Archives For mkesho

Would Mpesa fair better as its own corporate entity?

December 22, 2011 — Leave a comment

The growth of the mobile industry in Africa has been nothing short of amazing, with the mobile phone becoming a defacto part of day to day life across all levels of society and innovation happening rapidly to increase its utility. One of the  pain points that individuals and corporations are trying to address is that of taking services closer to the consumer and with that comes the issue of payment for services.

Mpesa, which I consider an outlier service in respect to its runaway success in person to person mobile money transfer, is trying to add value to its service offering by going for the business end of things. This has seen larger utility companies leverage this to increase consumer satisfaction and improve on collection of revenue. In Kenya, the Mpesa service commands a 90+% share of the market, which doesn’t lend itself well to the replication that mobile network operators are trying to do across the world as the dynamics vary greatly. Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, Technology , , , , , , ,
permalink

Innovation on voice and non voice services will change operator fortunes

November 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

The tariff wars between the mobile operators was bound to have a resounding effect at some point in time, with the day of reckoning coming by way of Safaricom announcement of their half year results that saw a 47.4 percent dip in half year net profit to Ksh 4 billion. Traditional voice and messaging has in the past been majorly peer to peer and served as the cash cow for mobile  network operators. With consumers calling for lower tariffs on both these fronts, mobile network operators are having their work cut out for them, if the plum profits they have enjoyed in the past are to remain constant.

TNS Research International East Africa released a report last year dubbed  – Digital Life 2010  that looked into what Kenyans are doing online. That alongside other research can help in determining where to place effort and financing toward the creation of compelling new services for mobile network operators. What is important though is that this innovation need not come from within the operators but they should look to the growing local developer community.

My growth area forecasts are as follows.

Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, Technology , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Where to play in the mobile value added services ecosystem

February 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

It is always interesting to hear discussions around emerging technologies or industries that seem to capture the minds of everyone; from your barber to the executive at a FMCG company. More often than not, if the discussion is based on mobile technology, a lot of assumptions are made as to who plays what role and where the opportunity lies.

At the very top of the mobile ecosystem is the regulator CCK – Communications Commission of Kenya who are in charge of issuing licenses to mobile network operators, premium rate service providers – PRSP’s and content providers. The different tiers of licensing attract varied fees with the current cost of the PRSP and content provider license standing at Ksh 100,000, on top of an application fee of Ksh.10, 000. The license fee is annual and from year two, it  is based on a percentage of revenue generated by your firm with the lower limit of Ksh.100,000. Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, Technology , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

How to differentiate your telco…lessons for Zain, Orange,Yu and any other chap trying to play catch up

August 20, 2010 — 1 Comment

It may feel abit dumb to start off like this…but any kiosk owner will tell you this. If you all stock the same nyanya skuma, you will be left with no recourse but to compete on price. The kaching comes with setting yourself apart…I would stop here and have you call me and pay me to walk you back to the school of basics but am in a good mood today.

Like I told you before, you better stop this price war maneno or you will all soon go out of business or best bet see massive hemorrhages on your bottom line. Micheal Joseph has said time and again – he has investors to take care of, and I have to agree with him on that point, coz I would expect a divided on my shares, if I had bought like 1 million of those “papers” when the country was going green and this not alluding to the referendum. My boy Rene is willing to take a hit for the next 5 years because he has a big brother with deep pockets. Deep pockets get depleted, and if your strategy doesn’t work out, you will be out of a job – tail tucked and the Kenya operation will be spun to some other hapless investor with big visions and their head in the clouds, with grand plans of a turnaround.  Rene was on Business Daily explaining their strategy…you will remember the Vuka tariff that was discontinued…hmmm

Bwana Atul of Yu, jumped over the cliff late last night and put it out that they too had “amuad” and dunked prices to 5cts per second or more directly 3 bob per minute and 50cts per sms on onnet messaging.

Mickael Ghossein has been quiet thus far after the sparing between the Pinks, Greens and Blacks, but I kinda guess he too is thinking of their new lower price point. I am sorely hoping that his decisions will have a good measure of thought and not some knee jerk reflex. Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, Numbers and the bottom line, Technology , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

PesaPot, RedCloud to offer Mobile Technology for Kenyan Microfinance Organizations

July 14, 2010 — Leave a comment

RedCloud, developer of cloud computing financial services platform have recently announced an alliance with PesaPot in Kenya to provide mobile loan technology for the fast growing MFI and Sacco industry in Kenya. This reseller agreement enables PesaPot to offer innovative technology and mobile solutions as a best practice in the cloud.

The alliance will bring RedCloud Technology to fast growing financial services companies reaching the under banked. By joining the cloud, financial services companies can gain real-time insight into their loan portfolios as well as dramatically reduce their costs.

“Our work with PesaPot is helping make MFIs and Saccos (Savings and Credit Cooperatives) more efficient and effective and enable them to reach thousands more of the underbanked population with their products” said Elizabeth Galpin SVP of Product Marketing at RedCloud. “Bringing together Pesa Pot’s unique industry knowledge and experience and Red Cloud’s cloud computing technology will make a highly positive impact on the entire financial eco system in Kenya and beyond.” Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, People, Round n About, Technology , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Ex-Sagentia team rollout cloudbased mobile banking and money transfer platform, seeks to unseat Mpesa and Mkesho…or will they only target MFI’s?

July 10, 2010 — 7 Comments

Many don’t know the true origins of the Mpesa (read it here ) service offered by Safaricom which has been a runaway success for Micheal Joseph and crew… a true cash cow.

How do you, after all, beat a success like M-PESA? Iceni assured me that M-PESA was just the beginning. Using the mobile as a platform, Iceni plan to create developmental services that penetrate other spheres —m-health, agribusiness. They further predicted that the mobile will soon begin to revolutionize these other spaces as well. This is a very exciting proposition. If the mobile phone can penetrate and transform financial sector, which is dominated by old and powerful players, imagine what it can do in these other spaces  – Olga  Morawczynski

What matters is that a scion from the development house that brought Mpesa to life – Sagentia ,a technology consultancy firm based out of Cambridge has spun off a new service dubbed RedCloud under Iceni Mobile. RedCloud is being positioned as the financial hub for emerging markets and word is that the tools and feature sets will rock Mpesa and its cousin Mkesho. From what I have picked up, they are looking at a mix of mobile money aggregation and mobile banking, with the issuance of loans to young entrepreneurs being a key strategy.  I gather they have been courting all manner of micro-finance institutions…and not just in Kenya as they get set for the market roll-out.

RedCloud’s  purpose is to be the leading provider of cloud computing technology to financial and associated services in emerging markets. The RedCloud team hope know that their platform will have a significant positive impact in bringing financial end economic benefits the world’s 4 billion under banked that include over 50 million young Entrepreneurs.

The Iceni team behind RedCloud is quite formidable and I look forward to seeing how they roll out the product. Their profiles in a snapshot: Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, Numbers and the bottom line, People, Technology , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

M-kesho…why equity and safaricom have something good going

May 19, 2010 — Leave a comment
In Business, People, Technology , ,
permalink