Comments on: Michael Joseph and Mpesa: A Missed Opportunity

By: Jin

Jin — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:57:39 +0000

Mpesa is owned by Vodafone group, safaricom license it as a (technology) service as do other geographies. Vodafone group has displayed typical poor management and agility when it comes to truly capitalising on innovation (like almost all operators). As mentioned previously regulation is a significant hurdle but little aggression and investment from Vodafone has materially hurt the expansion of mpesa into new markets. Again, typical for operators. Until Vodafone spin it out and maybe get Telefonica to invest in the spin out (providing access to South American as well as others) I can’t see Kenya success being replicated, and time is ticking (or maybe already ticked). MJ might be the one to drive this sort of change but it’s been a year and focusing on diversions like NFC and developed markets is a waste of time and money at this stage…. Spin it out and drive it as a startup should be driven.

By: Will The Real Payment Disruptor Please Stand Up — WhiteAfrican

Will The Real Payment Disruptor Please Stand Up — WhiteAfrican — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:14:55 +0000

[…] still worth pointing out the really big missed opportunity here is by Vodafone. Like I’ve said before, if Mpesa was rolled out at as an independent company led by Michael Joseph, it could battle the […]

By: Tuvuti

Tuvuti — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:55:49 +0000

Mpesa is licensed to Vodafone and not Safaricom, how about that, anyway, its one of a kind.

By: Aggrey Onyango Oyor

Aggrey Onyango Oyor — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:44:24 +0000

As i have known MJ for a quit a number of years,he’s made Kenya a proud country,creat employment 2 the jobless,give a lot of revenue to the govt,initiated projects,offed scorlaship to a good number of Kenyans and now the economy improved by a given %ge.We have to appreciate the good work done by Michael,we say” Ahsante sana”though the mission is not accomplished,we thank MJ for good job done!

By: Terence

Terence — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:20:42 +0000

We may very well find, as has often happened with other large companies and their innovations, this control issue intransigence has cost them the market. There’s a few young guys working away in Holland and around the world to do with Bitcoin [www.bitcoin.org] what Vodafone could have done with Mpesa, if they’d been a bit quicker off the mark. The market, as they say, will out!

By: Duncan Murimi

Duncan Murimi — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:35:59 +0000

Mpesa was a success in kenya as it filled in a gap that the main stream banks had failed to address. I other countries where the banking system is very well entrenched it might not fair well especially coupled with stiff regulations already in place.

By: Soud Hyder

Soud Hyder — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:41:10 +0000

MJ should just start his own mobile money solution a la the Bank Simple model. Vodafone management and strategy is misconstrued.

By: Dave Lucas in New York

Dave Lucas in New York — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:36:22 +0000

Hello there! I'm looking to connect with some great African blogs and bloggers: can you (or any of your readers) help?

By: Sonko

Sonko — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:54:27 +0000

I think Safaricom/Vodafone has been quite lax in developing Mpesa platform further. Sending money through a text message looks primitive, all of a sudden. That, I think, will be the biggest lost opportunity. Mpesa, whether it will be spin off from Safaricom and run it’s own show might find it hard to break into other markets if it continues offering its services exclusively through Mobile2Mobile SMS service. Other companies are catching up quickly and are coming up with technologies which, if successful, will consign Mpesa to the dustbin of past success stories, kinda like the Walkman. Its time Mpesa moved online, develop technologies that will enable faster and quick PoS payments (I’ve seen technology developed by IBM that enables payment by waving a mobile phone in front of a PoS device), and also release SDK to enable developers come up with innovative applications to go with MPesa.

By: Indra

Indra — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:06:19 +0000

I agree with bankele – understanding the regulatatory environment is key to understanding both mpesa’s success in kenya and its lack of traction in other markets. This is an important lesson to learn. If Miachel Joseph can take that lesson into the world bank – that could make a difference.