Next 2 us

Does ICT for development really get what technology can do?

Simeon Oriko of The Kuyu Project has an interesting blog post  LET GEEKS RULE: Why ‘techies’ should be considered as stakeholders and not as ends in themselves that basically raises the point that groups working on development rely on technology but not enough on technologist.

At the recent ICTD2010 conference I heard the word "pilotitis" coined to mean a lot of little pilot tech projects starting and stopping with no common organization of effort or results.  I think pilotitis is what Simeon is talking about.

You can follow Simeon on Twitter @mtotowajirani

Telecom Namibia Launches SMS Business Directory

Telecom Namibia is launching a SMS service that accesses the yellow page business directory.  The company is offering this service through a smart partnership with CellDirect Namibia and Schoemans Office Systems.   The service costs N$1 per request (0.15 US Dollars).  Namibia business can list under keywords and advertise their business for N$70 per month ($10 US Dollars).

The announcement from Telecom Namibia is here.

Namibia with a population of over 2 million is an arid country east of South Africa along the Atlantic cosat.  

The "Betterment" Corporate Structure

I first read the concept of "Betterment" as it relates to business from Umair Hague of Harvard.  I am follower of his thoughts on how to run a 21st century enterprise that matters.

As I ramp up the release of Next2.Us in Africa, I am trying to figure out how best to structure relationship(s) with marketing partners.  There are few things more important to a start-up then agreements that directly impact the success of the business.

I'd like to structure the agreements in such a way that the goals of Next2.us are aligned with the goals of local supporters and project managers.   I want to:

1. Push decision making to local partners that presumably know, and understand, the needs of their fellow (also local to them) software users.
2. Empower local partners to feel that they have a significant stake in the success of the business.  
3. Reward local partners for that success.
4.  Be fair in valuing the contribution of local efforts against other local efforts as well as against efforts of Next 2
5. Rise-up  good local decision making and share it with other locals. 
6. Nurture  and rise-up good local programming code that enhances the use of Next 2

Building a business is about building value.  Value can be built through a number of mechanisms.  It may be in the people you hire, the code your write, or your company's, or product's presence, in one, or more, particular markets.  When working with partners you want to drive value both up and down the chain.  Unless all parties to an agreement feel it is in their best interest to pursue the goals of the agreement, the specifics of the agreement, are immaterial, if you can't get people to act on, and pursue, the agreement objectives.

What is driving all this . . . If an investor, individual, or company wants to purchase Next 2 they should be able to purchase everything; including local partners.

I think this is going to be important to the short and long term success of the business.  If Next2 is ever going to raise outside funds it is important that the relationship between Next2 and local partners be precisely understood, and wherever possible, be interlocking so success of each is tied to success of the other.  There needs to be a way to control the destiny of the entire organization to provide an exit in case an entity wants to purchase any or ALL of Next2. The key is how do you value local partners as it relate to the purchase of Next 2?

When structuring local partnerships my current thinking is to organize Next 2 by country. This makes sense because;

1. Next 2 software is itself focused on place organizing people, organizations and topics around place.
2. Allocation of sms short codes are organized by country.
3. Integration with 2-way sms gateways that uses short codes are done by country.
4. Tracking of marketing cost, registration and income can be done by activity as it relates to use of a specific short code and API.

If I organize the marketing of Next 2 on country-by-country basis then it follows to;

1. Establish a corporate entity in each country.
2. Next 2 and local partners would each own equity in new company.
3. Company would have its own bank account.
4. Revenue and income would be paid into company bank account.
5. Income to company Next2 and local partners would then be paid out of company bank account.

 This sort of structure also allows for;

1. Local revenue to stay in country of origin.
2. Possible way to reward local customers.
3. Mechanism to track "profitability" and "performance" of one country to another
4. Mechanism by which local Next2 may earn equity ownership in Next 2.

So how do I build a corporate structure that will align interest of Next2 with local "hereos?"  Does a western concept of a for-profit, limited liability corporation (corp LLC) founded in the State of Delaware in the United States really make sense for operating a software business whose potential customers are primarily in Africa (or other developing country)?  

I was hoping to discover some sort of hybrid structure somewhere between a corporation with limited liability and a membership cooperative where employees, customers or suppliers own the company, or a significant part of the company.  A cooperative type structure would allow for broad local participation (even to the customer level) and shared decision making but may be a hindrance when it comes to a sale.

From Umair Haque's most recent blog about role of "social media tools" -- It means thinking more carefully how to utilize those tools to get a tiny bit (or a heckuva lot) more significant, and starting to mean something in enduring terms. The deepest test of a 21st century business isn't just whether it glitters, but whether it can create thick value, that endures, benefits, and multiplies: whether it matters.

