Good News From Africa: Can Mobile Banking Be Africa's Solution to Poverty?

An article featuring Bill Gates as Guest Editor, surmises that Africa is most likely to benefit from mobile banking than America and many other developed countries. So how is Africa to benefit? The article elaborates on the use of mobile technology which saves mostly market women the extra effort to travel across miles to purchase commodities. As a result of mobile banking, all that's left for the women is to transfer their money via their mobile phones and get the supplier to send their goods to their local basements. This means that traders wouldn't have to travel across miles to buy items saving cost, and protecting lives from bandits given situations that traders go around carrying huge sums for transactional purposes. Having gone through the article, I wonder how this is going to alleviate poverty. I was thinking more at the macro-level where these phones would have to be produced in Africa to give the endeavour any significant meaning on the economy and lives of local people in poor countries. Mobile phones should also be made in Africa. These women can begin manufacturing mobile phones as well, rather than pose as mere consumers/users.

My view though...However, I welcome the efforts made to simplify the lives of ordinary market women in Africa. Woman eh !!!!

source:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7966043/bill-gates-future-of-banking-and-mobile-money