Mobile money services, like M-PESA and Airtel Money, are revolutionizing financial transactions all over Tanzania. With a photo ID (just to register), a cell phone line (which many people, and most households, already have) and a password, a person can send money to a sick relative, pay electricity bills, buying phone credit, pay taxes, buy internet time and have a safer mattress under which to store her living stipend. In Kenya (where M-PESA originated) mobile money services are used by 70% of the adult population and around 25% of Kenya's GNP flows through it.
In Tanzania, where opening a bank account requires years of administrative paperwork and hoop-jumping, the efficient simplicity and of these accounts is taking the country (world?) by storm. [Actually, The Economist thinks regulators are holding back the storm in India and China].
In Tanzania, where opening a bank account requires years of administrative paperwork and hoop-jumping, the efficient simplicity and of these accounts is taking the country (world?) by storm. [Actually, The Economist thinks regulators are holding back the storm in India and China].
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