The Future is Here

Money is mobile

In 2015 they were just three.

Now the mobile phone banking industry has FNB’s ewallet, Ebank, PayToday and PayPulse.

The latter is brought to you by Standard Bank but powered by Mobipay.

Ebank, which was linked to the first lady, had a unique approach, mainly targeting Engen Service Stations.

Mobipay is the first company that lured MTC into the mobile payment market.

However, I believed FNB’s eWallet was the sweetest slice of the pie, in my humble opinion.

This SMS option allows customers to send money to anyone with a valid Namibian cellphone number. JUST A NUMBER MEI BRU!

Then came along Paytoday and Paypulse.

It opens up a new world of consumer choice powered by on-demand technology, changing the Namibian payment experience. It is finally becoming a world where businesses don’t need to keep large amounts of money on their premises.

The Namibian consumer has long demanded convenience, control, and better service in the finance sector.

This is the result of the long relationship of trust we have developed with our phones.

Ever lost a smartphone with all your documents that you failed to back up?

We trust our phones and apps to keep our data secure and private.

If a human being can trust a phone to keep pictures of their children and all their personal “ish” safe, then you best believe that they will trust their phones as payment tools.

I wish there were statistics, but I am pretty sure that a large percentage of people pay their municipal bills with their smartphones.

So is this the beginning of the future?

This is where collaboration wins. Collaborating with key players to form partnerships that will drive the development in establishing new consumer propositions. Across multiple channels such as the obvious online, in-store and in-app.

In doing so, a safer and richer mobile payment experience will enable consumers to make daily payments.

New Word Alert; Adverdiversify

Disclaimer: I might sound and come off as angry and touched but remember, angry people, do not write and sip cappuccinos while listening to Blackcoffee. J

 

Black history month is an American concept. The release of Black Panther in February was probably strategic, but the wave's ripple effects are beyond what many could have imagined. A Namibian indigenous tribe was showcased in the blockbuster movie. Allow me to vent.

Namibia is easily amongst the countries with the fewest people per square kilometre.

Also, a good percentage of Namibia's consumer spending is mainly influenced by blacks.

Yet, it is pretty striking how much the Namibian advertising Industry is controlled by a handful of white people. Lol, like everything else.

Pause and ask, how many black advertising leaders do you know? We are flooded with ads on radio, television, newspapers and billboards, yet how many of our people run these campaigns? Unlike xenophobic South Africa, diversifying should not be difficult in Namibia with just 2.4 million people. 

Most would say that blacks don't know much about careers in advertising. 

Do not get me wrong, and there is no disparity in the workforce; the main issue lies in the gap in the trust to push creative ideas, the lack of black advertising creative directors. Forget how unfair that might sound, but it isn't good for business as well. 

Diversity brings a mixture of ideas, which the industry has been crying out for since the great millennium—good luck naming a great ad or campaign that was or is headed by a black creative.

Recently, ad agencies have partnered up with fashion icon Loux The Vintage Guru on several campaigns. These seemed to have appealed to the masses because fashion in Namibia is enjoying an upward curve. A darkie behind the concepts? I hope so because the work was appealing and was speaking the language of a specific race. 

The thing about unpacking demographics and looking into purchasing power is that a spirit of arrogance is needed when doing the actual creative work. So much of what should happen in advertising is to examine how people behave, and I believe that saying things like "I know these people; I know what they like and what they consume" should be a natural requirement. And that's why Black Panther was a success.

My interest in advertising started over six years ago, and I have probably read more than 30 pieces titled in the lines of "THE DEATH OF ADVERTISING", yet the great industry continues to thrive.

Advertising will never die. Wipe out the entire black race, and then we might see the death of advertising. The age of consumerism started to blossom when blacks started getting a seat at the table, and with consumerism on the rise, advertising will sneak in to hold its hand, so they walk side by side.

There's a new wave mixed with so much beautiful tension, which I suspect is due to a new generation of people coming toe to toe with archaic systems, be part of it!

An Open Letter to the Namibian Creative Industry

Firstly, you are doing fantastic, darling!

You have won 2017.

It is impossible not to look forward to this year, as the pieces you dropped in 2k17 were introductory gems.

The creative industry, who are you lot? People might ask, but I refer to more than 15 industries extending from the arts to science and technology. 

