Kenya: The technological advancement in Kenya has a great impact on the way people behave and perceive things in their lives.
Let’s start with the fight between Equity and Safaricom. Indeed, it is not only a fight but a fair fight. This kind of fight in business jargon is called competition.The introduction of Mpesa into money business has shaped our transactional systems in both telecomunication and banking business. The sour relationship between the two stakeholders on M-Kesho product led the bank to introduce Equitel which was aimed at reducing if not to eliminate monopoly that has been enjoyed by safaricom for long.
Equitel was well received by a good number of Kenyans though not all since safaricom was forced to go to back to the drawing board and find ways to help them remain on top of the market. To them the best solution was to discourage any other competitor from going their way. It however would have been sensible for them to increase the transaction charges on their Mpesa products since most companies today use Mpesa services in their transactions and this could have increased profit, as they are copyright owners. The grand question here remains who is smarter?
Similarly, Paypal also came up with their smart solutions to end the competitor's growing popularity such as Payoneer and Skrill. It closed the transactions with any of these companies. Paypal partnered with Equity Bank due to the increased demands by Kenyan Freelancers. However, Skrill partnered with Safaricom to offer direct and instant withdrawals to Mpesa.The competition here is rigid.
It takes 3-7 days for a withdrawal using Paypal whil the Skrill-Mpesa service is instant with the minimum transaction fee in the market. This aroused various smart minds of Kenyan origin to start instant brokerage of Paypal to Mpesa at a fee though the brokers need to be authorized by the two companies since they increase the usage of Paypal and Mpesa. This proves that for any of the companies to remain relevant, they need smart minds.
Lastly, the growth of social media in Kenya today seems to take from the media its role of agenda setting. Every happening is well monitored by Kenyans on Twitter (KOT). A large following means influence in terms of providing information. Such approaches may lead to collapse of journalism sector as everyone will be a journalist in his or her own capacity. With access to internet, technology is making everyone a journalist. Let’s use our smart minds together with smart technologies.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join