HiPipo Money

NULL

MasterCard Worldwide unveiled the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index (MPRI), an analysis of 34 countries and their readiness to use three types of mobile payments: person to person (P2P), mobile web commerce (m-commerce) and mobile contactless payments at the point of sale (POS). The MPRI found that while no two nations are the same, consumer readiness is the critical success factor to drive mobile payments adoption. Kenya ranks among the top five countries globally in being ready to adopt mobile payments technology. Kenya comes after Singapore, Canada and United States.    89% of Kenyans were found to be familiar with mobile payments whereas 68% of the Kenyans were making P2P payments frequently.

The factors that were measured include

1.       Consumer Readiness; Measured how familiar with, how willing to use, and how frequently consumers are currently using all three types of mobile payments.

2.       Environment; Measured economic, technological, and demographic factors within a market.

3.       Financial Services; Measured the effectiveness and penetration of consumer financial products.

4.       Infrastructure; Measured the sophistication and penetration of the mobile phone industry and Near Field Communication (NFC) terminalization.

5.       Mobile Commerce Clusters; Measured partnerships among banks, mobile networks, and governments.

6.Regulation; Measured legal and regulatory structures and how they affect businesses.

SOUTH AFRICA

According to the report, South Africa received a score of 29.1 on the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index, a number mainly driven by lack of partnerships as well as lagging Infrastructure and overall Environment scores. It’s important to note that Consumer Readiness scores were higher than average primarily due to familiarity with and willingness to use P2P payments, though familiarity is relatively high among all payment types.

Key facts about South Africa were that

1.       There are no existing partnerships between banks and telecoms in South Africa

2.       Only 12% of South Africans have access to the Internet

3.       26% of South Africans are willing to use P2P payments

MasterCard reports that in South Africa, there are no existing partnerships among banks, telecoms, and payments companies other than small programs by South African telecoms that mainly focus on SMS transfers. The regulatory environment is burdensome in South Africa; however, other areas of the overall environment require attention before any party can seriously attempt to mount a move to mobile payments.

In its report MasterCard concludes that the market infrastructure in South Africa will require some work in order to adequately handle mobile payments. While consumers show willingness to use their mobile devices for all payment types, the biggest opportunity within South Africa is likely in improving the mobile experience for P2P payments, as it appears to hold the greatest interest among consumers.

KENYA

MasterCard states that It’s no secret why Kenya, ranking 83rd as an economy, right after Guatemala and before Puerto Rico, according to the CIA Factbook, should be in the company of big, developed, and integrated markets like the United States and Canada, and city-state powerhouses like Singapore. The success of M-Pesa has created an alternative payment network in Kenya, making it, in terms of sheer usage, one of the most advanced markets in the world. In Kenya, the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index story is less about payment protocol than it is about the levels of usage and awareness M-Pesa has fostered there. Key facts about Kenya include

1.       Low Environment, Infrastructure, and Financial Services scores are part of the reason for M-Pesa’s success

2.       M-Pesa is closed loop; users must be Safaricom customers

3.       Kenya has the world’s highest rate of P2P payments familiarity at 89% and a reported usage level of 70%

Environment and infrastructure are issues in Kenya, but they need to be parsed carefully. The success that mobile money has had in these early days is attributable, in part, to a lack of a traditional infrastructure and alternative conventional payment media. Mobile suggested itself as a solution to a population deeply in need of a fast and secure method of payment.

There’s another consideration. M-Pesa is closed loop; this means that only M-Pesa (Safaricom) customers, consumers and merchants can send or receive payments from each other. So it’s early days in Kenya in more than one respect.

MasterCard further states that it’s Kenyan consumers who have powered the East African nation to its position on the Index. Not only are Kenyan consumers leading the world in usage of P2P mobile payments, the success of M-Pesa has increased the awareness of all types of mobile payments.

It concludes about Kenya that the success of mobile payments in Kenya is remarkable and can serve as a blueprint for payments adoption in the rest of the emerging world, where safety and inclusion are key goals. Nevertheless, Kenya is not leveraging the full range of solutions available for mobile payments. A further developed infrastructure can build on the solid foundation already in place.

