Not only did Safaricom need to introduce the technology, it needed to create a market.
Most of the citizen donations came through M-Pesa, a popular mobile-phone based money transfer service for Safaricom.
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"Kenya can be defined by the compassion of its people, " said Bob Collymore, CEO of Nairobi-based Safaricom.
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Safaricom had a dominant market share when it launched M-PESA, giving the service a large base of potential customers.
The main partners behind M-Pesa are Vodafone (an investor in Safaricom) and Citigroup.
"We're redefining what cost-conscious Kenyans can expect from a smartphone, " said Peter Arina, general manager, Safaricom' s Consumer Business Unit.
ENGADGET: Safaricom announces the Yolo, Africa's first Intel-powered smartphone
M-PESA, first launched by the Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom, has since expanded mobile money services into other developing nations.
In Kenya the government took the enlightened approach of allowing M-PESA to go ahead, rather than tying Safaricom in red tape.
Second, Kenya has undergone a revolution since 2007, when M-PESA, a mobile-payments system operated by Safaricom, a phone company, was launched (see chart).
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Then Safaricom had to get its millions of customers to swap out their SIM cards by picking up new ones from their local participating stores.
The Yolo smartphone will be sold in Safaricom shops countrywide at the entry price of Kshs. 10, 999 and comes bundled with free 500 MB data.
ENGADGET: Safaricom announces the Yolo, Africa's first Intel-powered smartphone
In 2007, Safaricom launched M-Pesa (M for mobile and Pesa- a Swahili word for money) which lets users deposit, transfer and withdraw funds via text message.
Cultivating a network of entrepreneurs inside this system, in concert with local universities and outfits like M-PESA, the mobile payment service of Vodaphone affiliate Safaricom, is another step.
Microsoft has established agreements with Safaricom in Kenya and Bharti Airtel in Nigeria to accelerate local adoption of the Nokia Lumia 510 and Nokia Lumia 620 Windows Phones.
In 2008, it launched the China African News Service while in April last year it teamed up with telecommunications firm Safaricom to start a mobile newspaper in Kenya.
It has been set up by UAP Insurance of Kenya, Safaricom, Kenya's biggest mobile-network operator, and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, part of a big Swiss agribusiness group.
Safaricom also pioneered a service which offers subscribers airtime on credit, introduced the payment of utility bills through the M-Pesa platform and also runs a robust customer loyalty award programe.
The idea is already taking off in Kenya where Safaricom introduced a new system called M-KESHO three months ago, allowing people to put money into a savings account with their mobiles.
"We are delighted to partner with Safaricom in bringing the first smartphone with Intel Inside to Kenyan consumers" said Aysegul Ildeniz, Regional Director for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Region.
ENGADGET: Safaricom announces the Yolo, Africa's first Intel-powered smartphone
We look forward to our continued cooperation with Safaricom.
ENGADGET: Safaricom announces the Yolo, Africa's first Intel-powered smartphone
While few rural Africans have landlines, mobile telephone ownership is rapidly increasing, and companies such as Kenyan telecom provider, Safaricom, have already introduced systems that allow subscribers to transfer money via cell-phones.
Since then, Refugees United has grown into a global organization supported by Bill Clinton, the Omidyar Network, Ericsson, IKEA Foundation, SAP, Ketchum PR, FedEx, MTN, Vodafone, Safaricom and others.
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In the emerging world , the most famous mobile payments success is in Kenya, where M-Pesa , the P2P payments service of mobile phone supplier Safaricom, has effectively created an alternative banking and payments system.
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"The bulk of our sales come from the 60 and 25 cents-valued phone cards and this is because the people who buy them depend on a daily income, " said a senior marketer at Safaricom, a leading mobile phone service provider in Kenya.
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