In the developing world, information and communication technologies (ICTs) can enable billions of people to participate in the world economy by breaking down the spatial barriers between people and distant markets and employers. Business has the unique opportunity to bridge this gap by meeting market demand with products and services that can facilitate development.
In a recent article titled Mobile phones empower the base of the pyramid, Robert S. Katz and Ana P. Escalante of the World Resources Institute (WRI) discuss the importance of mobile phones for development.
Excerpts of the article, which was published in World View Magazine:
- “The recent explosion in mobile phone service and use across emerging economies has had huge benefits for low-income businessmen and consumers alike. It’s not an overstatement to say that phone use leads to increased efficiency, productivity, and the free flow of information. Many living at the base of the economic pyramid still lack access to information, making their often-informal business environments inefficient and unproductive – a problem phone service addresses.”
- “Mobile phones produce positive economic and social development outcomes as they provide profitable business results. Four billion poor producers and consumers cannot join the global economy until they are connected to it. Mobile phones are increasingly being used in remote areas to make this connection. The sustained expansion of locally appropriate business models is the keystone to this technology’s service to the world’s poorest in new places and in new ways.”
More information:
- Robert S. Katz is an associate with WRI’s markets and enterprise program. He is managing editor of NextBillion.net and co-author of The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid. Ana P. Escalante is the Cynthia Helms Fellow with the markets and enterprise program at the WRI and writes for NextBillion.net
- Case study on Vodafone's M-PESA service offering financial services for the unbanked. Following a successful pilot program in Kenya, Vodafone is rolling out a service that allows customers to access cash via their mobile phones. Called M-PESA, the service allows customers to borrow, transfer and make payments using a mobile phone, transforming financial services by making transactions cheaper, faster and more secure
- Vodafone video (2 minutes) on "Financial transactions and mobile technology in emerging economies"
- Enhancing rural livelihoods: The role of ICTs – study carried out by the Overseas Development Institute in the UK. The study included a literature and donor review in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies, and country studies carried out with partners in Argentina, Uruguay, Tanzania, South Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The study most notably indicates that access, empowerment and individual champions are all essential ingredients for creating a local environment in which ICTs can contribute to rural livelihoods. Moreover, the findings suggest that there is a need for content owners to form more productive partnerships with technology providers and funders. Often the less technically adept agencies (central government ministries, for example) have access to valuable information that can be unlocked with technology. Also, mass media remain an excellent means for disseminating livelihoods-related innovation, for example, the use of television in Bangladesh to spread seed technology knowledge.
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