UGANDA

A comparison of Kenya and South Africa shows that South Africa readiness is way lower than Kenya readiness.  A question is then asked of how ready is Uganda? Uganda was not part of this study but with the current liberalized mobile money trends in Uganda, we would expect Uganda to perform better than South Africa in readiness though most likely lower than Kenya the pioneers of mobile money with M-Pesa.

This pearl of Africa is full of constructive brains, if they are well made use of, Uganda would be a much better place by now.

Recently, The Team, Cipher 256 of three students from Makerere University Kampala (MUK) invented a pregnancy scan machine that has already won an award, at the 2012 Microsoft East and Southern Africa Imagine Cup.

Aaron Tushabe, Joshua Okello and Josiah Kavuma, all members of the University’s College of Computing and Information Technology (CIT), invented WinSenga, a hand-held device that can scan a pregnant woman’s womb to monitor baby movements and detect ectopic pregnancy or abnormal heart beats.

This device will help ease testing task in private and public hospital that has been previously done manually. Now, a trained medical personnel in a school, hospital or clinic will make use of this device to diagnose for pregnancy , and keep records for future use, as the devices automatically records any entry.

WinSenga is made of a traditional funnel-like pinard horn which midwives and gynecologists typically use to listen to fetal sounds. The horn is connected to a smart phone by an external microphone which is strategically placed at the flat end of the horn. According to information available on Makerere University’s website, the phone contains an application that has a sound recording module and sound analysis module which will produce a report detailing the position of the baby during the different trimesters, the age of the baby and the fetal heart rate. When the horn is pressed on the abdomen, the phone screen displays data on the condition and location of the fetus.

Currently, midwives use the traditional pinard to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. Though they might not always hear everything or get enough details about the baby. WinSenga will aid the doctors to get better results and thus provide appropriate health care.

The device can help you determine age of the fetus, weight, positioning and breathing pattern of the growing baby. This would help doctors have a better picture of what precautions they have to take for any case of pregnancy.

The three partners invented the WinSenga as an entry for the 2012 Microsoft East and Southern Africa Imagine Cup competition. It took the top position. WinSenga will go on to compete in the Imagine Cup Worldwide finals to be held in Sydney, Australia in July.

According to Tushabe one of the founders, they intend to put WinSenga device of market in July after the Imagine Cup Wordwide finals, it will be sold at retail price of $3,000 per piece.

Suddenly begging for Goldie‘s kisses! Didn’t Prezzo say he was married?

Prezzo and Goldie are getting too close for comfort despite the fact that Prezzo has been bragging about his wife.  Just before midnight on Monday, Prezzo and Goldie cozied in the patio, giggling and promising each other trust amongst other things.

Prezzo felt he deserved a kiss from Goldie and when she gave him a quick perk on the cheek, Prezzo cried for more.

Meanwhile, nominated for possible eviction Sierra Leone Housemates reflected on their feelings pending Sunday’s Eviction Show.  While the rest of the Housemates were having a music session, singing out of tune to the guitar, Zainab and Dalphin were hung on Nominations.

Dalphin felt that Downville was rather funny now that she was nominated but Zainab differed. “I don’t feel any different. I want to be here but I want to see my boyfriend too so, either way, I’m down with it,” Zainab said.
 

Traditional brand managers fall into the trap of thinking and believing that true branding can only be achieved offline. They fail to think about content holistically in ways that boost their brand outside their own online platform and some think that measuring ROI in tradition ways is a way to measure their success in social media. These are some of the mistakes common with brand managers and partly some of the reasons why more branding dollars have not yet come online and are still in traditional media (TV, radio, print publications) and offline content marketing (e.g., product placement in movies and sponsored soap operas). This is true regardless of the fact that in the current day and age many people and actually more people spend much more time consuming content online.  

