[kictanet] Mobile Money: MJ (aka Michael Joseph) appointed first World Bank Fellow

[Chris Kiagiri]

Kudos to the World Bank on its choice for its first Fellow to champion
mobile money ...


Source:
http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/bringing-mobile-money-to-the-world?cid=EXT_TWBN_D_EXT

>  Bringing mobile money to the world SUBMITTED BY MICHAEL JOSEPH<http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/team/michael-joseph>ON MON, 2011-04-25 17:15
>
>    - [View]<http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/bringing-mobile-money-to-the-world>
>
>
> Editor's Note: Michael Joseph is the World Bank Group's first fellow and
> was previously the CEO of Safaricom.
>
> Mobile money has gone viral. In Kenya there are now more than 15 million
> mobile money users, which is equivalent to three in four adults<http://www.worldbank.org/kenya/keu>.
> The company I was heading until last November, Safaricom<http://www.safariocom.co.ke/>has developed the world’s largest mobile money platform M-Pesa, which is
> being used by more than 14 million Kenyans. Over the last three years the
> growth of mobile money has been exponential. In December we reached a new
> threshold when the equivalent of US$ 1 billion was transferred. This is more
> than Western Union has transferred in all of 2010 globally! This has changed
> the lives of Kenyans—it created new jobs, new businesses and new
> opportunities for millions of people.
>
> Surely this can and must be replicated in other similar countries, many of
> which have better starting conditions than we had in Kenya. We have a great
> opportunity as the world is becoming more focused on financial inclusion
> with even the G20 group of countries embracing this concept as one of its
> objectives for this year. The World Bank has a unique and powerful position
> in the financial community to achieve this goal. The Bank has the stature
> and the relationship at senior government levels to influence the actions of
> financial regulatory bodies so that suitable regulations may be drafted or
> amended to allow for the introduction of mobile money.
>
> As the World Bank’s first Fellow<http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22838723~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html>,
> my mission and personal goal is to prove that Safaricom’s M-Pesa is not a
> one-off and that it can and must be replicated elsewhere so that the
> benefits it has brought to the Kenyan population can be enjoyed and
> experienced by other nations as well.
>
> In order to be successful, the World Bank Group and other development
> partners need to be better organized. There is great fragmentation with a
> long list of players (World Bank, IFC, CGAP, Gates, DFID, USAID to name a
> few), all of which have the same or similar objectives, but with different
> messages and agendas when talking to Governments, Bank Regulators, Operators
> and Banks. Unless we change this approach, the realization of mobile money
> will take much longer and therefore the benefits will not be felt by the
> people we are targeting.
>
> Innovation and success only happens if there is a strong management
> structure with clear and timely decision making. While in Washington two
> weeks ago we made good progress. We decided on a common strategy to focus on
> a selected group of core countries and established a “mobile money core
> team” headed by Wolfgang Fengler<http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/blogs/wolfgang-fengler>,
> the Lead Economist in Nairobi who has been working with me closely already
> for several months.
>
> As a first step we will review the mobile money potential of a suggested
> list of 16 countries (Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Pakistan,
> Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Morocco, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria,
> Rwanda, South Sudan and Senegal as entry point to WAEMU). The analysis will
> look at key factors for the implementation of mobile money such as bank and
> mobile penetration, population disbursement and density, geographic size and
> physical difficulty, population size, Government subsidies and/or social
> payments, relationship with the respective Governments by the interested
> parties, etc. In mid-May we’ll then make a decision on the top five or six
> countries to be selected for immediate action and these countries would be
> our initial targets starting July. In the meantime, it would be great to
> hear from readers in the comments section about which of the 16 countries
> have the best potential for a large-scale system of mobile money.
>
> The World Bank’s mission is to fight poverty. Mobile money can be a game
> changer for the poor. I am excited to be part of this agenda and look
> forward to working with the World Bank to help bring the benefits of mobile
> money to many parts of the world.
>
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