Sometimes I see the buzz about payments in Africa and I wonder if people study the Economics and Sociology of it and not the Technology. It is the intersection of all 3 that creates the magic.
African Payments 2.0 will be driven by collaboration. Silos will not work. There are few new innovations under the sun that do not build on existing breakthroughs.
I have been against the "cookie cutter" model for payments for years and I believe new entrants should not only learn from the mistakes of the old but undertand that the successes of a few were also not overnight miracles.
It is not "Eastside" vs "Westside" conflict. it is not even a battle between vendors or egos that will matter. It is about understanding the basics and making it work.
Google launched Beba in Kenya recently and my guess is that those who did not heed the warning of Mastercard at Carte Afrique in Morroco that "Google is coming" have now seen a glimpse of the future.
Visa and Mastercard are here, Paypal and Square are also coming. Why then do we waste time fighting ourselves when we can join forces to take advantage of all the new bells and whistles to create what will really work?
It has never been about the technology but how it is applied. The future will be driven by the ecosystem and not the players.