The world’s richest and most generous man Bill Gates has advised Indian government and its monetary policy makers to follow Somaliland’s footsteps in their efforts to implement the Financial Inclusion system in India.
Speaking to Live Mint Magazine on Monday (December 14) during his visit to India to lend support the foundation of India’s Financial Inclusion system which will enable the introduction of mobile money transfer platform like ZAAD and E-DAHAB services currently used in Somaliland.
During the interview the philanthropist billionaire stated that Somaliland has the highest percentage in the world of GDP that goes through cellphone-based money.
“Somaliland is a sort of a country and it is sort of not. It is very small. But it is phenomenal. As a percentage of GDP that goes through cellphone-based money they are the highest in the world. There are some very good things that have happened in Kenya” Gates responded when asked if there is a one emerging economy that India should look at.
Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income segments of society, in contrast to financial exclusion where those services are not available or affordable.
During the Q&A session, Bill Gates also told Indian monetary policy makers that Somaliland has all the regulations governing mobile money transfer, where he pointed that a single mobile phone company is allowed to do mobile money transfer, referring to Telesom’s ZAAD service mobile money transfer (although Dahabshiil group recently introduced E-DAHAB mobile money transfer service similar to Telesom’s ZAAD service).
“Essentially, there is this one mobile phone company that is allowed to do it, and they do it superbly well. It is not a formal system as India” Bill Gates said when asked if Somaliland has all the regulations governing mobile money transfer.
In October last year, Bill Gates praised Somaliland’s leading telecommunication Company Telesom for its mobile money banking and transfer service, ZAAD Service during his speech at SIBOS closing plenary in Boston, USA.
Bill Gates who is the founder and former CEO of world’s leading technology company Microsoft, now co-chairs with his wife philanthropic foundation called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which promotes the implementation of Financial Services for the Poor people in the world.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor program aims to play a catalytic role in broadening the reach of robust, open, and low-cost digital payment systems, particularly in poor and rural areas—and expanding the range of services available on these platforms.
