American tech giants including Apple, Google, PayPal, and Facebook are all working on systems to transfer money between one smartphone and another — with varying degrees of success. But using one’s phone as a digital wallet isn’t new in Kenya. For years, Kenyans have been using M-PESA, a payment system that was born out of necessity as the majority of Kenyans, particularly those in rural areas, do not have a bank account. (The M is for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money.)
The company behind M-PESA Is Safaricom, the largest provider of cellphone service in Kenya. The CEO of Safaricom, Bob Collymore, will be interviewed by Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes (November 22, 7pm on CBS). Collymore refers to the service as “bankless banking” as users don’t need to link their phone to a bank account or credit card. They give cash to an agent who adds the credit to their phone. With every transaction, Safaricom, which makes a quarter of a billion dollars a year, takes a service charge. Collymore tells Stahl, “You don’t have to be greedy to be successful.”
