tech giants like google, facebook, paypal and apple are trying to turn your cell phone into a digital wallet. so far americans have been slow to catch on, but half a world away in kenya, digital currency is already big business. leslie stahl reports for "60 minutes." >> reporter: in a bus station in nairobi, buses were not only loaded with humans and cargo, but with cash. it used to be the only way for people working in the cities to get money to relatives back in their remote villages. >> you give the cash to the bus driver and say when you get up to the village there, you will see someone at the crossroads. give the money to him. guess what happens? the money evaporates.

>> reporter: bob coleymore, the ceo of kenya's largest cell phone provider, says his company sought to solve the problem. while a majority of kenyans don't have a bank account, 8 in 10 have access to a cell phone. so in 2007, the company started offering a way to use that cell phone to send and receive cash. they call it m-pesa. m stands for mobile. pesa is money in swahili. >> it is often referred to as kenyan's alternative currency, but safer and more secure. >> reporter: you're texting money. >> you're effectively texting money. >> reporter: how sophisticated is the phone that you use for m-pesa? is it a smartphone? >> no, it's the cheapest phone you can have. it's designed to work at the lowest level of technology. >> hello. how are you? >> reporter: to get this currency, you go to an m-pesa kiosk. i give the agent 3,000

shillings, about $30 in cash, and she converts it to virtual currency on my account. this is pretty easy. it's not like opening a bank account. there are 85,000 agents like her across kenya, creating a giant grid of human atms. for most, this is a side business. so a pharmacy will sell m-pesa. or a roadside spice shop. this barber will give you a shave and m-pesa. and yes, you can even buy m-pesa here. >> you don't need the branches. >> reporter: you don't need the atm windows. >> absolutely not. >> reporter: scrolling down the options, you can send money, withdraw cash, pay a bill or buy goods and services. and everyone uses a pin number for security. but this is not like paying with your smartphone in the u.s., because our devices are linked to a bank account or credit card. most kenyans who use m-pesa

don't have a bank account. the phone is it. that's it. >> now you can spend that 3,000 shillings on anything. >> reporter: shopping in the name of journalism. i like this. can i pay you on m-pesa? >> yeah. >> reporter: daniel says kenyans use it for everything from taxis to taxes. is it safer for you and for me to use m-pesa? >> yeah, it's very safe. >> reporter: do you use m-pesa to buy gas for the car? >> absolutely. >> reporter: do you pay all your bills with m-paca? >> most of my bills. in fact, i rarely go to the bank nowadays. >> reporter: at my destination, i tried using my phone money. daniel, you are my first -- >> customer. >> reporter: i typed in his phone number and amount. the fare was 700 shillings, or $7. i'm going to give you 1,000.

>> thank you very much. god bless you. god bless you. >> reporter: now my pin number. >> don't tell me that. >> reporter: no, i'm not going to tell you. >> that is top secret. >> reporter: what do i do now? >> accept. >> reporter: okay. it worked. and now i'm going to spend some more money. hello, how are you? i love these bags. how much is this one? next, i buy a bag at angie's shop with m-pesa. do you use it a lot in the store? >> yeah. it's like having a bank in your pocket. >> reporter: this is really easy, now that -- it's the second time i've done it. i've sent it. wow. >> wonderful. >> reporter: my shopping ended with animals. no, i'm not buying a giraffe. but you can use your phone to feed one. am i giving you your dinner? while most transactions here are

still in cash, m-pesa is used by 90% of the adults. this technology was invented in england. but it's here in kenya where innovation using m-pesa is taking off. we visiting the i-hub in nairobi where local technology startups are inventing new ways to use mobile money. >> that mobile money system acts as a terrific platform, which a lot of other innovations has used as a springboard. the new phrase around town is the silicon savannah. >> reporter: the silicon savannah? >> yes. you have the silicon valley. here you have the silicon savannah. >> reporter: tuesday with m-pesa, they can get their salaries directly sent to their phones and they can earn interest on their cell phones.

we went mary, a dairy farmer who sells milk in m-pesa, pays her farm hands with it, and even got a loan the buy more cows in m-pesa. just a couple of buttons and you buy a new cow? >> yeah. >> reporter: actually, mary was able to buy two new cows and got a much better rate than she would have at a bank. since the transaction was by phone, there was hardly any overhead. so it sounds like you're rapidly increasing your business. >> yes. i'm increasing my business. >> reporter: business is good? >> yes, very good. >> reporter: we were surprised how much it's changed life for the poor. in a slum south of nairobi, we met a pig farmer, steven. before m-pesa, like most kenyans, he had no electricity. he used to rely on a kerosene lamp for light. it emitted toxic fumes, could cause fires, and at $200 a year,

kerosene wasn't cheap. but steven recently upgraded. he got solar power and his first lightbulb. pretty good. it's lighting your room. >> yes, it light the room all over. >> reporter: a company invented a way to provide inexpensive power to the slums using m-pesa. so where is the panel? is it up there? >> yeah, the panel is up there. >> reporter: can you show it to me? >> yeah, i can. let me show you. here it is. >> reporter: oh, my goodness, it's little. >> reporter: the unit costs about $180, less than kerosene, but still out of steven's price range for a single purchase. but he paid only $35 up front, and then 40 cents a day in m-pesa for a year. and he never has to leave the farm. all he does is click the phone, which activates a chip attached to the panel to turn it

on. when you're finished paying it off -- >> it should be mine. no more cost. >> reporter: the solar panel has changed his life. he can tend to his pigs at night and his children can study indoors without breathing toxic kerosene fumes. past efforts to introduce solar panels to the slums failed. in part because they were stolen. this has been solved because the same chip that turns the panel on can also disable it. so if you don't pay up, they turn your lights off, they have the ability to turn it off? >> once i don't pay, they don't have to come to me. the light just goes off. >> reporter: providing drinking water is another way m-pesa is making a difference. nearly a third of kenyans do not have access to clean water, often relying on a river or water trucked in by donkey.