 

Jerry Jeff Walker Hill Country Rain

 

Seeding African Tech Start-ups with Western Technology

There needs to be a distinction made between ICT for development and ICT in developing countries  -- Ken Burns, Frontline SMS

I've been watching, and participating where I can, in discussions about the business opportunities in Africa.  They are tremendous; especially, as they relate to computer and telecommunication services.  I think the opportunity in ICT is being distinctly overlooked by western tech start-ups and in some ways being mismanaged by advisors to African tech start-ups.

But, first a story.  I did not start Next2.us to make money.  I am in my 50's and motivate by working on larger problems.  Next2.us, I admit, is not pretty from the front but the supporting technology is good.  Sure, at this stage its a bit slow, and hampered by the use of MySQL and not optimized to scale.  But nevertheless, what the software does, I think, has applications as a SMS based social network for use in developing countries -- worldwide.

Background

I built Next2.us so I could use it to locate local, fresh food sources located near me.  I am still focused on delivering a software solution to help farmers connect together to grow more food and build markets for their products.  In the United States there are a lot of consumer projects that are trying to create farm-to-table networks.  In the developed countries early adopters, the media and start-ups are enamored with "native" web apps.  Like a lot of things in life the computer industry is cyclical.  We've now gone back with mobile to a closed proprietary "client-server" mentality that the internet completely busted open and will again.  Steve Jobs wasn't right when he didn't allow other manufactures to make Apple computers and Android is going to slowly end-run the IOS operating system.  It might take time but inevitably it will happen.

After working to deliver a farm-to-table solution connecting consumers to local farmers I realized that providing a interface to the Next2.us technology via SMS would open up a whole new world of opportunity.

In looking and studying what is going on in Africa I've come to a number of conclusions that appear to me to point to a restraint on a  "outside" solution like Next2.us in gaining acceptance and traction in markets in Africa. I am not talking about restraints in infrastructure such as limited bandwidth, unreliable power, etc but more of a business mindset.  

Some of my observations include;

• The development of home-grown technical talent in Africa is just beginning to show promise.  Sure there are some notable success out of places such as South Africa and Nairobi but primarily due to the lack of leading computer engineering universities, Africa, is just starting to develop competent local programming talent.
• The focus of aid from outside via NGOs and government agencies has skewed the playing field.  Due to funding criteria, local field works are constricted by the requirements imposed by their research (academic) or funding sources.
• Over reliance on open source solutions.  Sure open source is great and I use it a lot in my own solution but the leading edge western solution have moved on from the open vs proprietary debate to one of discussing APIs and mashups and how start-ups can work together to build applications and services on top of each other's data.
• The engineers and coders behind open source solutions look to some of the same source of funders (hey we all got to eat) as the ICT for development field workers that use grant money to support their research.

Its all kind of an incestuous circle that goes round and round, from field researchers to open source solution providers to funders and back to grants field researchers write.

Everyone is kind of doing their own thing, running their own pilots, writing their own grant proposals, protecting their own funding sources and contact to local governments  and while they are all telling funders they don't want to get locked into some proprietary silo they are creating a bunch of mini silos that kind of pop-up, generate some research and then fade away.

My intent here is not to criticize.  Lord knows I am outside looking in and the work of researchers and the open source solutions  they use and create have accomplished some real good and much better then what is going on in much of the for-profit world where small incremental, rather unimportant new technical twists are "ahhhed" over by the media and tech press.  The work being done by researchers and open source solutions is way and above more valuable then the average western start-up; if only. by their focus on working on important issues and problems.

However, I think there is a role for business in ICT for development.  And, I think an important role for western technical solutions and entrepreneurs to work with and support African entrepreneurs.  The opportunity is huge.  Bridges need to be built.  Leading academic institutions in the west need to partner with computer science schools in Africa.  Start-up incubators everywhere need to join together to share tech and business knowledge and market opportunities.

Tech entrepreneurs in African need to get out of the mind set that somehow western start-ups are going to re-colonize African.  Its like they have this great secret about a beautiful continent, with an enormous, young population, with tremendous natural, cultural and human resources that is enjoying year after year of real growth and they don't want to share because they feel someone is going to come in from the outside and take it away from them.

I say "get over it"  by dint of you being there, participating and aware of the opportunity you are way ahead of entrepreneurs, such as myself, that want to work with you and you are, in my opinion, only hurting yourself by trying to do everything on your own.  Partner, build relationship, concentrate on what you know best and learn the rest.

In China after centuries of being closed the Chinese communist party finally woke up and welcomed foreign partners and encouraged technical transfer.  Due to centralize authority they were able to control by regulation what percentage of local businesses a foreigner corporation could own.  What the Chinese did was welcome technical transfer, learn through partnership and then take back ownership in key industries.  Essentially, they kicked the bastards out of the "Middle Kingdom" after squeezing them dry of knowledge, technical know-how and money.

