[kictanet] The big Kwaheri: reflecting on 10 years on the MJ 10yr safari and his-tory - day 5

Thu Oct 14 23:50:53 EAT 2010

Dear all,

Muriuki invited me to join the list and contribute to this discussion. I am
a PhD researcher from Manchester UK, currently researching the reach of
mobile, focusing on mobile entrepreneurs in Nairobi. So I am very happy to
be able to follow these interesting discussions on a subject close to my
heart.

I'm not sure I can add anything specific about the Kenyan context, in which
you have far more knowledge than me, but perhaps I can present some insight
on some wider debates in mobile, where similar processes are happening
around the world.

I'd like to expand on Muriuki's previous point, about those employed in the
mobile industry. In my view what may be most significant about Safaricom, is
that it seems to be one of the first enterprises in Kenya to truly reach the
poorest and successfully provide ICT goods. But in the rush to celebrate, we
may have forgotten to consider the mobile entrepreneurs who have been
crucial to providing this new reach.

Here's two quotes about these mobile entrepreneurs from recent research:

>From a study of mobile entrepreneurs in India - “A general store began a
mobile phone re-charge service, moving to selling handsets, accessories and
repair services phasing out the original business.....Similarly, several
mobile recharge start-ups graduated to stocking the entire range of mobile
re-charge options, handsets, accessories and hardware repair.”

A quote from a Telco employee in Peru - "[Referring to top-up and handset
sellers]..those people, even telephone thieves, are working for us, only
they don’t know it......They are employees of [the company], they are only
lacking the vest; they work for us for free"

I really like these quotes as they show the two sides of these forgotten
mobile entrepreneurs. They seem to illustrate a fine line between mobile
employment being a positive learning process for the information age, and
vendors who induce spending and pass the profits upward to their bosses.

Is it fine to praise the effective business model of Safaricom and forget
about these entrepreneurs? How do we see the role of these often marginal
entrepreneurs, is employment the most they can expect? What are there things
that Safaricom has done to help those employed in the mobile industry?

Best Regards
Chris

----
Christopher Foster
PhD Candidate, Centre for Development Informatics (CDI)
University of Manchester, UK

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 8:41 PM, waudo siganga <emailsignet at mailcan.com>wrote:

> Muriuki,
> I think MPESA has helped distribute wealth to the bottom of the pyramid.
> There are thousands of people in the rural remote areas now who are able to
> receive money from more fortunate relatives etc. simply because the channel
> to send the money exists and is accessible. Imagine trying to send 300/= to
> a villager 5 years ago and the bank charges plus transport to the "nearest"
> town where the bank has a branch, plus bank restricted opening hours,plus
> queues in the bank, plus possible lodging costs, plus other compexities that
> would have involved!  Economists also say (
> http://blog.icresource.com/2008/03/01/principles-of-economic-circulation/) that
> wealth is not just having money, but also how FAST that m oney circulates in
> the economy. One person having 1000/= in a week is not the same as 7 people
> handling that same 1000/= through 7 separate transactions in the same week.
> In this way I think MPESA has revolutionarised the lives of Kenyans beyond
> doubt, created new wealth, inreased GDP by improving CIRCULATION of money
> and helped to redistribute wealth, especially to the bottom of the pyramid.
> A person in the village able to receive money in an easier way from more
> fortunate realtives is also able to invest, e.g. in agriculture, education,
> health, etc. at the grassroots. To mis-quote  a certain obscure philospher
> of yore, MPESA is the mother of all killer applications!
>
> Kind
> Waudo
>  On Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:09 +0300, "muriuki mureithi" <
> mureithi at summitstrategies.co.ke> wrote:
>
>  Fellow listers
>
>
>
> This is getting very close from the heart ------ keep them coming ---
>
>
>
> Joe Mucheru put out a very interesting  hypothesis  and most likely  a fact
>  that ...’ Safaricom ecosystem has created  thousands of millionaires ‘  as
> MJ created a US$1 Billion + company in 10 yrs  .....
>
>
>
> One thing  one may want to understand from your own experience  is whether
> Safaricom generated new wealth  and then redistributed to create the
> millionaires cited above, or did the system suck resources from bamba 5’s
>  and concentrate to  a few? Were there losers in the process?  Were   the
> bottom of the pyramid part of the equation or lost out?  Think of that guy
> who was selling airtime  in the streets some years ago,  did the system
> develop a channel for upward mobility in the value chain?  In other words
> where is the guy who was selling airtime 10 yrs ago in the streets?
>
>
>
> If you think so – what should MJ have done to address the situation ......
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> cheers
>
>
>
> Muriuki Mureithi
>
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-- 
Christopher Foster
mob: 07751 537350 | skype: cgfoster
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