but this village got a new pump for its well. villagers pay for clean water by texting m-pesa to this meter box, which unclocks the pump. >> you can see the pull report on our website, cbsnews.com. the "overnight news" will be right back. 's get these dayquil liquid gels and go. but these liquid gels are new. mucinex fast max. it's the same difference. these are multi-symptom. well so are these. this one is max strength and fights mucus. that one doesn't. uh...think fast! you dropped something. oh...i'll put it back on the shelf... new from mucinex fast max. the only cold and flu liquid gel that's max-strength and fights mucus. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. oh no... (under his breath) hey man! hey peter. (unenthusiastic) oh... ha ha ha! joanne? is that you? it's me... you don't look a day over 70. am i right?

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group of girl scouts decided they were through selling cookies and wanted to learn to light fires and pitch tents. they started showing up at boy scout events and petitioned the local scouts to let them join. so far, the answer is no. mireya villarreal reports. >> reporter: they call their group the unicorns. these six young girls are teaching themselves how to build a campfire, because they say it's the sort of thing they didn't learn in the girl scouts. >> i got jealous of what my brother got to do, because he's a boy scout. >> reporter: they decided they were more interested in what the boys were doing, so last fall they started participating in activities alongside a local boy scout troop. >> i really like competitions and i really enjoy competitive nature and also working in teams. so being in boy scouts gave me the opportunity to work with boys and girls alike in a competitive nature.

>> reporter: they got so good at competing with the boys, this past spring they won second place in a major scouting competition with other boy scout groups. do you think that that maybe was hard for some of the boys to take? >> yes. i think they were all a little surprised that we could do the same things that they could. >> reporter: news of the girl's participation reached the boy scout's council which barred them from further scouting activities last month. >> they're just being discriminatory and not nice. >> reporter: that's a big word, discriminatory. what makes you think that? >> because we're girls, they're saying because we're a different gender, we shouldn't be allowed, i guess, to do the same thing boys can. >> reporter: how does that make you feel? >> kind of sad, mad. >> reporter: her mom, herself a boy and girl scout leader, helped the girls formally apply to be boy scouts. last week they were rejected.

>> i don't think that having girls join and having a coed program necessarily destroys that tradition. >> reporter: in a statement, the boy scouts of america tells cbs "this morning" we understand the values and the lessons of scouting are attractive to the entire family. however, cub scouts and boy scouts are year-round programs for boys and young men. the girls claim the local scout council is breaking its own policy that bars discrimination based on gender. yet the federal title nine law that prohibits such prejudice contains a specific exemption for the boy scouts. >> the boy scouts have such a long standing tradition. this is hard for people. >> yeah. it's understandable, because they've been this way for 100 years. >> but i think they should at least try to accept some change. >> change is good. >> reporter: for "cbs this morning," mireya villarreal, california.

a turkey dinner on thanksgiving usually gives way to dessert, namely apple and pumpkin buy. but in boston, it's always time for the official state dessert, the boston cream pie. susan spencer went to one restaurant where it's always on the menu. >> reporter: what is not to like here? >> absolutely. >> reporter: executive chef gerard tice makes life in the kitchen look easy as pie. specifically, boston cream pie. essentially we're talking butter, chocolate, cream, sugar. what could possibly go wrong with that? >> nothing. it's a wonderful dessert. >> reporter: wonderful, yes. and completely misnamed. it isn't a pie at all. >> no, it's a cake. >> reporter: where did that come from? >> because it was originally baked in pie shells.

>> reporter: two pie shells actually for two yellow sponge cakes. held together in pastry cream, covered in chocolate and coated with almonds. >> we actually became the state dessert in 1996. >> reporter: congratulations. >> yes, absolutely. >> who knew? >> reporter: you heard right, boston cream pie is the official state dessert of massachusetts. >> boston baked beans, boston terriers, boston cream pie. what is it about this particular dessert that you think appeals to people around here? >> it's simple flavors that bring you back to your childhood, really. >> reporter: it's remained more or less the same way since it was invented over a century ago, at this very hotel. whose kitchen has had some famous and unlikely employees. >> malcolm x was a busboy here. >> reporter: this is hard to believe. >> ho chi minh worked in the bake shop. >> reporter: soho chi min

conceivably could have based a boston cream pie and malcolm m presumably could have cleaned up. >> yes. >> reporter: i hto happen e a plate. >> and i happen to have your boston cream pie. >> reporter: the proof is in the pudding. that's good. or in this case, the pie. mmm. i have to keep making it just to make sure it's still good. >> of course. about 80% of the people that order dessert, order boston cream pie. >> reporter: a little cash cow. as the chef and the entire state of massachusetts will tell you, it's worth every calorie laden penny.what comes to mind immedi when i say boston cream pie this >> creamy, silky, smooth, chocolatey, heavy. >> reporter: not to overstate it. >> no. >> reporter: heaven. >> heaven. >> that's the "overnight news" for this friday.

it's friday, november 27th, 2015. captioning funded by cbs captioning funded by cbs it's friday, november 27th, 2015. this is the cbs news. online spending season if on thanksgiving and millions will hit the stores today on black friday. demonstrators in chicago are ready to disrupt black friday shopping because of a shooting of a black terge by a white police officer. a flag draped intruder scaled a fence and made it on to the north lawn of the white house. unplanned landing. a