ECONET
Is there a notable risk of adopting this technology ?
VS : In every industry , risk is a friend which is present at all times . Its purpose is to help , guide , drive and navigate organisations out of problems . Interestingly , Africa is blessed with the best , most advanced technologies , and adoptability is extremely good in the area of mobile money , mobile payments and other mobile driven financial services .
Previously , you spoke of an industry that creates too many products for problems that don ’ t exist , is this still true ?
VS : This is where my argument still holds . Out of everything going on around the world in the mobile payments space , I must say we ‘ should avoid creating creative mess ’; stop innovating for some time and start improving .
Let ’ s measure success and repeat with variation what works well ( the process of innovation does not stop entirely ). Developing something new on top of old systems / designs / philosophy is not always the answer . Sometimes its ok and good for everyone to un-develop something existing to uncover the hidden gems . Maybe we should un-develop to innovate ?
How important is financial inclusion ?
VS : Financial Inclusion or “ Finclusion ”, is very important . It is like a train that needs to be steered on a proper route & track , at the correct time and should know exactly where to stop , when to stop , for how long and when to take off again .
Finclusion makes sure that every segment , group , or individual is covered and have been given access to secured financial services . To build the banking culture and banking services , Finclusion needs to be included in the book of ‘ Basic Human Rights ” and should be enforced on all institutions . Finclusion as a “ Basic Human Right ” does not
148 October 2017