Mobile Money

I didn't downsize this picture because I want you to look closely at it.  Seems boring enough... it's a picture of remote mountain regions on the island of La Gonave, Haiti.

Click on the picture to zoom in a bit and you'll see, way out in the distance on the top of that hill, a cell phone tower.

The one "infrastructure" that has changed alot in Haiti is that of communication. It is a strange reality that most people in Haiti, including the poorest peasants, carry a cell phone.  (Digicel, the main cell phone company in the country) and Voila have invested millions in developing the cell tower network that covers much of Haiti and in making cell phones widely available at low cost to millions of Haitians.

In addition to the voice communication they provide, the use of cell phones for "mobile money" or "cellular banking" (the transfer of funds from one cell phone to another) is picking up steam.  Check out this 3 minute video on how it works: Mobile Money

This technology will no doubt play a role in Starfysh's strategies in future years as we move forward with our development work.