Mobile Money Empowering People Living at Bottom of Pyramid and Boosting Socio-Economic Development in a Big Way
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Abstract
Hardly anyone would disagree that mobile money is an engine of financial inclusion and has the potential to outreach millions of people, living at the bottom of pyramid and those living in remote areas. The current study was taken up to investigate the impact of mobile money access on the people living at the bottom of pyramid. The aim was to: (1) understand the concept of mobile money, (2) explore the relevance of mobile money in economic growth, (3) capture the growth of mobile money worldwide, (4) explore the socio – economic impact of mobile money and (4) discuss vital insights for traditional financial institutions and policy makers. The study revealed that mobile money had positive impact on financial inclusion. It also enhanced the economic opportunities for the large unbanked population living at the bottom of pyramid. The increase in the mobile penetration and use of mobile internet, among the people living at the bottom of pyramid in the developing countries, clearly reflect at the potential of mobile money, in bringing the financially excluded in the economic mainstream and thus help in sustainable socio-economic development.
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References
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Morawczynski, O., and Pickens, M. 2009. Poor People Using Mobile Financial Services: Observations on Customer Usage and Impact from M-Pesa. CGAP Brief.
OECD. 2006. “Online payment systems for e-Commerce”. Organisation de CoopÈration et de DÈveloppement Economiques Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. April 2006: 1-56.
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Porter, S. 2009. “Mobile Remittances: a study of the Philippines and Tonga.”
Schumpeter, J. A. 1912. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Srivastava, L. 2008. “The Mobile makes its mark”. In Katz, J. E., Handbook of mobile communication studies. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 15–27.
Ssewanyana, J. 2007. “ICT access and poverty in Uganda”. International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, 1(2): 10-19.
The Economist. 2012. “Mobile Money in Africa - Press 1 for modernity: One business where the poorest continent is miles ahead”. The Economist, April 28, 55.
Wishart, N. 2006. Micro-payment Systems and their Application to Mobile Networks: Examples of mobile enabled services in the Philippines. Infodev Publications, IDRC.
World Bank 2014. World Financial Development Report on Financial Inclusion. Washington DC.
Asia Development Bank 2003. “Toward e-Development in Asia and the Pacific”. Asian Development Bank.
Asli, Demirguc-Kun and Klapper, L. 2012. “Measuring Financial Inclusion: The Global Findex.” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 6025.
Bishop, A. P., Tidline, T. J., Shoemaker, S., & Salela, P. 1999. “Public libraries and networked information services in low-income communities.” Library & Information Science Research, 21(3): 361-390.
Bold, Chris, Porteous, David, and Rotman, Sarah. 2012. “Social cash transfers and financial inclusion: Evidence from four countries”. Consultative Group for Assisting the Poor (CGAP), February 2012: 1-20.
Brynjolfsson, E., and Hitt, L. M. 2000. “Beyond Computation: Information, Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(4): 23–48.
Business Week. 2007. Upwardly mobile in Africa. Retrieved October 3, 2007, from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_39/b4051054.htm
Butler, Rhett. 2005. “Cell phones may help save Africa”. https://news.mongabay.com/2005/07/cell-phones-may-help-save-africa/ (Retrieved on May 2, 2016).
Davidson, Neil, and Pénicaud, Claire. 2012. “State of the Industry: Results from the 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey”. GSMA, London.
Desai, K. 2010. "Can Mobile Payments Deliver Financial inclusion as well as Returns.” Development and Finance Journal, 3(4): 6-27.
Dolan, J. 2009. Accelerating the Development of Mobile Money Ecosystem. Washington, DC: IFC and the Harvard Kennedy School.
Dupas, P., & Robinson, J. 2008. “Savings constraints and microenterprise development: Evidence from a field experiment in Kenya.” Working Paper No, 14693. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Ehrbeck Tilman, Mark Pickens, Michael Tarazi. 2012. “Financially Inclusive Ecosystems: The roles of government today”. CGAP, February 2012: 1-11.
Elijah, O. & Ogunlade, I. 2006. “Analysis of the uses of information and communication technology for gender empowerment and sustainable poverty alleviation in Nigeria.” International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2(3): 45-69.
Ernst and Young. 2014. Mobile money: The next wave of growth.
