Technobiography

The Joburg Connection (Part II)

I’m going to Johannesburg (Joburg) because once upon a time, a fellow from the World Bank found my m-commerce for microfinance study through my blog. From web blog to Joburg.

My second degree of connection with Joburg: connecting with collegues to connect the masses

I’m attending a conference about e-Banking for the masses, or e-Banking for the poor, if you will. There are global initiatives in exploring technologies that help bring financial services to the poor.

In the local setting, we have Smart Money and G-Cash being re-purposed for microfinance, for remittances and other financial services (some of which are not necessarily for the poor).

In the international arena, we are seeing the emergence of Point-of-Sale (POS) systems in far-flung areas connected through satellite. We have debit cards that make the credit card system available to more people. We have telephone banking via interactive voice response systems. We are seeing the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) to facilitate loan monitoring and other microfinance activities.

In the Joburg conference, I’ll be connecting to colleagues in the field of e-Banking for the masses. We’ll be sharing our experiences, lessons and perhaps our puzzles too. I will be on the lookout for ideas and innovations that I can take home with me and use as a tool here in the Philippines…

To help connect the masses to much needed financial services.

Ka edong
p.s. Read Technobiography in the following days, I hope to post some excerpts from the conference.
p.p.s. The Joburg Connection (Part III): Connecting while away. … abangan.