NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

By ensuring that mobile money services are brought closer to the people in rural areas, the company is complimenting the government’s efforts to even out any imbalances that prevent the majority of upcountry people from carrying out financial transactions in a secure manner writes Leonard Magomba.

Perhaps it can be argued that only ‘social-based’ outfits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have the bragging rights when it comes to working for the ‘society’s social good’ through provision of affordable, or in some cases, ‘free products and services.’

That, or so most of us believe, is the sole prerogatives of those organizations and no ‘commercial-based’ private sector can provide services that directly benefit the society without fleecing the customers of their hard-earned resources. 

However, few would realize that through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and events, the commercial sector plays a pivotal role.

Just as much as, or more than, the ‘non-profit’ organizations in terms of helping the community. 

In fact, in ‘social marketing-speak,’ anybody who provides products and services that are ultimately destined for consumer consumption, performs a social good.