Just arrived during the early morning in Egypt, showered and had breakfast. As I walked into the conference hall of the Summit, I had such a positive experience. I have been working on this dream of mobile payments being available to all for so long. Sometimes, I almost got despondent, but this morning I knew: Mobile Payments have arrived. The level of interest and the seniority of the participants was an indication that this is now for real.
The conference was different to many in the past that I attended in the following ways:
a. Representatives were truly from everywhere. Previous conference had a very regional character. Either Asian, American or European. This time round it was from every continent. Interesting that it should be happening in Africa...
b. The level of participants were of a very senior level: CEO's of major corporations, Ministers and senior officials
c. A general spirit of: "Let's build the industry" rather than criticise each other prevailed.