life of 80

I’ve recently become rather fixated on SMS services and applications in emerging markets.  Here are some ways that SMS is being used:

Getting Information

There are a few companies providing standard commercial endeavoers with SMS customer surveys and customer service questionnaires.  These seem to be more available in South Africa, but I’ve seen websites for similar services in India and Nigeria.  On the right is an example from Surveys per SMS of South Africa.  Populi.net’s Mobile Researcher uses SMS technology to provide field workers a tool to execute surveys and collect data without paper.

Providing Information

Several organizations are using SMS to provide information to cell-phone users.  Most notably, Google is getting into the game with the Uganda launch of their AppLab mobile applications, co-developed with the Grameen Foundation.  Users can get health advice, locate the nearest clinic, agricultural tips- even find a buyer for their agricultural commodity.  Smaller startups are also getting in the game.  For example, Nigerian web portal eNowNow has begun providing traffic information (obtained by sending out people with bikes and cell phones to key traffice areas) in Lagos, Nigeria using a Google maps mashup.

Open-Source Platforms

There are even free, open-source SMS data platforms being launched with the world of international development in mind.  RapidSMS was used by six graduate students at Columbia School to create RapidSMS Child Malnutrition Surveillance, a system for health practitioners to share child treatment and nutrition information.  The project recently won first place in the USAID Development 2.0 Challenge.  Other RapidSMS projects include food management during famine in Ethiopia and monitoring bednet distribution in Nigeria.  Ushahidi is another open-source SMS platform (and a runner-up in the USAID Development 2.0 Challenge), has more of a focus on empowering cell-phone users to share information, including Vote Report India, a citizen-led election monitoring campaign, and Unsung Peace Heroes, where anyone can nominate fellow citizens who provided help during the Kenyan election violence.

InSTEDD is a platform specifically for disaster and disease relief.  SMS is particularly suited to disaster relief as SMS capability often remains available long after the phone systems are down.  The core application is GeoChat, which uses SMS technology to share information and locations.  To support these efforts are other applications for combining information from various systems (such as survivor databases) and analyzing large streams of information, including twitter feeds.

I have always been a fan of Innocentive, but they just keep getting better.

Innocentive is a open innovation marketplace where seekers (often large corporations like Eli Lilly and Proctor & Gamble) post challenges with monetary awards. For instance, seekers are currently looking for technology to preserve bread texture ($40,000), a grain moisture/ wetness sensor system ($20,000), and an outdoor mobile wireless network ($25,000).

The innovation model is interesting enough for these science and technology applications, but Innocentive has recently embraced the non-profit and social innovation crowd (see this article in Fast Company). For instance, the Rockefeller Foundation supports a whole list of challenges related to development for poor and vulnerable populations. Last fall a 31-year-old Texan won $20,000 for his idea for a solar-powered router. The seeking organization, ASSET, breaks the cycle of the sex industry by providing training for children of sex workers and girls rescued from trafficking in India. The training focuses on technology and computer skills, but unreliable electricity in some areas makes operations difficult. The solar-powered router will provide more hours for training.

Full disclosure: I also love Innocentive because I recently participated in my first challenge and won $3,000!

Yesterday I went to Maria’s house for lunch. Maria is the cook for the family who’s apartment I stay in and I’ll admit I was a little scared to have lunch at her house. Here’s why: a few days earlier we were at her sister’s three-room home in Bandra, which doubles as a general store/ shop. The three rooms are a kitchen, dining room, and bedroom/ tv room; it was probably 500 sq. ft. or less and opened in the back onto a garbage-ridden waterfront. What scared me was when Maria described herself as “poor” and her sister as “rich”. If this was “rich”, what was Maria’s place like? It turns out that Maria’s home is about the same, just not in such a convenient and central location; it’s at least 1 hour away from anywhere in Mumbai no matter what transportation you use. There’s no running water (there was a well right outside) and the electricity only worked about half the time I was there, but it was clean, well-kept, and reasonably spacious.

I was a celebrity in the neighborhood; everyone came out to meet me, the white foreigner. Since my Hindi is quite bad and I can’t carry on conversations, I passed time before lunch entertaining the neighborhood kids by making videos of them on my digital camera and then showing them the videos. Even though the videos were rather simple, this was endless entertainment for both the kids and me. They, of course, became shy when the tape was rolling, unwilling to dance around anymore, even though Sabina (the short-haired girl in red) was a totally hilarious spaz the rest of the time. She also got the biggest kick out of the videos.The parents of the kids came to watch the videos as well, and quickly asked me “kitne paisa?”- how much money- for the camera. At $200 it’s a little out of their price range, but it made me think maybe there’s business opportunity for low/ medium quality video transferred to DVDs. Most people in this neighborhood had TVs and many had DVD players.

Here’s a quick list of technologies and companies in India that serve the average Indian:

• A Little World/ Zero Foundation: This company and its foundation intend to use technology to bring low-cost solutions to the bottom of the pyramid. Their most recent success is Go Mumbai, a system they developed (and subsequently sold off) which uses smart cards to replace paper tickets for Mumbai trains and buses.
• Solar-powered Routers: A 31-year old Texan came up with the winning design in a recent Innocentive challenge sponsored by ASSET India, a non-profit using technology for children of sex workers to connect them to better opportunities. Zacary Brown’s Linux-based solution met all the challenge requirements, including using low-cost readily-available hardware. (I learned about this through the ThinkChangeIndia blog.)
• Drishtee Kiosks: Drishtree has been providing kiosks in rural India for 8 years. Current services provided include access to government records, spoken English training, youth education, certificate filing, banking, and reports of commodity prices at different markets, but I believe this is just the beginning of what could be offered through this platform. As for a business model, Drishtree has a fixed revenue sharing agreement with each kiosk owner and a variable revenue agreement with the service providers.

If you haven’t already heard, Indian conglomerate and car-maker Tata is launching a Rs. 1 lakh ($2500) “people’s car” in October. Tata decided to put the plant in West Bengal for lower costs and to spur economic activity in the state. They even co-located suppliers, a necessity when shooting for a $2500 price tag. However, some in the state are crying foul about the appropriation of farmland for the project. I don’t know the details and have so little understanding of Indian politics I wouldn’t begin to put forth an opinion, but the most common one I’ve heard is that this is clearly political maneuvering because otherwise this would have been settled years ago when the project was started (I referred to this project in my b-school essays 3 years ago). Too bad either way for West Bengal, who might get a bad name in the business community. However, production is moving forward and none of this has stopped the excitement for the Nano. Check out what Vincy thinks on his auto-rikshaw. (By the way, personalization of vehicles is everywhere here. More on that later. )

I totally want one, but they are not street-legal in the US because they don’t meet safety standards. Safety is not as much a part of the culture here in India, with entire families of 5 traveling on a single motorcycle with no helmets.