Etim, Alice S. 2011. “Bottom-up business development: Empowering low income societies through microfinance and mobile technologies.” International Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 1(13): 1-11.
Etim, Alice S. 2012. “The emerging market of Sub-Saharan Africa and technology adoption: Features users` desire in mobile phones.” International Journal of ICT Research and Development in Africa, 3(1): 14-16.
Hishigsuren, G. 2006. “Information and Communication Technology and Microfinance: Options for Mongolia”. ADB Institute Discussion Paper No. 42.
Hope, R., Foster, T., Money, A., and Rouse, M. 2012. “Harnessing mobile communications innovations for water security.” Global Policy 3(4): 433-442.
Hughes, N., and Lonie S. 2007. M-PESA: Mobile Money for the ―Unbanked‖ Turning Cellphones into 24-Hour Tellers in Kenya. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 2 (1-2): 63–81.
Jack, W. and Suri T. 2011. “Mobile Money: The Economics of M-PESA”, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper, 16721.
Jack, William and Tavneet Suri 2014. “Risk Sharing and Transactions Costs: Evidence from Kenya’s Mobile Money Revolution.” American Economic Review 104: 183–223.
Jenkins, Beth. 2008. “Developing mobile money ecosystems”. International Finance Corporation, World Bank and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 1-36.
King, R.G. and Levine, R. 1993. “Finance and growth: Schumpeter might be right.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 3, 717-737.
Kravtsov, Vlad. 2013. “The evolution of bill payment kiosks in Eastern European countries”. Kiosk Marketplace, http://www.kioskmarketplace.com/blogs/the-evolution-of-bill-payment-kiosks-in-eastern-europeancountries/, retrieved on April 9, 2016.
Levine, R. 1997. “Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda.” Journal of Economic Literature, XXXV, 688 – 726.
Levine, Ross. 2005. “Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence.” In Handbook of Economic Growth, ed. Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf, 865–934. New York: Elsevier.
Martinez Meritxell, Claudia Mc Kay. 2011. “Emerging lessons of public funders in branchless banking”. CGAP, 72: 1-13.
Mas, I., and Morawczynski, O. 2009. “Designing Mobile Money Services: Lessons from M-PESA.” Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 4 (2): 77–91.
Mbiti, Isaac and David N. Weil. 2011. “Mobile Banking: The Impact of M-PESA in Kenya.” National Bureau of Economic Research.
Mendes, S., and Alampay, E. 2007. The innovative use of mobile applications in the Philippines: Lessons for Africa. Sida Publications, Sida.
Morawczynski, O. 2008. Surviving in the dual system: How M-Pesa is Fostering Urban to Rural Remittances in a Kenyan Slum. HCC8, Pretoria, South Africa.
Morawczynski, O. 2009. Examining the Usage and Impact of Transformational M-Banking in Kenya. Internationalization, Design and Global Development. N. Aykin (Ed), Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. 5623: 495-504.
Morawczynski, O., and Pickens, M. 2009. Poor People Using Mobile Financial Services: Observations on Customer Usage and Impact from M-Pesa. CGAP Brief.
OECD. 2006. “Online payment systems for e-Commerce”. Organisation de CoopÈration et de DÈveloppement Economiques Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. April 2006: 1-56.
Owens, John. 2015. “Eight trends that will impact financial inclusion in 2015”. AFI, http://blogs.afiglobal.org/2015/01/20/eight-trends-that-will-impact-financial-inclusion-in-2015/ retrieved on April 9, 2016.
Porteous, D. 2006. “The enabling environment of mobile banking in Africa”. London: Department for International Development (DFID).
Porter, S. 2009. “Mobile Remittances: a study of the Philippines and Tonga.”
Schumpeter, J. A. 1912. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Srivastava, L. 2008. “The Mobile makes its mark”. In Katz, J. E., Handbook of mobile communication studies. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 15–27.
Ssewanyana, J. 2007. “ICT access and poverty in Uganda”. International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, 1(2): 10-19.
The Economist. 2012. “Mobile Money in Africa - Press 1 for modernity: One business where the poorest continent is miles ahead”. The Economist, April 28, 55.
Wishart, N. 2006. Micro-payment Systems and their Application to Mobile Networks: Examples of mobile enabled services in the Philippines. Infodev Publications, IDRC.
World Bank 2014. World Financial Development Report on Financial Inclusion. Washington DC.