Tag Archives: mobile money business

Charging the channel: How are we keeping the wallets on?

This post is written by Sam Grant, an SBI consultant based in Brisbane, Australia

Original Drawing by Sam Grant

Low Battery, beep beep beep, power down. It has happened to all of us, out and about during our busy daily lives, conversing with friends or business colleagues, when all of a sudden our mobile phone battery dies, and with it our ability to receive the latest tweet, SMS or Facebook status update. Now imagine that your cell phone is also your wallet and when it turns off so does your access to cash.

One of the benefits of a traditional wallet is that it will never display a “low battery” message and does not require an electrical outlet. A vital, if somewhat peripheral input in every alternative delivery channel (ADC) system is electricity. Without reliable, affordable access to electricity the advantages offered through mobile enabled financial services is severely restrained. If the path to improving access to financial services is tied to portable electronic devices then this path must also encompass issues surrounding access to energy.  Cell phone ownership has permeated most urban environments around the world but growth in rural areas is constrained by network coverage and access to energy. In rural areas where population density is low, villagers often must walk great distances to charge their mobile phones. Many of these cell phone users only turn on their phones when a specific need arises. In order to tap into the expansive amount of activity and innovation taking place in the “banking beyond branches” ecosystem, rural populations and financial service providers must find a way to overcome the charging challenge.

Continue reading →

What is the Goal?

Photo credit: Psychology Today

This post is written by Debbie Watkins, SBI Resident Adviser for the bKash project in Bangladesh.

You may or may not have read the underground classic “The Goal” – a novel by Eli Goldratt that manages to make Just-in-Time manufacturing both understandable and entertaining. In the book, the main character, Alex Rogo, is a production manager whose plant is facing closure. A chance meeting with a previous associate, Jonah, and their subsequent long-distance discussions, enables Alex to identify the root of the problems and thus turn the plant’s fortunes around.

Jonah provides guidance not by giving answers, but by asking Alex questions – and by working through the answers to these questions with his colleagues, he is able to gain a deep understanding of the way in which demand-driven manufacturing works, and where his plant is failing. One of the first questions that Jonah asks him is, “What the goal of your company?” After a few false starts, Alex finally realises that the goal of his business is not to make things, or even to sell things – but to make (more) money. Continue reading →