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How Kenya Built Mobile Money Without Banks
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into how Kenya leapfrogged traditional banking to build M-Pesa, a mobile money system that now processes over half a trillion dollars annually. They explore the specific regulatory decision that let Safaricom launch it in 2007, how it boosted economic efficiency for informal workers, and why similar efforts in India and Nigeria haven't replicated the same productivity gains. Lucas explains the 'network effects' flywheel and why Kenya's lack of legacy banking was an advantage. Luna asks whether M-Pesa's…
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