Why this news is going to change everything

Published on May 30th, 2018 By zooboole

This news is going to change the destiny of software developers and that of startups in Ghana.

I can't sleep enough since I read this news. I have no idea if I am the only one who could sense the strength of the financial tornado that it blowing towards us. I am already boiling.

Paypal in Ghana

This changes everything, and everything changes everyone.

Why am I so excited?

Good question. Let's start with the best part. I have been a PayPal fan since the first time I heard about it back then in 2003 or so. I have used PayPal several times to receive and pay online. I have used Paypal's API on this website to run the premium part when I launched it first, and I am about to reactivate it again.

I know how sweet, sure transactions are. They are the spirits of every successful business.

Here is the point. Paypal has been the giant of online payments processing for about two decades. But during all this time, the majority of African countries were blacklisted, including Ghana. Among the other countries that could use it, only few could receive. They could only send. That is a terrible limitation.

Ghana is one of the most connected countries in West Africa. It has a large amount of modern-modeled businesses and a good consumer base of technologies. Thank God the Vice president is among us. LoL.

This category of people is not only in Ghana, we found them everywhere in this world. This creates a whole different market. Millions of people are connected to the Web every day and take part in this new globalization system. Millions of companies have made their presence on the web a priority.

Today, the giants of the world economy are those companies that got the right way to use this opportunity. Look at Amazon, Facebook, Google, Twitter, et cetera. They wouldn't have succeeded without payment processing through the Internet. And that's exactly the opportunity Paypal will bring to Ghana.

But, we had mobile money and services like ExpressPay, eTranzact, and Hubtel

Yes, I know. All these services are connected to the same data bus — The Bank of Ghana. And it's only Ghana.

The Mobile money network is main controlled(technologically) by the telcos, but the regulations are from the Bank of Ghana.

This system, from its start, is based on technologies. That facilitated its interoperability and the expansion of their APIs.

So, companies like Hubtel, ExpressPay, and eTranzact use those APIs to allow us to integrate the mobile Money and SMS services to our various applications. This means you can go to a website or a mobile application and make payment from your phone to someone else or to a company. That's good. Trust me, many countries surrounding Ghana don't even have that one.

The only big limitation with the current system is that it only works inside the country. Imagine you want to sell a painting. You have Mrs. Tomson in London who is interested in it, but she won't be able to send you the money. You try to take it to West Hills Mall. You go there throughout the month no Ghanaian even asks the price. Remember I mentioned that issue in this article. Most people in our countries don't consume. It comes from outside.

But, you won't be able to send/receive money to/from bank accounts that easily. The banking system is the most complicated thing in Africa. Not only in Ghana. It's still spiritual. It has moods and feelings. You don't play with that.

Although these companies also offer the possibilities of processing transactions on bank accounts, it's still kind of manual work. You will realize that such transactions usually need some two to three days to be settled.

And, PayPal makes that easy. Your bank account can receive funds in seconds from anywhere in this world.

Imagine you can send and receive funds in/from your bank account in seconds. If we add that to the Mobile money system we already have, we will become one of the most open economies.

And, what exactly is that Paypal?

Paypal is a payment processing gateway. The process credit cards and offer virtual accounts which you can use to order/sell online.

You create an account with Paypal by providing your details and an email. Then you will link your Paypal account to a credit card or to a bank account. When you want to send/receive the money you use your email.

That minimizes the risk of credit card frauds. Paypal can verify a transaction and return funds if necessary. Paypal handles conflicts. You can integrate Paypal into your business website or mobile app to receive orders or donations.

So, how is that going to change my destiny?

Well, as a software developer you can now have better jobs. Because companies can now run profitable businesses and you will become a great resource for them. Besides, your personal projects can run and help you secure passive incomes. You can build subscription-based services and handle clients from over the world. You can write courses and eBooks and sell them to anyone, everywhere. You can even sell software licenses...

Dr. Bawumia said it depends on us.

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