The m:lab East Africa incubator in Nairobi, Kenya will tonight (November 27) host its latest TechTrend event, with BitPesa chief operating officer (COO) Charlene Chen discussing how developers can adopt Bitcoin to monetise their apps.
BitPesa offers international money transfers to Kenya through the use of the cryptocurrency, and Chen will demonstrate to developers, startups and online businesses how they can easily, cheaply and quickly monetise their applications by accepting Bitcoin.
“Kenyan developers have had a difficult time monetising their applications, games, and web content mainly because there has been no way for them to accept payment without incurring huge set up costs,” m:lab East Africa said.
“For example, developers monetising applications by accepting airtime as payment only get about 20 per cent of the revenue as most of it is shared by middlemen who do not add any intrinsic value to the product.”
Chen told Disrupt Africa BitPesa could be used as an alternative method for developers to get paid by international clients.
“Basically, they can just add a Bitcoin QR code to their invoice or to their app, and BitPesa will instantly convert the Bitcoin and send Kenyan shillings to their M-Pesa account,” she said. “A lot of freelancers are currently getting paid via PayPal, which normally costs them up to 13 per cent to cash out into KES. So, BitPesa is essentially allowing them to take home 10 per cent more in revenues!”
BitPesa is currently working with East African businesses and startups to allow their customers to pay using Bitcoin.
The event kicks off 5.15pm at the m:lab, and it is still possible to register here.
