Title: ICT or Development: Why It’s So Difficult to Get Rich and Help the Poor Simultaneously?
Author: Kentaro Toyama
Source: The ICT4D Jester
Date (published): 14/08/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"In 2004, the Jester visited some of the Akshaya rural telecenters in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India. These centers were initiated and subsidized by the state government, who sought “100% computer literacy” for the state, meaning that one person in every household should learn the basics of PC operation, e-mail, and Internet browsing. The state saw it as a development project, but unusually for communist-leaning Kerala, the telecenters were meant to be run as for-profit businesses by local entrepreneurs.

The telecenters the Jester saw on that trip varied in their apparent success. One had a row of shiny new PCs in a swanky air-conditioned office space and bustled with customers furiously working through a computer-literacy curriculum. The owner boasted that he was already making a good profit. Another stacked computer equipment floor to ceiling, so that at most one PC was actually usable. The owner said that he dragged members of low-income families in his village to his center to learn about PCs, even if they kicked and screamed. When asked about breaking even, he demurred, “What I care about is the development impact of this project.”

A year or two later, then-PhD-student Renee Kuriyan went back to the same district to explore in depth, and among other things, she confirmed what the Jester had seen informally – that most Akshaya entrepreneurs fell into one of two categories: Those who made money by marketing to richer clients, and those who had some impact on poorer clients, but made little money. A very small minority made money and served poor clients.

Since then, the Jester has seen or heard of myriad attempts to make a profit by serving the poor, or as C. K. Prahalad put it, “eradicate poverty through profits.” Yet, despite the ongoing excitement around social enterprises and the bottom of the pyramid, in actuality, it is very difficult to make a lot of money by selling goods or services to poor people in a way that has meaningful, positive impact on their lives, particularly with ICT."

Second part: click here

Title: Leveraging Information and Communication Technology for the Base Of the Pyramid
Authors: Alexandre de Carvalho, Lucie Klarsfeld, Francois Lepicard
Pages: 218 pp.
Source: TNO
Publisher: Hystra, Ashoka
Date (published): 14/09/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"innovative business models in education, health, agriculture and financial services
…
New study reveals how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can viably provide access to education, healthcare, agro-services or financial services to the billions of people living with less than a few dollars per day, also called the Base of the Pyramid. Fifteen of the most ground breaking market-based business models, with a proven scale and results on the ground show that ICT can be a lever improving the living standards of the BoP. There are, however, large differences in financial sustainability across sectors.

The research was conducted by Hystra consultants and TNO researchers and sponsored by AFD, Ericsson, France Telecom-Orange, ICCO and TNO. The aim of the study was to see if and how ICT can have a sustainable contribution to poverty reduction and create new opportunities for the Base of the Pyramid. More than 280 initiatives were evaluated on their ability to create social impact, their scalability and their financial sustainability, ensuring that they can grow and last beyond an experimental phase.
An important insight from the research was that though a large number ICT initiatives can be found in developing countries, many of them were not financially sustainable. In order to grow from successful small or medium enterprises to large scale information and communication services, it is important to have a market driven approach and look at the Base of the Pyramid as customers in stead of beneficiaries. In addition, cooperation between companies in different sectors (ICT and Health, for example), between the private sector and non-profit (hospitals, development agencies) and between these sectors and government is crucial. Only then the ICT service had the potential to reach the scale necessary to improve living conditions and incomes of the billions of poor people in the world.
The study was based on a review of more than 280 initiatives set up by various types of actors (corporations, Citizen Sector Organizations, social entrepreneurs) in four sectors (education, health, agriculture and financial services)."

Title: From No Doctor to E-Doctors in Rural India
Author: Emily Singer
Source: Technology Review
Publisher: MIT
Date (published): 15/09/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A telemedicine company brings $1 virtual checkups to poor countries.

There aren't too many doctors in the village of Hari Ke Kalan, in the Punjab region of northern India. But for $1, residents who bicycle to a new health clinic can get an appointment with a physician appearing on a large-screen television and beamed in over broadband Internet.

The clinic, built by a startup called Healthpoint Services, is one of a network of eight "e-health points" that the for-profit company has built in India as part of a growing effort by entrepreneurs to capitalize on the rapid expansion of cellular and broadband access in the poorest parts of the world. With successes such as text-message-based mobile payments taking off in some countries, many experts see medicine as the next major application of technology in poor nations."

