[90574] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
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Mon Oct 24 12:46:32 2016
it address crucial, everyday issues in the African continent? from electric=
ity to water to agriculture.</p>
<p>M-Pesa kickstarted a mobile money revolution when =
it launched in 2007 and has since grown to 20 active users, according to Co=
llymore. A staggering 43 of Kenya' s GDP flows through the platform. =
But after a decade in business, the company is facing new limitations and m=
ounting competition. Visa, which has struggled topromote credit cards =
in the region, recently launched an M-Pesa competitor in Kenya, called Mvi=
sa.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Safaricom' s parent company Vodafone =
scrapped M-Pesa in South Africa, where fewer people use mobile money servic=
es. The lack of interoperability between different countries' s=
ystems is also limiting the platform' s ability to grow in emerging markets=
</p>
<p>Collymore still hopes to make M-Pesa ubiquitous across the con=
tinent. " I just want it to be like WhatsApp," he said on Oct. 17=
, referring to the Facebook-owned messaging app currently used by 1 people =
in 180 countries.</p>
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<p>His sentiments are in line with recent initiatives to diversif=
y M-Pesa products. In July, the company launched Little Cab, a ride-h=
ailing app that offered passengers cheaper fares than those of =
competitors. M-Pesa has also partnered with Ericsson to help rural resident=
s pay for clean water, and with energy firm M-Kopa to let customers&n=
bsp; buy solar electricity with their mobile phones.</p>
<p>These kinds of initiatives improve the digital ecosystem aroun=
d M-Pesa, and will hopefully guarantee the service' s future, Collymore say=
s. To spread the company' s foothold, Safaricom is also looking into harnes=
sing the data produced by its large customer base and investing in more e-c=
ommerce ventures. Over the past 15 years, e-commerce has expanded&nbs=
p; to a 395 industry in Africa.</p>
<p>" If you are running a business," Collymore said, &q=
uot; the purpose of business has to be [about] literally solving problems.=
Nothing else." </p>
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></div>
<p>Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief ? the most im=
portant and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox.</p>
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<h1 itemprop=3D"headline">Sweden gives its " fixer" citize=
ns tax breaks for repairing, not replacing, what' s broken</h1>
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Hang in there. (Reuters/Tobias Schwarz)
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<div>
<h5>WRITTEN BY</h5>Lila MacLellan
</div>
<div>
<h5>OBSESSION</h5>The Green Economy
</div>
<div>
12 mins ago
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<div itemprop=3D"articleBody">
<div>
<p>At my local farmers market in upper Manhattan, one of the more=
popular vendors is Pop Up Repair, where people can bring their=
broken radios, toys, or waffle makers and get them fixed for a small fee. =
For all the people it draws with nowhere else to turn for basic repairs, it=
draws even more for the mere spectacle, and nostalgia, of seeing someone f=
ix what' s broken.</p>
<p>Pop Up Repair is onto something: a small " fixer" mo=
vement that has gone global in the last few years, as more people see the w=
isdom in extending the lives of things they own rather than buying things a=
new. Over the past decade, " repair cafes" have formed in p=
e, the US,Australia, and Sub-Sahara Africa. And since it launch=
ed in 2003, the website iFixit, a kind of wiki for repair information, =
; has collected nearly 90,000 solutions for fixing a range of househo=
ld products and computing devices.</p>
<p>Still, more often than not, repair shops are a breed near exti=
nction, especially in rich countries. Trashing rather than mending our phys=
ical stuff has become so deeply engrained that we' ve extended the principl=
e to our short-lived relationships.</p>
<p>Sweden, a bastion of green policy, is trying to change t=
hat. Beginningnext year, Swedes who bring bicycles, clothes or shoes to rep=
air shops will be able to pay 12 in VAT tax, instead of the standard 25, if=
new legislative proposals are approved. Those who hire repair people to fi=
x household appliances would also be able to a partial tax refund for the b=
ill.</p>
<p>The Social Democrat and Green party coalition government is ho=
peful that these tax incentives will jump start a home repairs industry in =
Sweden, in turn creating jobs for the country' s low-skilled immigrants. In=
theory, encouraging Swedes not to buy foreign-made products as replacement=
s for things they already own would also reduce carbon emissions.</p>
<p>Buying is often cheaper than repairing in developed countries,=
partly because the labor to produce imports from developing countrie=
s is cheaper than the labor involved in a local repair. Also, to fuel=
consumption, many products are now designed not to last. Manufacture=
rs of complex gadgets have profited from channeling consumers into manufact=
urer-certified repair shops, by keeping repair information proprietary.</p>
<p>There is still hope for the little guy. Consumer advocates and=
repair people have started a " right to repair" mov=
ement to stop companies from keeping repair information at bay. As our home=
s fill up with internet-connected devices, we' re more at risk of drowning =
in a sea of broken stuff.</p>
<div>
<h4>MOST POPULAR</h4>
<h3>This is what work-life balance looks like at a company with =
100 retention of moms</h3>
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</div>
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<p>OH YOU NASTY BOYS</p>
<h1>The real ner of the debate is Janet Jackson? her 1986 hit "=
Nasty" is blog up after Trump' s jibes</h1>
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What did he say? (Reuters/Dylan Martinez)
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