【经济学人】非洲经济衍生出的新兴产业—转账公司|2017.04.12|总第873期

WITH her phone in one hand and a live chicken in the other, Brenda Deeomba comes for her money. Her husband is a builder in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, and sends his wages home through Zoona, a money-transfer company. She receives them at a roadside booth in Chongwe, a nearby town, using a PIN number sent to her phone. It is a safe way to get the money, says Ms Deeomba, above muffled squawks.

Brenda Deeomba一只手拿着手机，另一只手抓着一只鸡，来取她的钱。她的丈夫是赞比亚首都卢萨卡的建筑工人，他通过一家名为Zoona的转账公司把工资送到家里。她只发送一个PIN码到她的手机，就可以在邻近城镇Chongwe里的一个路边货摊收到她的钱了。Ms Deeomba闷闷不乐地说到，这至少是一个安全的取钱方式。

• muffled adj.低沉的，隔音的

Money-transfer businesses are proliferating in Africa. But Zoona is unusual. Unlike M-PESA, the best-known, in Kenya, it is not run by a phone company. Nor is it owned by a bank. Instead, Zoona has built a business from scratch. It processed $200m in transactions last year and bubbles with ambition: Mike Quinn, its (Canadian) chief executive, talks of reaching 1bn customers.

非洲的转账业务正在激增。但是Zoona却是非同寻常的。不像在肯尼亚最有名的M-PESA，它并不是通过电话公司运营的。它也不归银行所有。相反，Zoona白手起家成立了一项业务。去年它在交易中拥有2亿美元，并充了野心：其（加拿大的）首席执行官Mike Quinn谈到要达到10亿客户。

• proliferate v.激增，剧增

Zoona was founded in Zambia in 2009 by two brothers, Brad and Brett Magrath. As a startup, they were at a disadvantage, having to recruit their own agents. Zoona did so by seeing them as its core customers, giving them credit and training to set up their own franchises. Some are impressively successful. In central Lusaka, Misozi Mkandawire presides over an empire of kiosks. She started with Zoona while at college. Her profits can now reach 50,000 kwacha ($5,200) a month. That is exceptional. Last year the average agent made $548 in monthly commission, before costs. Globally, nearly half of mobile-money agents have not processed a transaction for a month; 97% of Zoona agents do so every day.

Zoona是由布拉德和布雷特麦格拉斯（Brad and Brett Magrath）这两个兄弟于2009年在赞比亚成立。作为一个新兴公司，他们曾处于不利地位，不得不招募他们自己的代理人。Zoona这样做是通过把这些代理看作其核心客户，并给予他们信用和建立自己经营权的培训。一些还尤为成功。在卢萨卡中心，Misozi Mkandawire 管理一家大型售货亭。她在大学时就和Zoona开始做了。她的收益现在可达每月5万克瓦查（5200美元）。这是一个特例。去年平均每个代理在去除成本之前，每月的佣金只有548美元。（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）

• franchises特许经营权;专卖权

The right location helps. Zoona puts its lime-green booths in canny places, like markets, bus stations and even a hospital. They are often flanked by booths for Airtel and MTN, two phone companies offering similar services. Zoona is not the cheapest—the sender pays about 10% on small transactions—but competes on coverage and reliability: for example, ensuring its agents have enough float to cash large amounts.

地利相助。Zoona 机智地把它石灰绿的货摊放在像市场，公交站，甚至医院这样的地方。他们货摊两侧还经常有Airtel a和 MTN这两家提供相似业务的电话公司的货摊。Zoona 并不是最便宜的—寄件人在一项小笔交易中要付10% 费用— 但是以其覆盖率和可信度取胜：比如，保证他的代理有充足的备用零钱来兑换大量现金。

• lime-green 石灰绿

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Last year Zoona raised $15m from investors. Its outlets now dot streets in Malawi and Mozambique, and it has plans for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such “third-party” operators are also thriving elsewhere: Wari, in Senegal, is not just competing with phone companies, but buying one. In most places mobile giants and a few banks still dominate, but maybe not for ever.

去年，Zoona 从投资家收集到了1500万美元。它的经销店现在遍布马拉维和莫桑比克的街道，它还计划在刚果民主共和国开店。这种“第三方”经营公司也在各处大量发展：在塞内加尔的瓦里并不仅仅用电话公司竞争，还买了一家。大多数地方，电话巨头和银行仍然占主导，但是可能再也不会了。

翻译 ▍晶晶

审核 ▍晶晶

图文编辑 ▍毛毛

责任编辑 ▍毛毛