The notion has for years remained very broad as it embraces cultural goods and services and the domain of research, development, and entertainment. What is the relationship between commerce and art, they might ask? You lot have all the answers.

The industry was accustomed to creating bland and mediocre work that brought about relaxation when it is supposed to consistently urge us to get out of our comfort zones and creatively stretch the length of what is not impossible. And oh boy, did you push the realms of possibility in the year 2017. 

Of course, social media has a huge role to play as many concepts are being consumed visually. 

Television, fashion, photography, visual arts, with music consistently doing well, have also been bizarre. Lots of Trace airplay, cyphers, beat auctions and who hasn’t heard Slickartie play?

What does this mean? Specific establishments aren’t the only creative heads in town anymore. Not only do they now have a vast creative pool to choose from, but boutique creative consultants are popping out of nowhere, and, yes, of course, why not!?

Creatives are known to be most productive at odd hours, producing some attention-grabbing severe work, not because it pays ridiculously well but because they know that their futures depend on it and that they are judged a lot. Companies will always want people with ideas, and the days of “we need to use foreign talent” are disappearing. I don’t believe that it was much of a “doing creative work” problem but rather a lack “of thinking creatively problem”.

Small wins, maybe, but we must celebrate every small victory.

Enjoy the blank page of 2018 ;)

Why I Read

“But mainly, I read because I love words, wherever they are.”

To consider me as a reader is an overstatement.

I believe we are all readers. I mean, people read daily from newspapers to status updates while at the same time, saying that I have not conceived an overwhelming appetite for books is an understatement.

But what makes me open a book for more than 30 minutes to read as a leisure activity?

I have realised that I turn to read when I have not done the things I should be doing. I read because I have hit a roadblock with whatever idea I am pursuing, and in reading, I manage to find and discover ways around such a block. I read because the author at that current moment not only captivates me but helps me find an unorthodox answer to whatever roadblock facing me at that time. 

I have no interest to read for academic purposes (hence why I struggled in school). My interests are vast, from advertising books to economics. I wouldn't say I like books that take things out of context. I love books that floor me with simple mind-boggling language because they make me want to become a surgeon and look into the writer's mind. That question, HOW? is a feeling I love because one often forgets that the written word stabs deeply at certain times. What times? One never knows for sure, but that is why I read as often as I try.

Pursuing books considered classics or "heavy" in terms of language, and thought is something I think is a waste of time. I read, never to show intellectualism, but honestly, because I have nothing to do and since I am bored, I rather read something that will set me in motion. In that time of reading, I gain a good friend and because of the excellent company. By reading a little more or just enough, you end up gaining some level of self-awareness.

I read because there is no better confirmation that the world is full of intelligent people like a good book. I read because I want to be a better communicator. After all, reading makes me a better listener. When you read something good, it is as if your brain is at a party it does not want to leave. I will never know enough, I do not know much right now, but reading makes me learn so much about the world. There is nothing new under the sun, but for every problem one might incur, you better believe that there is a book.

The Art of Writing

So I lost my phone like two months back.

Man, the timing was so bad as this was the time that my information intake was on a high.

I was reading 5 to 8 articles a day on Flipboard, a blog post or two or I would be opening and leaving half-read links on Twitter. I was on a roll, well sorta, till I lost my phone.

Man, that withdrawal phase that one goes through, the hallucinations of feeling a phone vibrate, the hasty decision-making process of getting cash to purchase a new tech companion.

The loss of my mobile phone had left me feeling more heartbroken than in my previous relationship. 

I lost a couple of nudes I had recently received, draft blog posts, ebooks, bookmarks and most importantly, my contacts. I was so naar.

So it has been a few months since my last post, which is understandable as I felt demotivated, but it should never have been the case as I own a laptop. I lost my phone when I had high expectations to start a habit of blogging more often. I didn't know there was a difference between blogging and writing.

Starting a writing habit is more challenging than I anticipated.

While it felt good to start blogging, I thought that the quality of the work I would write when I only owned a tamagotchi would be poor, and I would fail to communicate anything to my reader.

I missed being addicted to my screen. I was out of touch with the world. The only info I was taking in was from the traditional old school print of a newspaper.

It was during this time that I had more and more blog post ideas flooding in. I couldn't wait to get my next smartphone. But one mistake, I never wrote any of those blog post ideas down.

