Comments on: Back to the Mobile eCommerce Problem in Africa

By: Nortse Amartey Amarteifio

Nortse Amartey Amarteifio — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:31:44 +0000

This is a great blog!

I run an errand/grocery delivery service in Ghana called kaya Errands.

http://www.mykayaonline.com/defaults/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=40

I am very excited about MTN mobile money which just launched this month.

Does anybody have an idea how an errand service can improve its service delivery with the help of mobile money?

I deas would be very welcome

By: Bernard

Bernard — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:07:15 +0000

Very interesting point. I’m convinced the answer has to do with cell phone money transfer. If the cell phone operators can find a way to allow money transfer from one cell phone to another, this will open up the ecommerce market. The cell phone operators are moving in this direction in any case with the ability to transfer air time from one phone to another.

By: HASH

HASH — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:28:47 +0000

Seth, that’s one of the best comments I’ve had lately… I’d love to know more about your software project, so shoot me an email if you get the chance.

Africa is overlooked and/or disregarded when it comes to eCommerce, and it’s a shame. There is so much missed business opportunities because of outdated policies or from people not willing to risk setting up a platform for this to take place on.

By: Will Google dominate the African Mobile landscape? | Your Group of Web AddiCT(s);

Fri, 25 May 2007 08:06:34 +0000

[...] Screw the handouts to Africa, give us the tools that allow us to solve our own problems. [...]

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 25 May 2007 02:57:44 +0000

I presented my final software project on an online clothing store 2 days ago. Malaysian jaws dropped when I explained why I hadn’t injected a PayPal module in web app, due to a lack of e commerce smart partnerships with 3rd parties in Kenya. To them it was an absurdity to us it’s the sad reality we experience.

It is possible to set up bankers cheque modules and perhaps Cash on delivery arrangements deals in Kenya and indeed Africa, along with a host of other e payment solutions, but the major parties involved are rigid and wary of such e commerce arrangements.

Why is it that technology in Africa, especially when fueled by a younger generation, involves force feeding corporate hardliners bent on maintaining old and increasingly outdated techniques of doing business? Save for the lack of infrastructure, cyberphobia remains an obstacle in Africa’s bid to catch up and set trends in the world of IT.

By: JKE

JKE — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:38:51 +0000

Oh yeah, our favourite subject

100% d’accord, and another missing factor: transport.

There’s much more to the transport business than shipping old cars & computer to the continent and flying out fresh fish and horticultural products.

But then, mobile payment systems are easier to implement than physical actions such as getting product A to B.