Africa, Enterprise Finance, Cryptocurrencies on the blockchain and the reducing of Poverty

PLEASE have a look at my previous blog post; I am planning to do a series of post re #Africa, cryptocurrencies and blockchain based on my personal operational experience on the ground in Africa and the way I see the future relationship of Africa and #cryptocurrencies. Just remember that cryptocurrency is not only #bitcoin especially when it comes to my beloved continent.

How do you reduce #poverty in Africa? This is the effort I was involve with.

I was involve with Enterprise Finance, Small Micro Medium Enterprise (#SMME) Finance including #GroupLending in #Uganda #Kenya #Tanzania and #Malawi; we got funding from #Sweden and #Norway institutions to on-lend into these #Africa markets. This forms a massive part of growing these economies by funding the entrepreneurial spirit on the ground.

In a later blog I will tell more about the type of loans and specific the Group Lending which will be unknown in the Western countries but it is such a crucial aspect in some developing countries and especially in #EasternAfrica and #WesternAfrica.

What I want to mention now specific is #MPESA, a mobile payment system, where we were able to distribute our loans or receive our payments through AIRTIME. Yes you have read that correctly, airtime. Where 1 unit of airtime is equal to 1 unit of the applicable fiat currency of that country.

This MPESA system was develop by the British #Vodafone through their company in Kenya, #Safaricom. That was a solution for Africa by the Kenyans.

So the using of a type of currency in addition to the use of fiat, was groundbreaking for the economies in Africa. You were able to pay about anything with this MPESA wallet and you did not need a #smartphone either. My #digitalwallet was on a #Nokia 1100, developed with the use of SMS technology. I will not get technical here but it just illustrates the ease of use and the accessibility of the system. If you were able to send a SMS then you had the ability to use the wallet. The address you use to receive the airtime is the mobile number you used to receive your calls. Mass adoption was instant!!

However, the one limitation was to transact cross border which is critical aspect in the regional economies in Africa; this is where I believe CRYPTOCURRENCIES and #blockchain will play in the future a very critical role.

In my previous blog I already mentioned @GetWala with their #cryptocurrency #DALA already based in #CapeTown, #SouthAfrica and operational in Uganda and moving into other Eastern Africa countries. They successfully address the issue of cross border transactions.

Another cryptocurrency that have lots of potential in Africa is @Electroneum, the mobile driven cryptocurrency with their easy to use for 'free' mobile virtual mining application and digital wallet; by estimated you can receive about $3 a month of #electroneum on this mobile app. I actually believe that the CEO Richard Ells went to Africa and that he and his team has done their homework on the economies on the ground in developing countries, which is critical if you want to launch a product aiming at that market segment.

I attach hereto for you an article written on Medium by Tricia Martinez (@TriciaTita), CEO of @GetWala - "Can cryptocurrencies reduce global poverty?" https://blog.getwala.com/can-cryptocurrencies-reduce-global-poverty-bdf4e5b4ba4e