However, this is a perfect example of localization at work. When building a platform for eCommerce in Africa, you have to take into account that lack of infrastructure and make a system that has the necessary functionality in place within the application itself.
There are a number of ways to do that. The easiest is by creating a barrier to entry that is tied to a person’s real life profile. If they misbehave, then they are banned from the marketplace. That won’t stop it, but it does create a way for fraud to be combated.
This topic goes back to some of my earlier posts on an why an electronic banking system is so necessary for eCommerce to take place in Africa. If there is a centralized platform that is accepted as the major means of payment, then admission to that system is a great means of controlling bad behavior.
Also, it must be realized that no system is fraud-proof, so even the best of applications has to deal with it at some level. Where I see you saying the major gap is found is between the company who owns the platform and the policing forces of the state within which it is doing business. If that government will not recognize or do anything about fraud or theft, then you are right, things get more difficult.
]]>It’s not just about numbers of possible shoppers when it comes to online business hugely reliant on trust. Politics and location economic health play a major role. And other infrastructure needs to be robust as well. Phones for toll free numbers, easy internet access, both to shop and to dispute claims if need be… Africa is not quite there yet. That’s my opinion.
]]>I agree with your premise that African Web platforms are what’s needed. But I also see great potential for communication and collaboration with Africans in a global context.
The way that Internet businesses scale in many African contexts I strongly suspect will be quite different than the ways that Paypal, Google, YouTube and MySpace scaled. The access to capital is just not as available. The model of Grameen proves that it pays not to be too fatalistic about that. But I think that communications which bridge localities are essential.
In the PBS Frontline about Kiva, Matthew Flannery said something to the effect that the real Kiva revolution will be when Africans are using something like Kiva to make loans to each other.
I’m babbling on here, my point is I believe African Digerati have an enormous challenge in trying to figure ways to consolidate very small sources of money from a large pool of people rather than tap venture capitalists. The African Diaspora and various Afrophiles are important connections to make. The African Internet needs to be local of course, but people outside Africa can play a role in making the bridges needed.
I’ve got to pay more attention to Muti. I’m not sure that’s the Website that will do it, but there’s such a need for a central gathering place for aggregated content about Africa to build the kinds of connections needed.
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