Today is the day. The 60th in a small and ambitious experiment.
We at Kopo Kopo began as kindred spirits passionate for a seemingly mechanistic cause ― replacing cash with mobile money. The passion extends way beyond the confines of our office, pervading our dinner conversations, late-night rants and dreams. Some of us have literally woken up in the night, murmuring “M-PESA”, much to the concern of our better halves. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, when one of us decides to repeatedly challenge common courtesy for sake of the bigger picture. If that results in missing three meals because the restaurants won’t accept M-PESA, so be it.
It reminds me of Jony Ive’s eulogy to Steve Jobs, where he says “There is a gravity; almost a sense of civic responsibility to care way beyond any functional imperative.”
When we invited Nairobi to participate in the experiment, the lukewarm response signaled that the road to cashlessness is long and potholed. The lessons for us ― and the community ― are to be cherished, measured, implemented and iterated. And with enough footprints left behind, we’ll get there.
Thanks for reading.
Amrit Pal 