【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