@Mwendwa My point is that Mpesa represents the whole innovation landscape in Kenya. There are other products/services that have global appeal. Kenyan made or at least Kenyan bred. The principle is that we MUST develop strong champions that can be global players - Free Markets be damned.. @Walu I agree with your assertions and you seem to straddling the fence :) not sure what should be done..:) Actually by default Mpesa has already been spinned off Safaricom. So that's a Fait Accompli. Ali Hussein +254 770 906375 / 0713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim Blog: www.alyhussein.com "I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots". ~ Albert Einstein Sent from my iPad
On Feb 24, 2015, at 3:45 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> wrote:
On 24 February 2015 at 15:03, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: My other point is that the regulatory environment needs to take into consideration the global environment. Mpesa must be allowed space to grow beyond Kenya. Mpesa here means any Kenyan product. We must emulate Japan & other Asian Giants. Policy and regulation must as a matter of course favor local companies. I make no apologies for this last point - Free markets are a dream perpetuated by foreign interests with the end game of dominance.
Ali, the tragedy is Vodafone pulled the rug from under our feet. They saw the value of MPESA long ago and patented it, thus licensing it to Sub Saharan Africa and Southern Asian countries. Thus it's not possible for Safaricom to grow the MPESA brand beyond our borders. That is what Vodafone has been doing all along.
______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
"There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson