Computer scientist Carol Realini was planning to take early retirement after Chordiant Software, a customer-relationship management software company she chaired, went public in 2000. Relishing her newfound freedom, Realini went on a social-action mission to Africa. The experience was eye opening, to say the least: In the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), she saw people haul sacks of devalued currency to local vendors to buy scratch cards that would provide a few minutes’ calling time on their mobile phones.
Pondering that image, Realini wondered why mobile phones couldn’t become defacto banks, allowing people to move money around in ways they never could before. “I could imagine this transforming into a banking system that could serve billions of people much more easily than [I could see] Wells Fargo branches being built in remote villages,” says Realini.
That’s the idea behind Obopay, a mobile-payment service that allows users to send and receive money via text messages and the Internet. Founded in 2005 by Realini, now 55 and the company’s chief executive, Obopay already offers services in the U.S. and India. Its technology also powers the mobile-payment systems of Mastercard MoneySend in the U.S. and Nokia Money globally.
Its biggest impact, though, is likely to come in emerging economies, where few people have access to basic financial services but a growing number have mobile phones. Obopay plans to expand soon to 10 additional countries, including several in Africa.
No Accounts, Nominal Transaction Fees
To that end, Obopay has partnered with Grameen Solutions, a unit of microfinancing pioneer Grameen Bank, which was founded by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. The goal: to use mobile technology to deliver banking services to a billion of the world’s poorest people by 2018. Obopay is one of 26 companies named on Dec. 3 by the World Economic Forum as Tech…