Mobile money transformative for emerging economies

February 23rd, 2013

Most people on the planet do not have access to a bank account. Banking is very poorly developed in all African countries compared to the industrialised world. There are significant challenges to getting banking services working in Africa, ranging from the high costs of opening an account to very limited bank branches and services and remarkably bureaucratic requirements to verify identity – on a continent where identity documents are not always available. For them, cash can be a very serious issue. Imagine being poor in Africa, earning a dollar a day – 40% of Egyptians earn less than 2 dollars per day, and Egypt is one of the more affluent African countries.