claim that no personal computer would ever need huge amounts of capacity. (He has since denied making this statement.)
IX) WE’LL KILL SPAM IN TWO YEARS…
…though there’s no doubt he said this one. Speaking at the 2004 World Economic Forum he claimed a solution was in sight.
X) THE iPOD WILL BE KAPUT BY NEXT CHRISTMAS…
And rounding off the technology hall of shame is Sir Alex Sugar. He made his claim in 2005, telling an interviewer: “Next Christmas, the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput.”
Categories: Corporations
2008 is going to finish...
Now, we need to face 2009...
There may be risks involved...
We may need to face roadblocks...
So, stay alert...
Share time with friends...
Jump over obstacles...
With care...
And caution...
Face challenges...
Remember to laugh...
Co-operate...
Discover...
Make new friends...
Above all, be ready for adventure...
Stick together...
And you'll be able to go far...
Very far...
Well, not quite that far...
Always take time to smell the flowers...
Don't forget to relax & enjoy...
And don't forget those who love you very much...
Categories: General
Kampala, Uganda.
Wilson Kutegeka was just an ordinary man with no big ambitions. Coming to Kampala from Bukwali Village, Kabarole, was like a dream; scaling the heights to America seemingly impossible.
However, Kutegeka now not only has academic qualifications to his name, but has gone down in history as the first Ugandan to be recognised by Microsoft International. He recently received the Most Valuable Professional: Visual Basic award for this year.
The holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a post-graduate diploma in computer science from Makerere University, Kutegeka beat off a challenge from over 2,000 professionals at the Microsoft Most Valuable Profesional (MVP)summit in Washington, US, to win the award.
Kutegeka’s award-winning ClinicMaster Technology is used at the Joint Clinical Research Centre to monitor patients on ARVs. It was showcased at the award ceremony.
The award comes with a fully-sponsored trip to the US to attend the prize giving ceremony, as well as a $2500(about sh2m) shopping voucher.
The winner is also entitled to the latest free Microsoft software and books. Kutegeka explains that he received the award because he was active in a technical discussion forum for Microsoft news groups, and as a result Microsoft easily spotted him.
Developing the ClinicMaster software…
Kutegeka says the ClinicMaster is a new generation healthcare information management and medical billing software. It automates patients’ transactions and daily procedures in the clinic. It is being used by the Joint Clinical Research Centre to manage patients on ARVs.
“The algorithms (set of rules for solving problems) used in ClinicMaster, especially the one behind the search engine was part of what the Microsoft review board looked at before I was awarded the MVP,” he says.
He notes that it is important to change the perception that healthcare management software should be thought about only where there is need for clinical statistics. “Health management software should be part of the plan while setting up a clinic or hospital,” he says.
Before joining the high-tech world, the 35-year-old was a high school teacher of physics and mathematics at St. Leo’s College, Kyegobe in Fort Portal.
He says he was attracted to the ICT industry when he developed an interest in programming. “Programming became a passion whereby I found myself wanting to do more out of self-drive and self-training,” he notes.
“Because the software industry in the region is still virgin, a lot of processes are still manual especially in the health sector. This gives me the courage to develop innovative software such as ClinicMaster that automates clinical processes in hospitals or clinics,” he adds.
The fact that most software currently in use does not fully meet users’ expectations, Kutegeka says, is another driving force for him to do research and come up with solutions.
Close to 2000 other professionals were awarded in different categories this year. Six winners came from Africa. South Africa had three; Nigeria, Uganda and Algeria all had one.
According to Microsoft, MVPs are individuals who are recognised by their peers as well as the company for credible participation, high quality answers and a demonstrated willingness to share their technical expertise with others while providing guidance and assistance in peer-to-peer technical communities worldwide.
Categories: Corporations
Apparently, it was hunting the mouse!
Categories: Humour
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