What are Bitcoins?
In layman language, Bitcoin is digital cash that has been designed to be used over the internet. It can be transferred from one person or a business to another instantly, securely, irreversibly, and with minimal transaction fees.
At present, a seismic proportion of bitcoin startups, developments and news are centered in the northern hemisphere – Europe, Canada, North America. Notably, there has been foray into less mature markets – Philippines, Botswana, Kenya and plenty more places.
MamaMikes
Mamamikes is a retail and wholesale eCommerce site based in Kenya. They offer a wide range of goods and services: electronics, kitchen accessories, clothes, utility payments, cell phone airtime, gift hampers and much more. The site targets East African diaspora looking to buy items for their friends and family in Kenya & Uganda. Up until recently, payment options included the usual suspects PayPal, Visa & MasterCard. Earlier this year, they added Bitcoin as a payment option on their website.
Responding via email, Segeni Ngethe, CEO, spoke on why the company decided to add bitcoin as an option.
“After reading about the ‘frictionless nature’ of Bitcoin payments, it made sense to offer this payment option to our customers. Credit Cards were never designed to be used on the internet. Bitcoin on the other hand is a godsend technology for internet commerce.”
He confidently stated that in the short time since they adopted this alternative payment option, they’ve had encouraging numbers from customers making payments via Bitcoins.
“We are brainstorming more ways of growing our presence among Bitcoin holders”
Ngethe sees more merchants in Africa adopting this method especially in the tourist industry. Kenya is a world class tourist destination and an emerging hub for tech. Tourism, ecommerce and remittances are hotbeds for Bitcoin to take root in East Africa.