Brand advertising is trying to entice awareness, consideration, affinity, and remembrance not necessarily an immediate purchase. True branding benefits the positive image or feeling we associate with a product’s name or logo. True branding can be achieved in the online space when you let your brand participate in or contribute to the consumer’s online experience. Tip to achieve this;

1.       Use smart online video ads, which do not simply take your TV ads and deliver then online, but rather considers the size of screen, interactivity, and social opportunities.

2.       Consider social media campaigns that interact directly with consumers and influencers to humanize your brand in ways that were never possible before(HiPipo Charts Festival with Pepsi)

3.       Develop content in several different formats to provide a true value-add for consumers of your category, services or products.

4.       Release content on a regular basis to develop a cohesive brand story.

Portraying a brand message that will resonate with an online audience and drive them to develop an affinity for the brand in a meaningful way must be fueled by content.

You may have developed some content specifically to exist on your website but think holistically about earned media amplification. Earned media includes all content assets that are not owned by you and can live outside your own online presence — on blogs, YouTube, or anywhere else. It doesn’t need to replace driving traffic to your owned content assets, but it can surely augment it and hence grow your brand.

Do you want your digital team to ONLY use direct response tactics that will drive sales on your eCommerce site, or do you also want to reach as many people as possible and influence the choice they’ll make next time they’re walking down the grocery aisle? Digital marketing teams with a results-only mindset will disregard the value of branding and will not consider other benefits of a content marketing strategy. To do branding online, it’s largely about content. Provide people with quality content, embrace recommendations and favorable content created by third parties, be patient and you shall win the marathon with long-term consumers. See whole article here

Yadel from Liberia has found a used condom in her suit case.

It’s just a week in the house but the housemates in the Downville are already acting contrary to what biggie should have order them…that is if he gave them some rules on entry.

Since the condom didn’t come with names of the users printed on it, which housemate do you suspect?

We all know the use of a condom right? The condom appears with fluid in it, which appears like it’s not been long in the suitcase.
 

Jannette from Uganda is a Virgin if we go by what she said in the house!

Who are your suspects?

Nokia has long been a darling especially in developing markets such as Uganda, Kenya and the rest of Africa where it has delivered affordable and durable phones for years. Despite this, Nokia’s lead in the market is threatened by its slow penetration in the Smartphone market which has seen Apple and Samsung lead.  According to the latest data from IDC, Samsung was the biggest phone maker by shipments in Q1 2012, followed by Nokia and Apple. Samsung shipped 93.8 million units, compared to Nokia’s 82.7 million, and Apple’s 35.1 million.

Samsung’s strategy has seen it deliver a bewildering number of different models. This has seen Samsung having a phone to suit pretty much every potential customer. If you want something pocket able that’s cheap, there’s a Samsung Galaxy for that (last check with Orange Uganda web shop had Samsung S5570 Galaxy Mini going for 399,000/- ($160). Need lots of power, a massive screen and a stylus to draw pictures with? Samsung Galaxy S Plus or Galaxy S-2 is for you and now Samsung just launched Samsung Galaxy S3. The Samsung Galaxy S3 brings a gorgeous 4.8-inch 720p display, quad-core processor and 8-megapixel camera, all crammed into a good-looking,  slim and light casing.

Where do these developments leave Nokia the darling?  The mobile industry can change with only a single product and Nokia Lumia with Windows Phone OS that has seen good reviews may be Nokia’s big return to challenge in the Smartphone business. Nokia will need to replicate its successful model that delivered affordable phones to now deliver durable and affordable Smartphone and this it needs to do sooner before Samsung becomes the darling to Ugandans and other Nokia markets at Nokia’s watch!

It’s week two, three housemates have already left the house. Maneta moved to Upville! Julio, Hilda and Teclar unfortunately made their exit from the Big Brother StarGame house forever!

From the Diary Room:  “He’s a girl. He’s all up in girls’ businesses, he’s vain, he always looks at himself in the mirror, and he’s always fighting with girls. Most housemates are not happy with him. Who swears someone’s mother and slaps a girl and then boasts about it? Who says that? How old is he, 13? Big Brother should punish people for violence”, Eve said about Seydou.

