The average Lagosian has a smartphone. Millennials can hardly spend a day without their smartphones. The release of the first iPhone by Apple in 2007 revolutionalized the smartphone industry. A year later, the first Android phone was launched. Today, a lot of things that could not be done a decade ago on a mobile phone is now possible via the smartphone. People can book motorcycle rides, send money to bank accounts, pay for things with their smartphones. It would be a struggle to remember how people got through the day before smartphones existed.
Smartphones are increasingly playing a crucial role in people’s lives, one begins to wonder if these devices can play a bigger role that is driven by social impact.
Can a smartphone do what banks and governments have been trying to do for years? Can a smartphone include people that are excluded from the global economy?
Smartphones have evolved from being just a means of communication to become a medium that connects supply and demand on various levels, connects commuters to vehicle drivers and owners, sellers to buyers and now, a means to reach more financially excluded people and bring them to a formal financial system.
For instance, all MAX Okada Champions have access to a bank and get the advantage of savings and credit services.
In MAX, we work every day to improve people’s lives and we can proudly tell everyone that we are an African startup with a social mission.
Smartphones mean a lot to different people but for our drivers, smartphones are a means to get financial inclusion, climb the economic ladder and earn a better life.
In MAX, we know that technology has an important role to play in impacting peoples lives.
