Africa is becoming a testbed for commercial drone services | Hacker News Reader

Africa is becoming a testbed for commercial drone services

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46 pointsprotomyth6 comments

Africa's a hotbed for technology generally not just drones. Mobile money has really taken off in Kenya, becoming the preferred option for business taking payment and the technology has been very quickly spreading across the world.

Solar power systems with integrated GSM connectivity build in to enable financing are also taking off with a huge amount of investment being made into companies providing these such as BBOXX, Mobisol and M-Kopa.

What I really like is that most of these technologies are not just being transferred from the Western world, they are technologies developed for the context and bypass the outdated technologies used elsewhere. Even more importantly they are being developed to be commercially viable and not dependent on aid money or donor funding.

For those curious, two companies/services to look at in these spaces are M-PESA (http://www.safaricom.co.ke/personal/m-pesa) and M-KOPA (http://www.m-kopa.com/).

I spent this past February in Kenya working with a tech startup and all of my expectations about technology in Africa were completely shattered. Nearly everyone I met (both in Nairobi and in smaller towns) had smartphones with data plans, used mobile banking and were very willing to try out the latest technologies. I used Uber to commute to the office every day and get around the otherwise sketchy parts of town at night, the service is doing so well that traditional taxi drivers were rioting on the streets. Sub-Saharan Africa is a hotbed of opportunity ripe for disruption.

We are also into M-PESA.

(And as before I am interested if anyone has other good (micro-/mobile )payments providers they would recommend in an around Kenya, India/Pakistan and rural southeast Asia. Same goes for cheap reliable non-GSM comm stacks.)

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by non-GSM comms stack but if you want comms for IoT like devices then LoRa could be of interest. I don't know of any large scale networks active outside of Europe and the US but it's quite feasible to operate a base station yourself.

If your looking for something targeted at consumers then Facebook have started a large scale wifi project in Kampala: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35000544

Thanks!

With respect, I disagree.

-MPESA, while highly innovative, is a system grown and maintained by a telco monopoly. People need to stop assuming it's a startup (I don't think you are, but every time it's mentioned that's the context. Safaricom is an old, sprawling conglomerate with massive government links and a UK telco shareholder).

-Smartphone penetration is still in between (depending on data source) the low twenties and low thirties. Data usage is even lower - we're still in a country with a GDP/capita of 1,200 USD and average incomes in Nairobi of 200 USD/month.

-Uber is cool, and has achieved decent penetration among high-income locals and expats. However, at current costs it is far out of reach of what we'd even consider middle class Kenyans.

Things are absolutely going in the right direction, but nowhere near as fast as the hype suggests (especially with respect to income growth and smartphone adoption).

For context: I've lived and worked in the Kenyan tech sector for several years.

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