Development Experts Ring Up Kenya's Mobile Money Success Sto

The success of the M-Pesa mobile money system in Kenya is attracting the attention of development experts, aid organizations and companies seeking to replicate¹ its effectiveness.
An award-winning advertisement for M-Pesa shows money flying from a smiling son's mobile phone, handled from his luxurious² city desk, into his mother's cell phone, which she keeps in a sash while toiling³ at a field in the countryside.
"Now you can send M-Pesa fast and safe using Safaricom's new service M-Pesa," says the M-Pesa advertisement. It continues, "It is the new reliable way to send and receive money using your mobile phone. Visit your nearest M-Pesa agent today. Terms and conditions apply."
Safaricom
M-Pesa advertisements have convinced Kenyans they can trust a mobile phone operator for money transfers, February 2011
Mobile money
M stands for mobile and Pesa is Swahili for money. Safaricom, an affiliate⁴ of British-based Vodafone, is Kenya's leading mobile network operator.
M-Pesa was initially⁵ designed with help from the British Department for International Development as a tool for micro-finance. It was then developed and fine-tuned in Kenya as mobile money for the general population.
Another video circulating on the Internet, with sweeping⁶ music and equally sweeping landscapes, is this documentary which praises M-Pesa, now in its fourth year of commercial existence. The movie also tells the story of goat seller Emmanuel Sironga.
"As pastoralists, we have to travel long distances in search of greener pasture," said Sironga. "M-Pesa has made our lives easier."
M-Pesa allows users to send money to others through their mobile phones, and pay more and more items, from bills, to groceries, school fees, hotel bookings and even salaries and taxi fares. Digital amounts are exchanged for cash at any of the 25,000 M-Pesa agents or at banks and ATMs.
Valuable services
Deposits are free, but there are fees attached to transfers and withdrawals⁸. Person-to-person transfers and bill payments cost the equivalent of about 40 cents, while withdrawing money is on a sliding scale. A withdrawal⁷ of $100 costs about $1.
But Kenyans have been willing to pay these services, as millions of M-Pesa transactions now take place on a daily basis.
"What has really been lacking are technologies created by Africans for Africans" said G. Pascal Zachary, who teaches a class about technology and development in Africa at Arizona State University. He calls M-Pesa a major success story.
"This is the first example in the digital age of a brand new service technology system being spawned⁹ in an African country, so people need to spend a lot of time trying to understand how this happened in a supposedly backward place like Kenya and what does it mean for what other African countries can do to incubate appropriate solutions," said Zachary.
African entrepreneurship
One of those doing just that is William Jack¹⁰, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Georgetown University in Washington.
"It is really uplifting to go to Safaricom headquarters in Nairobi and see all these very, very professional, highly qualified¹¹ Kenyans running the place, many of whom are women by the way," said Jack.
Jack recently co-authored a detailed¹² research paper called "The Economics of M-Pesa."
While many other companies are trying to develop mobile money across Africa, Jack said several factors have helped Safaricom with M-Pesa, including having a dominant¹³ position in
Kenya's voice market. Jack said this gave users confidence in the service.
The economist¹⁴ said Safaricom also has been able to effectively integrate M-Pesa into Kenya's banking¹⁵ system.
Success stories
He is not surprised the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has commissioned him to do more M-Pesa research.
"This looks like it might be a way to make people's lives better," said Jack. "I mean, the good thing about it is it is sustainable. People want this stuff. They are willing to pay for it. And so, there is no need for continuing subsidies¹⁶ from outside to sustain it and that is the kind of thing we are looking for in development, sustainable innovations that are valued enough by people to pay for them."
Jack hopes to see similar success in other sectors¹⁷ of Kenya's economy.
"One has the impression that the country does not produce anything else, that it is just mobile telephony. I think we have to remember that there are lots of other sectors of the economy in which a lot of people could be employed, that also need innovation like this."
In an increasingly competitive market for mobile money in Africa, M-Pesa has since been launched in other countries, including Tanzania and more recently, last September, in South Africa. It also now allows customers to transfer money internationally from their accounts to a Visa prepaid card, without needing a bank account. That lifts a barrier many Africans have long faced in making purchases without cash outside their own countries.

1 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

2 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

3 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

4 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

5 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

6 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

9 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

10 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

11 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

12 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

13 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

14 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

15 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

16 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》