How Kenya became the “Silicon Savannah” – CBS 60 minutes

“Whitman, who previously ran both eBay and Hewlett-Packard, was chosen by President Biden to be America’s representative to Kenya because of her business and tech background. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Whitman pointed to growth in Kenya coming from a robust venture capital community, high-quality universities that provide serious academic investments in tech, and tech jobs coming to the country, such as full-stack code engineering and business process outsourcing. This tech boom in Kenya, Whitman said, has been anchored by M-Pesa, a pioneering mobile money transfer service that has turned even the simplest mobile phones into secure bank accounts. M-Pesa began Kenya’s push into technology and innovation in 2007, when Safaricom, Kenya’s largest cellphone provider, began the initiative as a way for people to send and receive money through texting, without needing a bank account.”