So it is with MKESHO. I probably know a dozen guy who claim to have come up with the idea. As a matter of fact the out going CEO of Safaricom put his contribution to this and state categorically “ I am the originator of MKESHO”

So why don’t they ask someone who knows. Like me. Being a part of the developers, I can at least demystify this question.

What is in an idea. What is an idea? Is it a thought, feeling, that eureka spasm you get when you stare into the blank sky and a genius  though dawns on you. Well, I wont answer that.

A better question is what is an idea worth. The answer to this, as any technocrat knows, lies in implementation. A bad idea implemented is worth much more than a great idea in the head

MKESHO, and MPESA are great ideas. The question that should be answered is ,” who didn’t come up with the MPESA , MKESHO idea”

You’d have to be a real blind person, living in a hole to not see the problems that MPESA, MKESHO solved.  I mean, who didn’t want to monetize their airtime for payment, when sambaza started. Who never thought of being able to bank their money from their phone. For the lucky few, in the IT industry, they had the possibility and capability to actually conjure up solution and test their problem solving skills.

So the better question is who implemented MKESHO and MPESA?

How many tried to implement these ideas? Well I can ask you an even better question. How many implemented this idea SUCCESSFULLY?

The answer to that is Safaricom, Equity Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Zain. ( oh are you surprised that Zain and Standchart have something going). This lead me to the other question. Who made the most noise about it? MKESHO!! Bingo. So the question about who came up with the idea is quite a non-issue tantamount to hot gossip and cause for rumor mongerers to feed their hungry appetites.

With that said, I move to amend the question of “ who thought up MKESHO” to “who built up MKESHO”

So if you are interested, perhaps your prodding will inspire my next post. Kindly, the next time I hear some random guy complain passionately that his idea was stolen, God help me not to smack him up-side-the-head. The lord gives us all Ideas. If you don’t have the gut or courage to try it out, then he passes it over to the next guy, and the next, and the next.