Nairobi was a good blend of East meets West, the comforts of a developed society, and the diversity we had been accustomed to in Toronto. Walking around Nairobi, one thing was clear: M-Pesa (mobile money by Safaricom) is king. We saw mobile money in countries like Egypt and Ethiopia, but not to the same extent.
What exactly is mobile money? It’s a digital wallet provided by telecom companies that allow users to deposit, withdraw, transfer, and store money through thousands of agents across the country. Users can send money, pay merchants, pay bills, and much more. It functions like a bank account linked to your phone number.
M-Pesa, launched in 2007, now has 32.4 million customers with access to financial services without needing a formal bank account. In a country with 56.6 million people that’s a penetration of 57%!
Given the widespread adoption of mobile money in Kenya, it wasn’t surprising to see their openness to Bitcoin. We were fortunate to meet many entrepreneurs and builders focusing on sustainable mining, literacy in local languages, empowerment of women, merchant onboarding tourism, and much more. Here is a sample of the Kenyan Bitcoin scene:
Gridless: leverage surplus renewable energy in rural communities through bitcoin mining. (We had a chance to visit one of their facilities and will share more soon)
Bitcoin Dada: empower the lives of African women through bitcoin. (Dada translates to sister in Swahili)
Bitcoin Mtaani: expedite Bitcoin adoption in Africa through native languages.
Tando: spend bitcoin anywhere in M-Pesa is accepted (M-Pesa is a phone-based money transfer service with ~3.2M merchants as of 2022)
Bitcoin Matatu: a bitcoin-themed Matatu (shared taxi vans) to raise awareness and act as a tourism operator.
Bitcoin Nomads Africa: camp, hike, and sleep under the stars across Africa.
We also had the chance to visit an informal settlement, Kibera, to see how bitcoin is helping young entrepreneurs and the less privileged of the community:
- Easily accept money from a global customer base
- Improve tech literacy
- A path to monetizing their skillset
The Kenyan government signed an MoU with Marathon Digital Holdings in May 2024 to help optimize and monetize renewal energy within the country. Time will tell how this plays out. Speaking of the government, given the recent protests to the proposed Finance Bill, it’s clear the youth of Kenya will stand up for what they believe in. I expect we’ll continue to see innovative solutions and products built using bitcoin in Kenya.
Sources:
https://gridlesscompute.com/
https://btcdada.com
https://twitter.com/BitcoinMtaani
https://tando.me
https://twitter.com/BitcoinMatatuKE
https://bitcoinomads.africa
https://twitter.com/btcnairobi
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/after-dramatic-tax-win-kenyan-protesters-plot-next-moves-2024-06-28/
https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/2024-Annual-Report-Update.pdf
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/kenya-population
https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/05/29/bitcoin-miner-marathon-partner-with-kenya-on-renewable-energy-projects