The mobile banking race begins in Nigeria
Last week I got a visit from Peter Afam Emeleogu, an old contact from TED Africa in 2007. We've both been busy in the intervening years, exploring how technology can be used to overcome inefficiencies in the system. Peter's journey started when he realized the market value of mobile credit as a currency.
In Nigeria, mobile payment systems weren't licensed by the Nigerian Central Bank until December 2010 - 2 months ago. So, until this time, mobile payment and transaction entrepreneurs had to be highly creative in order to meet consumer demands - thus the use of mobile credits as cash.
In December, 16 companies were given a provisional license to do mobile payments and banking. 6 of them are bank linked, and 10 of them are independent. A truly hot climate for mobile banking is emerging in Nigeria, where all players were forced to start at the same time, no matter their size or reach. Notably, only one mobile operator was included, MTN.
Read the full article on www.memeburn.com.
About the author
Erik Hersman is the founder of AfriGadget and is a contributor on [[www.memeburn.com]].