FortySouth

So this evening I get this email from Afripayments in my inbox:

I once used their online money transfer service for a low dollar transfer and while they did have the lowest transaction fees per transfer I’ve encountered, I wasn’t too impressed with the customer service – I initially had to jump through hoops just to get the sum sent. At the time they had just launched so I thought I’d give the service some time to “mature” before take-two. In the meantime, I’ve stuck with Moneygram which I’ve found to be quite reliable.

Apparently the Kenyan Government was probing alleged fraud in the payments system that is a joint venture between Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) and Afripayments. PCK acts as the front-end interface with customers while Afripayments runs the backend software and infrastructure, with a revenue-sharing model of 20%/80% respectively.

PostaPay has been losing a lot of money in fees for transactions that actually didn’t take place. So I’m anxiously awaiting the audit report, but I suspect that the outcome was nontoopleasing and with PCK being a parastatal, the Government probably decided to cut its losses and shatter the service to smithereens.

What I’d really love to see is if Safaricom would expand its payment transfer system, MPesa, to a global scale.

The contracted global economy is literary palpable with unemployment numbers going through the roof.

The World Bank recently projected that the global economy will shrink in 2009, with growth in the developing markets dropping from 4.4% to 2.1%. They also project that recovery will commence in 2010 albeit at a slowed pace.

What’s more interesting is that the recovery depends on where in the world you live:

A curious note is that the most substantial GDP growth is registered in the emerging markets, especially in Asia.

I’m reading this and thought it quite interesting – General Motors and Segway are collaborating to create an electric vehicle that looks kinda strange.. I don’t know for sure if there’s an actual name for it yet (I guess PUMA is it’s name), but they do have a prototype out:

Steve Woz will dig this.

It’s a two-seater EV with top speeds of up to 35mph/56kph for anywhere between 25 and 35 miles (40 – 56 km) on a single charge. Supposedly it’s mostly for in-city navigation and GM/Segway seem to have much bigger plans for it:

I wonder how it will do during snowy/icy conditions? Probably not much better than a bike. Cost? GM says you may have to pony up to 1/4 the cost of a conventional car.

Nevertheless, GM is taking a stab at innovation in response to consumer demand for smaller and more fuel-efficient automobiles. It may actually find some following once the concept moves to production, provided GM doesn’t end up in bankruptcy.