Have you ever stopped to consider how much money moves around every day without anyone ever physically holding a single coin?

In our digital age, cash is increasingly replaced by digits on a screen. Now, imagine a business that makes billions simply by selling money that doesn’t even exist. It might sound absurd at first, but this is exactly how some companies operate. They don’t mine for gold or construct buildings; they simply allow people to spend “imaginary money” and then charge fees for that privilege.

In Kenya, we’re well acquainted with the concept of mobile loans. Services like Fuliza, Tala, Branch, and M-Shwari let you borrow a few hundred or a couple of thousand shillings to handle everyday needs. Add to that the incredible success of Safaricom’s M-PESA, which has revolutionized how we pay and get paid, and you begin to see a pattern: the modern financial system increasingly relies on digital transactions rather than physical money.

Take international card networks like Visa or MasterCard, for example. Most people mistakenly think they simply lend money. In reality, they operate the technology that connects your bank to the merchant, profiting by charging fees for every single transaction—even though they never actually loan you any money themselves. So, who is responsible for creating money? It’s the banks.

When you swipe your card or use a mobile loan app, your bank doesn’t lend you money out of someone else’s deposit. Instead, they create a digital entry—a line in an account that says, “Debbie has Ksh 10,000 now.” That money is then spent and repaid, with interest. It’s a system built entirely on trust and digital records.

This idea of creating money out of thin air is nothing short of revolutionary. Think about a business model where you don’t need to stock products, import goods, or set up a physical store. Instead, you focus on building systems that move money, manage trust, and charge for convenience. That, my friend, is the ultimate business model.

While not everyone can or should try to replicate this, it shows that in today’s world, success isn’t solely about tangible assets. It’s about the power of systems that leverage digital innovation to create real value—sometimes, even by selling air.