Anyway, I found the motivation to write this today, exactly a month after getting a new phone. The funniest thing is it took me a month to post something I thought I would have posted within hours of getting a phone.

Yes, screens are central. We spend 40% of our day on them. But creativity, at its central, is still at the core. That old school ink to paper does wonders.

I admire people who have it in them to blog often. Not all their posts may be gold, but that doesn’t deter them. When people see that I have posted something new, I want them to trust that it’s worth reading. This can only be the case if I write regularly. 

A Cliché. But Local Really is Lekker

By December 2013, MTC had close to 800 000 active mobile broadband subscribers.

15 July 2015, Team Namibia, a non-profit organisation, launched a mobile application to keep a younger audience informed about Team Namibia members and their products.

The discussion on finally moving from the lack of local content to that of local digital content is finally taking shape. I believe the consumption of local digital content is growing by the day. Through social media and the low-cost internet access (thanks to TN mobile for putting MTC in its place), many Namibians are now using Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter to communicate and share information. A closer look at the communication patterns reveals that Namibians tend to patronise groupings that one deems local. Look no further than the case of Whatsapp users. Most belong to groups that are either composed of family members, friends, workmates or acquaintances.

The Team Namibia team is playing it smart AND SAFE by testing the water with this digital approach.

Fine, I will confess, there was never a lack of local content. I mean, Namibia has +-15 newspapers, a huge number of radio stations, and the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation, which is reaching the most number of Namibians, has been the only media institution to openly confess that they are struggling with local content. This little problem is only one you will notice in traditional methods. Newspapers are filled with reoccurring sad stories, radio is annoying with all those jingles and repetition of songs, NBC *sigh* well, ya’ll know NBC.

For the most engaging content, look no further than digital media. 20th of July 2015, the president of Namibia posted on Facebook a post that gained close to 2000 likes and over 500 comments. Namibians are predisposed to value information from within their community. They will always want to know what is going on within their space. We may be using services hosted outside the borders of Namibia, but inherently, the content is local. I am really impressed by The Namibian Sun’s approach to curate stories via the WhatsApp messaging platform. This is when it hit me that Whatsapp has replaced the use of the burdensome traditional methods.

As the fibre network spreads all over the continent, creating a vast network of broadband availability, digital access hardware costs will drop, making it easier to use. The country might experience an upward surge in data demand which will drive new content generators such as Team Namibia to produce fresh content that matters. For the dreamers, this will be an excellent opportunity to set up locally based content creators.

M-commerce is Taking off in Namibia

I just love how connected Namibia is becoming digitally. I mean, can our president's Twitter and Facebook pages get verified already? Ok, fine, I'll have a bite on that topic in future. 

Today I scribble on FNB's e-wallet, mobi-pay and Ebank.

Namibia is soo moving in the right direction. Turtle pace? Definitely but this probably has the potential to be the single most significant innovation. The establishment of the above-mentioned mobile payment platforms in Namibia has provided solutions for people without bank accounts.

Ebank, which is linked to the first lady, has a unique approach, targeting Engen Service Stations, and in doing so, they are hitting potential target audiences such as cab drivers. However, Engen Service Station isn't the bank's only affiliate; Agra, Woerman n Brock, Cymot and Spar accept deposits and payout on Ebank transactions. 

Mobipay is the first company that lured MTC into the mobile payment market. MTC, the telecommunications company, had 2.2 million prepaid mobile subscriptions by December 2013 (according to CRAN 2014 market report). The partnership has resulted in MTC Money, a payment solution that allows MTC subscribers to conduct money transfers, make withdrawals, and deposit money. The service also allows for buying airtime, payment for utility bills and POS payments at any MTC Mobile home, and transferring funds between people, as long as they have a mobile number. 

However, in my humble opinion, I believe FNB's eWallet is the sweetest slice of the pie sowaar. This USSD option allows customers to send money to anyone with a valid Namibian cellphone number. The money is transferred instantly and can be used to withdraw cash from FNB ATM'S, buy prepaid airtime and send money to another cellphone.

All 3 players provide really delicious services. We will hopefully only find out whether the market is reacting to them in the 2015 Market report.

In 2011, Google launched a phone to replace credit card transactions. 4 years later, this has become a reality in Namibia for the past year thanks to mobile phone technology and innovative nation-building partnerships. The local consumer is fed with options that could mean that banks will have to be innovative in retaining and engaging new customers, FINALLY!