I am not saying China is African but sub-Saharan African countries would do well by developing their own technical transfer programs with western high tech companies to build local infrastucture, computer engineering talent and business know-how.

Marketing to Customers in Africa

Marketing is hard.  Marketing to customers in your own country is tough.  Marketing to customers on another continent without the help of local "hereos" is almost impossible.  Chris Brogan did a recent blog post about Online Promotions that provides a very details check list to created a marketing program.  Per Chris, create a plan that covers:

THE PLAN

The parts of my plan are: goals and resources, mechanics, content, contingencies. I write out notes on the following.

1. Determine my goal: sales, sign-ups, links, awareness, etc.
2. Determine my target: what’s a win? (Write out metrics accordingly).
3. Determine my area of approach: where are the people I want to reach.
4. Determine my resources: who can help.
5. Design my site or static resources.
6. Determine the tools I’ll use and in which areas.
7. Decide the mix of ads and marketing (PPC/SEO stuff, placement, and then social media).
8. Sketch out the content for all of this (ad copy, creative, blog posts, social networking stories, blogger outreach angles).
9. List my potential outreach resources (and develop a blogger outreach plan).
10. Write up contingency planning and error handling.

My application is for bottom of pyramid customers.  My business model generates revenue via premium short code fees.  My target countries are Kenya and Ghana.

Preferable I would like to link up with a marketing professional or organization that could work with me to write the marketing plan and execute. This may be one or more organizations, I don't know.

1. Who are the leading marketing professionals or organization in new media?
2. If you know of people or organizations that I should talk to please comment below.

#ICTD2010 for development conference in London. Dec 2010

The International Conference on Information and Communication Technology and Development is holding a conference in London.  A lot if interesting tweets are coming out of the conference.  To follow on Twitter use hashtag #ictd2010

A good overview of conference topics is at http://ictlogy.net/ict4dblog/  The blogger is also providing updates.

Here are some videos from the conference.

Is ICTD about technology.  Here is one bloggers thoughts http://irexgl.wordpress.com/

 @mobileactive: Dear #m4d researchers, feel free to upload your paper & summary to the mDir http://www.mobileactive.org/welcome#ictd2010

Broad range of international speakers on tech and developmenthttp://www.ictd2010.org/?page_id=93 #ictd2010 @IDS_UK

Kayak.com Cofounder Paul English Plans to Blanket Africa in Free Wireless Internet

Opening day comments

 

@TimBL 2010 #TED talk on open data #ICTD2010http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_the_year_open_data_went_worldwide.html

National Geographic New Blog Series "The Mobile Message"

I am looking forward to reading Ken Burn's blog post at the National Geographic's Mobile Message.  Here's introduction to Ken and the new feature. 

The World Wide Web Foundation, Mobile Entrepreneurs in Africa

The World Wide Web Foundation is running a new program called Mobile Entrepreneurs in Africa.  Yesterday I attended a Webinar that talked about the opportunities and risks in developing, voice, sms and mobile applications in developing countries and particularly Africa.

If you are interested in high-level overview of the market and technologies used to develop mobile applications for developing markets you can view the stored Webinar  or access a short version via pdf at http://public.webfoundation.org/2010/11/introducing_mwg.pdf (for statistics related to Ghana)

Some interesting things I learned from the webinar presentation.

• While 37% of SMS users send/receive SMS with other users, 25% of users used their mobile phone (SMS) to access information services from their phone operators or other information sources.
• It appears that SMS text services are preferred to voice activated services even by people that can't read. They prefer to use the keypad to enter numbers from memory for accessing text based services. (Presumably, they save the text to phone and then find someone that can read help them.)

In the question and answer sections Max Froumentin felt that premium SMS services were a good way for developers to get paid for developing/operating mobile services in developing countries.

Here is some additional information

Mobile Web Technologies for the Developing World, Max Froumentin, World Wide Web Foundation.

Although more than half of the world population has a mobile phone, only a tiny fraction use browser-based mobile internet services. The rest, most of whom are in developing countries, aren't able to benefit from the huge potential of the Web. This presentation explains why and how the problem could be solved with current technology.

http://ieee-elearning.org/outreach/course/view.php?id=84#next  Requires free registration to view the saved Webinar (quicktime)

 

The World Wide Web Foundation, Mobile Entrepreneurs in Africa

Train entrepreneurs to leverage mobile and Web technologies that are particularly relevant to the developing countries context, and that will enable them to launch new services to provide locally relevant content and applications and give them a stream of revenue

http://www.webfoundation.org/projects/mobile-entrepreneurs/

 

Mobile Web Ghana

Mobile Web Ghana is a community of mobile-technology entrepreneurs, developed as part of the World Wide Web Foundation's Mobile Entrepreneurship in Africa program.

http://www.mobilewebghana.org/