economic development

Kenya is the global hotspot for all things mobile money.  The two chief payment systems, Safaricom M-PESA and Zain Zap, not only share ten million subscribers, but moved ten percent of Kenyan gross domestic product last year.  According to Danson Muchemi, Philip Nyamwaya and Agosta Liko, the respective CEOs of JamboPay, iPay and PesaPal, those figures represent a massive market opportunity.

Danson highlights “very low banking services penetration” as the impetus behind JamboPay, the first online payment gateway in Kenya that processes credit & debit cards.  By topping up an “online purse” via credit/debit card or mobile money, JamboPay enables users to buy online goods from Kenyan merchants without exposing their information.  Unbanked users can access the service by topping up their accounts via mobile money.  Ultimately, JamboPay aims to mitigate the same market failure that gave rise to PayPal in the West: the need for secure and multi-channel access to e-commerce.

Deadline Feb. 1, 2010

Apply for up to $650,000 for "Wireless Projects Demonstrating Promise Of Solving Critical Global Issues and mHealth." The Wireless Innovation Project identifies and rewards the most promising advances in wireless related technologies that can be used to solve critical problems around the globe. Although projects may be global in scope, applicants must be nonprofits, educational institutions or social entrepreneurs based in the United States. Up to $650,000 will be awarded to wireless projects demonstrating exceptional promise to solve a critical global issue in the following fields: education; health; access to communication; the environment; or economic development. Final winners will be announced on April 19, 2010 at the annual Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, California.

Find complete detailed information about eligibility and an application here.

Every first Wednesday of the month Ashoka gather's on Twitter to discuss topics in Social Entrepreneurship. This month we are talking about Innovations in Rural Development in Africa and India.

Want to be part of the conversation or simply see what people are talking about? Go to http://search.twitter.com from 12-2pm today and enter #SocEntChat. Everyone is welcome to join!