So I’ve just returned from Sierra Leone, world’s poorest (measurable) country according to the UN’s Human Development Index, and while progress is not exactly evident, I was very intrigued by one of the more innovative services now available.
If you’ve ever visited Africa you’re all too well aware of the difficult banking conditions and mounds of bills you’ll be carrying around; if you live there you’re even more well aware of the frustrations associated with getting a bank account, especially if you work in the informal sector (as most do).

The Me2u money transfer service provided by mobile service companies such as Celtel helps address these difficulties.  The Me2U service is a Celtel to Celtel direct airtime transfer which uses the standard GSM based handset. It allows users to share the airtime they have in their phone with other customers, and thus acts as a means of providing payments, remittances or transferring funds. In essence, the mobile phone has become a bank.

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