经济学人:非洲的资金流转 转账市场(1)

 　　Finance and Economics 财经

　　Mobile Money in Africa: Transfer market 非洲的资金流转：转账市场

　　Crowded field, different player. 行业饱和，新人登场。

　　With her phone in one hand and a live chicken in the other, Brenda Deeomba comes for her money. Brenda Deeomba一只手拿着手机，另一只手抓着一只鸡，来取她的钱。

　　Her husband is a builder in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, and sends his wages home through Zoona, a money-transfer company. 她的丈夫是赞比亚首都卢萨卡的建筑工人，他通过一家名为Zoona的转账公司把工资送到家里。

　　She receives them at a roadside booth in Chongwe, a nearby town, using a PIN number sent to her phone. 她只用一个发送到她手机的PIN码，就可以在邻近城镇Chongwe里的一个路边货摊收到她的钱了。

　　It is a safe way to get the money, says Ms Deeomba, above muffled¹ squawks. Ms Deeomba闷闷不乐地说到，这至少是一个安全的取钱方式。

　　Money-transfer businesses are proliferating² in Africa. 非洲的转账业务正在激增。

　　But Zoona is unusual. 但是Zoona却是非同寻常的。

　　Unlike M-PESA, the best-known, in Kenya, it is not run by a phone company. 不像在肯尼亚最有名的M-PESA，它并不是通过电话公司运营的。

　　Nor is it owned by a bank. 它也不归银行所有。

　　Instead, Zoona has built a business from scratch. 相反，Zoona白手起家成立了一项业务。

　　It processed $200m in transactions last year and bubbles with ambition: Mike Quinn, its (Canadian) chief executive, talks of reaching 1bn customers. 去年它在交易中拥有2亿美元，并充了野心：其（加拿大的）首席执行官Mike Quinn谈到要达到10亿客户。

　　Zoona was founded in Zambia in 2009 by two brothers, Brad and Brett Magrath. Zoona是由布拉德和布雷特麦格拉斯（Brad and Brett Magrath）这两个兄弟于2009年在赞比亚成立。

　　As a startup, they were at a disadvantage, having to recruit their own agents. 作为一个新兴公司，他们曾处于不利地位，不得不招募他们自己的代理人。

　　Zoona did so by seeing them as its core customers, giving them credit and training to set up their own franchises³. Zoona这样做是通过把这些代理看作其核心客户，并给予他们信用和建立自己经营权的培训。

　　Some are impressively successful. 一些还尤为成功。

1 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 proliferating   

激增( proliferate的现在分词 )； （迅速）繁殖； 增生； 扩散

参考例句：

• Computerized data bases are proliferating fast. 计算机化的数据库正在激增。
• Crown galls are cancerous growths composed of disorganized and proliferating plant cells. 冠瘿是无组织的正在不断增殖的植物细胞所组成的癌状物。

3 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句