Yes, Somalia has a chance, but I'd say BTC needs to be adapted to work there. M'Pesa is a huge success in neighboring Kenya because it works with simple text messages. The average Somalian can't afford a fast computer, an iphone or a good Android smartphone. If someone could design a BTC app which could work on the most basic smartphone using very little bandwidth, this is all they need.
I believe the M-Pesa model is the way to go. One company stores the bitcoins and allows the people to transfer ownership by whatever way they are used to do banking there already. Somalis using actual P2P transfers probably won't happen with their current infrastructure.
From the company's point of view it should be very attractive, since they would have a lot less overhead by not having to deal much with cash in a very unstable society. He could easily store his bitcoins abroad if he partners with some business savy person. This would allow him to undercut his competition.
It would also be highly beneficial to the somali people, ending inflation, most of the remittance costs from relatives and getting access to a cheap international payment method.
Mr Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf seems to have the entrepreneurial spirit and the infrastructure in place.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220570113266984.htmlOne of the largest, Hormuud Telecom Inc., has sales of about $40 million a year, substantial in a country where an estimated 70% of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Hormuud declined to disclose its profit.
Hormuud's chief executive, Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf, started his business selling bread, spaghetti, sweets and other groceries. He later opened a popular supermarket.
But like his competitors, Mr. Yusuf saw huge gaps in the telecom sector. "Everyone wants to get in touch with his brother or sister, whether inside or outside the country, to hear the latest news" amid rising violence, says the 50-year-old CEO.
In 2002, he pooled money with friends and launched Hormuud, a cellphone and land-line telecommunications company. It would later expand to include a bank and a mobile money-transfer service, which Somalis now use to avoid being robbed in this cash-based economy.
I wonder if he knows about Bitcoin...
