Photo: whiteafrican.com
“Right now, the circumstances under which you are born determine your life - I want to see that change. As Africans, we need to take responsibility for the future of the continent.â€
This was the closing statement of Ory Okolloh a Harvard-trained Kenyan lawyer and blogger at Kenyan Pundit, I just read the summary of her speech (by Ethan Zuckerman) at the just concluded [tag]TEDGlobal07[/tag], where she discussed the Mzalendo project.
I hope some of my Naija colleagues and bloggers are reading…
Given the extent of mobile phone penetration and usage in Nigeria (and the need to buy recharge cards loaded with pre-paid minutes) I wonder if there is any system in the country that allow the use of pre-paid minutes (on recharge cards) as “currencies” for online transactions? The minutes can be exchanged for services or goods via mobile phones. After all, the “essential function of money is that of acting as a medium of exchange”, according to Wikipedia.
I’m aware there are already systems that allow limited transactions via mobile phones, but these systems (Flash Me Card, WebPay, eTranzact, GloCard, etc) either demand users to have an account with the issuing bank, prepay for the transaction through a voucher or ATM, or be on a ‘network’. Some even demand a registration fee!
Yes, your airtime minutes may not be be appropriate for buying “big-ticket items” and obviously has some “divisibility issue”, for instance, how do you pay for a good worth Naira 555.70? There are some advantages that fit well with the unique characteristics of an emerging market as Nigeria: Access and availability (24-7 in some cities) just walk down a street corner and viola, you would find several hawkers of recharge cards; you don’t have to deal with any of the hassles listed above, and the only fee incurred would most likely be for using “recharge card currency”, and of course you pay with pre-paid minutes!
I read a while back how Safaricom was able to do this in Kenya, it sure could work in Nigeria.