There are stores across Africa that accept PayPal and a plenty of individuals who do online work get paid in PayPal as well. The trouble often is moving the money from the wallet to a local bank account, a challenge if you're part of the unbanked population. I do not believe that technologies such as PayPal solve Africa's transacting problems, they simply provide a mechanism for making transactions over the Internet.
Homegrown technologies are the way to go. PayPal's business model is moving money from point A to point B over the Internet, your account is linked to your bank. Africa's problems on the other hand are that you're dealing with an unbanked population, that sells wares in the streets and by individuals who might not have access to the Internet.
Great read!
Do you think we are somewhere close to accessing platforms like PayPal or would it a feasible idea to build a "PayPal” for African countries?
There are stores across Africa that accept PayPal and a plenty of individuals who do online work get paid in PayPal as well. The trouble often is moving the money from the wallet to a local bank account, a challenge if you're part of the unbanked population. I do not believe that technologies such as PayPal solve Africa's transacting problems, they simply provide a mechanism for making transactions over the Internet.
Homegrown technologies are the way to go. PayPal's business model is moving money from point A to point B over the Internet, your account is linked to your bank. Africa's problems on the other hand are that you're dealing with an unbanked population, that sells wares in the streets and by individuals who might not have access to the Internet.