Meanwhile the sisters Edith and Eve were emotional after fighting for the past couple of days. Eve has been very upset, as she says that Edith has been talking about her to the other Housemates. “She was drunk and told the Housemates that I have fake hair and a bad attitude and said other mean things. She’s my sister and still said that stuff about me. I would never do that to her. She can’t even say sorry to me.” Edith then apologised.

From UPVille, When asked about the differences between the two houses, Maneta said: “There’s less noise, less violence and drama, more food, hot water and my own big bed. It feels so good right now.”
She added that she however feels bored. “I’m getting bored of Upville. I’m a fun-loving, crazy person. I expect a bit of life in there. It’s boring me to death.”

Who is leaving the house this week?  Second eviction nights, on nomination are;

Dalphin; Sierra Leone

Zainab; Sierra Leone

Yadel; Liberia

Luke; Liberia

In the wake of Safaricom announcing that it will be discontinuing the sale of all unlimited data bundle products and that it may focus its energies on fixed data, the question of what Uganda operators are offering comes to center stage.  Safaricom as of 2012 Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) report is the leading data services provider in Kenya and hence any move it takes may have big implications to the market.  Will other players follow suit in Kenya and Uganda or will they be more innovative in their offerings to high volume consumers?

The Uganda market has some unlimited data packages which cost about 300,000 UGX as of April 2012.  It is claimed by some consumers that sometime it is almost impossible to play a single 5 minute 20MB video with unlimited data package since the video may take 30 minutes to steam which amount of wait time is unacceptable to a user.  Hence the following questions linger in mind; 

1.       Are Uganda operators offering unlimited packages on paper i.e in theory?

2.       Are there details about these unlimited packages that operators hide from customers?

3.       Could it be that the failed video stream is deliberately the operator’s doing and the customer is not made aware of this in the term of services?

Unlimited package for some operators have speeds not exceeding 512 kilobits per second (kpbs). What is not publically known is if there is another data cap coming with these products on the Uganda market such that when you get to the cap you are then lowered further to less speed e.g 128 kbps or 64 kbps.  If this is the case then there isn’t a Uganda operator offering truly unlimited packages in terms of both volume and speed.

For high volume consumers, an offer of high volume packages could be an attraction but currently they are at quite very expensive rates(over 1M UGX for 100GB) if the average individual or family is going to try them. The other option is fixed/dedicated broadband services. Some operators have with an initial cost of over 2000 USD and about 300USD per month for 512kps minimum speed. This initial cost is could still be on the high side if individuals, families and SME are to take on these fixed data products.

With the above in mind and if unlimited mobile 3G packages turn out to be unprofitable(such as for Safaricom’s case) and  tempting operators to provide poor quality of service, shall the Uganda market see more affordable fixed data packages that can be embraced by individuals, families, and SMEs?

Over the first 2 weeks of May, 2012, Yahoo CEO has been in news, not for anything good but for a Fake Computer Science Degree on His Resume!   He is finally out; he is fired though a reason for resignation may be used to divert attention.  This is less that 6 months since he was hired.

Despite his proven experience and success as a former president of PayPal who took over YAHOO from Carol Bartz who was dismissed in September, the fake computer science degree on his resume has cost him the current job but more importantly his reputation.  Thompson claimed in his resume that he graduated with a degree in accounting and computer science in 1978 from Stonehill College. While the school confirms that Thompson does in fact have a degree in accounting, the school did not offer a computer science degree until 1983 — that’s five years after Thompson graduated.

Levinsohn, currently the global media head overseeing advertising across all of Yahoo is expect to be interim CEO.

For Ugandans and anyone that seeks to pursue a successful career, the key lesson from Scott Thompson fall is that never should you fake you resume. If you fake and get by now, it may and will cost you when it matters most. Scott Thompson fake degree is for over 20 years back and here it is costing him now in 2012.