A model for Africa? Construmex.

NextBillion's Ana Escalante reports on the pioneering remittance productization of Construmex. A model that could be adapted to work in Africa:

Productizing remittances is a secure way for workers abroad to provide what they think its priority to their families. Some may recall a post by Thamel dot Com founder Bal Joshi about this very subject. We recently covered a news story on NextBillion talking about CEMEX’s Construmex program:

Money transfers can be expensive, and family members back home frequently spend the money on other things. And many immigrants don't know how much cement to buy or how to build a roof, so their hard-earned savings often are wasted. That's where Construmex comes in: Its architects help clients design home plans and calculate how much material to deliver and at what time intervals. The company also finances the purchase of the construction materials.

In my opinion, this system is very intelligent, because, after all, it is the money of the person who is sending it and this system allows him to decide how it is spent. It ensures that the people back home get what he wants them to get - in the case of Construmex, a house.