A quarter of a century ago I set up a company to invest in what is arguably one of the most disruptive and transformative technologies the world has ever seen: mobile telephony. Twenty-five years ago, when I set up Econet, few would have predicted the size of the market we would ultimately have the opportunity to serve, or the way in which the initial offering — enabling people to ring each or text other while on the move — would evolve into providing all manner of data services that support cash transfers, online education, video content delivery and more. Across the developing world, phones are spurring innovation and boosting incomes: farmers use them to check market prices before selling to middlemen, traders can accept payments in mobile money, and families can send money to each other more easily. According to a recent study, 2% of Kenyan households were lifted out of poverty between 2008 and 2014, simply by gaining access to mobile money services. Cellphones are also powering...
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