Digital Value IS Money

Digital value as money in Africa comes in different flavours. M-Pesa in Kenya, MTN Mobile Money in Ghana, Ecocash in Zimbabwe among more the prevalent bordering on quasi-monopolies that drive economies from retail stores in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi to MoMo agents in a satellite town in Mau Narok (the bread basket of Kenya)

Some days ago my mobile flashed as i was receiving slightly chaotic Whatsapp messages from a good friend Ahmose in Cairo. He was screaming blue murder at Central Bankers in Egypt through DM.

Apoplectic as he was, Ahmose went on to give a breakdown of the price of bread and nappies and why the country is descending into chaos.

I did my Google search thereafter:

Up until August 2021 Bread was sold at 0.05 Egyptian pounds ($0.0032) per loaf to more than 60 million Egyptians, who were allocated five loaves a day under a sprawling subsidy programme that also includes the likes of pasta and rice.

Egypt delivered its biggest-ever interest-rate hike and allowed its currency to weaken more than 38% in a long-awaited devaluation that may pave the way for billions more in loans from the International Monetary Fund.

The series of moves included a 600 basis-point rate increase and came after Cairo struck a $35 billion deal late last month with the United Arab Emirates. A dire shortage of foreign exchange has until now hammered businesses and caused the cost of imported goods to soar.

I quickly did an XE.Com search and it was clear to me that with ongoing geopolitical uncertainties playing out there was also a real opportunity to provide an invaluable service through the transfer of digital value as money.

I asked my friend if he needed a top-up, asked him to download the Indelible App and in return and instantly his Vodafone Egypt line had received an airtime and data remittance.

It was instant and well received.

Those exchange rates ....wow.

What has the price of bread got to do with digital value and remittances?

Fundamentally a lot.

Lets consider the mobile economy and Africa for a moment:

95% of the African continent is prepaid.

I had just got back from Kenya and i had witnessed the same geopolitics playing out among not just the rural dwellers but also hard working Kenyans living in Nairobi.

Despite President Ruto aiming for positive change, i was hard pressed to find many locally that felt positive about the economic challenges. I had landed during the Climate tech summit in Nairobi.

Just days ago Ruto said that climate change has become the “biggest threat” to the country’s food security.

Speaking at an agricultural fair in Eldoret, Ruto said frequent heavy rains and dry spells have made it difficult for farmers in the East African nation to produce adequate food. “The recent El Nino rains have not only destroyed crops on farms but have also led to an increase in post-harvest losses.”

Kenya in 2023, along with Ethiopia and Somalia, experienced the worst drought in 40 years, which affected more than 4.1 million people, according to the country’s National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).

What i found continually in my travels across Kenya was that whether it is climate, high taxes, lack of opportunity all were in the belief that innovation and technology especially fintech could play a part in bridging a funding gap.

During my stay the exchanges rate fluctuated wildly, USD was highly sought after and GBP even more so. Even a small amount of digital value transferred to mobile devices seem to go a long way.

Why Indelible Matters

Indelible Inc. Ltd my new fintech formed with co-founders based in Ghana and an ever increasing A-list cast of NEDs, MLRO and hyper talented Shahid Mehmood our lead developer suddenly had gained a multipurpose.

While we focus on long term impact projects as a crowdfunding venture, as a fintech we are also enabling our users to making C2C digital value payments which can be done in an instant.

To test that theory i took the opportunity to push the barriers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy where connectivity can be up or down.

I also thought it would be a great backdrop to prove that the MVP can move fast and move people.

Enter Oburu AKA Obi as test case 1 of Indelible's efficacy.

You can see the demo in all its glory below:

Popular and unstoppable as MoMo services are, they have not stopped an older form of mobile money flourishing.

This sort uses pre-paid mobile-airtime minutes as a de facto currency that can be transferred between phones, exchanged for cash with dealers who rent out phones, or bartered for goods and services.

Airtime remittances to mobile phones as micropayments in the current climate cannot be underestimated.

We have seen in recent days also the Central of Bank of Ghana clamp down hard on potential arbitrage practises which have implicated some of the countries leading banks such as FirstBank Ghana .

Just prior to this the apex bank has also gone hard at IMTOs. It announced the suspension of Wise , Zeepay Company Limited , and other international money transfer companies from sending remittances into the country. The list included Xoom, A PayPal Service , LemFi , TransferGo .

Meanwhile you have the new CEO of Binance Exchange publicly doing 7 chin-ups to celebrate Bitcoin crashing through the $70,000 barrier...

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/richard-teng-3497b527_7-chin-ups-to-celebrate-btc-hitting-70k-activity-7171940685456130048-Hguv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

But even in places like Kenya, airtime minutes are still being used as currency.

Opening a mobile-money account typically requires waiting for days after showing your ID. In contrast, airtime can often be purchased and sent immediately.

Within many remote communities, airtime has long been used as an alternative to cash for those with limited, or no access to a basic banking infrastructure.

The use of airtime as currency or data as currency or ensuring you can keep a family members lights on by paying their electricity (as currency) - it is immediate impact.

While wars rage, central banks fumble around for a meaning to CBDC's, Bitcoin thrives but is shunned, and the diaspora who themselves are feeling the pinch will want to ensure their hard earned money, digital value keeps things ticking.

To date we have successful completed live transfers to Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Zimbabwe, The Gambia and Ethiopia. We are connected and ready to offer instant impact to our users.

For Crowdfunding projects we take longer term lens to drive UK investors along side diaspora to meaningful projects we are busy planning our roll out to Ghana.

Without doubt the long game is where there is clear sky and with the right public, private interventions and continued development of partnerships we will present a compelling platform for high value, high profile projects to drive alternative finance towards capacity building, climate change, conservation and other credible opportunities.

We welcome early interest from project partners, creators to join Indelible.

If you have not yet downloaded the app from the app store, you really should.

Creating a profile and lets start the journey together.

If you are based across Africa and would like to join our mission, we are looking for social, smiley and infectious influencers who can move their networks to download Indelible.

Just DM me on Linkedin to discuss how you can be rewarded for your time and your social circle.

Let's move the dial a little further.

IS Digital Value really money?

In times of hardship, geopolitical uncertainties, hikes in interest rates, food poverty and the need for urgency in both fintech competition and reduction in unsustainable fees which deter many abroad beyond the diaspora from contributing to projects and people abroad and at a time when many startups are failing and investment powder remaining dry, it is the right time to add value.

It was Department for International Development (DFID) over 16 years ago that invested into an idea by Vodafone 's Nick Hughes following a presentation at the World Summit for Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg.

His topic was to encourage large corporations to allocate research funding into risky looking areas but that ultimately would poor countries develop.

DFID had money to invest into a "Challenge Fund" to improve access to financial services and had noticed that customers of African mobile networks were transferring prepaid airtime to each other as mobile money.

I do not need to go further into where Kenya is in 2024.

M-Pesa itself is recognised as one of the most important technological developments in financials services - ever.

All Inquiries to [email protected]

Asante Sana!