Title: Social Influence in Mobile Phone Adoption: Evidence from the Bottom of the Pyramid in Emerging Asia
Authors:Harsha de Silva, Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara, Ayesha Zainudeen
Pages: 18 pp.
ISBN: 1544-7529
e-ISBN: 1544-7537
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Vol 7, Issue 3 - Mobile Telephony Special Issue, 1-18 pp.
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/09/2011
Date (accessed): 14/09/2011
Type of information: Peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This article attempts to quantitatively measure the various influences on mobile phone adoption at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Thailand. Based on an existing theoretical framework, adoption is modeled by fitting a logit model to a large six-country dataset. The study finds evidence for the importance of social influence in mobile adoption in two modes: one that exerts pressure on individuals to adopt, and another that helps to generate benefits via social networks that are tied in with economic and business networks. The article elaborates on the resulting social policy implications for using mobile telephone services to fight poverty at the BoP in these and similar countries."

Title: CellBazaar: Enabling M-Commerce in Bangladesh
Authors: Ayesha Zainudeen, Rohan Samarajiva, Nirmali Sivapragasam
Pages: 16 pp.
ISBN: 1544-7529
e-ISBN: 1544-7537
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Vol 7, Issue 3 - Mobile Telephony Special Issue, 61-76 pp.
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/09/2011
Date (accessed): 13/09/2011
Type of information: Peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"E-commerce has been seen as a way to reduce friction in the marketplace. It allows larger volumes of transactions to take place than would otherwise be possible in the conventional marketplace, and it effectively expands markets while opening up opportunities for new ones. However, it is heavily dependent on physical infrastructure and other support services; these are often unavailable or inaccessible at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) in developing markets. The rapid proliferation of mobile phones throughout these markets, along with increasingly affordable services, creates opportunity to take the benefits of such applications to the BoP segment in these markets. This article examines the case of CellBazaar, a mobile-based electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) in Bangladesh, perhaps the first of its kind to reach the BoP in a developing market. It is a real-time collection of classified advertisements accessible even through the most basic mobile phone. Taking CellBazaar as a starting point, this article explores the potential for providing a wider range of e-marketplace services, including secure payment and delivery of the goods/services traded in a country with a significant BoP population such as Bangladesh; it looks at some of the obstacles that may arise in such a setting and discusses possible solutions."

Title: The Future of the Public Payphone: Findings from a Study on Telecom Use at the Bottom of the Pyramid in South and Southeast Asia
Authors: Nirmali Sivapragasam, Juhee Kang
Pages: 12 pp.
ISBN: 1544-7529
e-ISBN: 1544-7537
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Vol 7, Issue 3 - Mobile Telephony Special Issue, 33-44 pp.
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/09/2011
Date (accessed): 13/09/2011
Type of information: Peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Public payphones, such as traditional payphone booths, have been in use since the late 19th century. However, with growing telephone ownership, particularly of mobile telephones, demand for public payphones has experienced a decline in recent years, in both developed and developing countries. Despite this, provision of public payphones continues to be a part of universal service obligations in some South Asian countries. This article examines the changing demand for these phones in developing countries, particularly in the context of low-income earners, through two consecutive surveys of bottom of the pyramid telecom users in 2006 and 2008 in six South and Southeast Asian countries. The study finds that, although demand for public payphones is declining in general, they still play a role among the poorest of the poor, and even among mobile owners. It recommends alternative forms of public payphones based on mobile technologies and suggests more inclusive mobile services for all."

Title: Bottom of the Pyramid Expenditure Patterns on Mobile Services in Selected Emerging Asian Countries
Authors: Aileen Agüero, Aileen Agüero, Juhee Kang
Pages: 14 pp.
ISBN: 1544-7529
e-ISBN: 1544-7537
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Vol 7, Issue 3 - Mobile Telephony Special Issue, 19-32 pp.
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/09/2011
Date (accessed): 13/09/2011
Type of information: Peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This article analyzes patterns of expenditure on mobile phone services at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP), following users in six Asian countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Thailand. We examine whether mobile phone services in the selected countries display characteristics of a luxury good or those of a necessity. We first evaluate the expenditure patterns of mobile phone services among five income groups within the BoP. Then, we estimate the income elasticity of mobile phone services using Engel curves. Based on these analyses, we conclude that mobile phone services are necessities at the BoP. We also find that any increase in price or tax adds the greatest burden on the poorest of the poor. We argue that the current high tax on mobile phone services in developing countries in Asia has an adverse effect on the poor."

Title: Tweaking technology for the bottom four billion
Author: Kafil Yamin
Source: SciDev.Net
Date (published): 30/07/2010
Date (accessed): 03/08/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Texting is great if you are literate. But for those who cannot read and write it is a useless feature of a piece of technology — the mobile phone — that is otherwise beautifully pro-poor.

Romdoul Kim, who works for the nongovernmental organisation Innovative Support To Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters [InSTEDD] in Cambodia, would muse on this problem as she witnessed its consequences: the poor could not benefit from the flow of information that could otherwise have been passing between health workers and patients in her area.

The solution, Romdoul told a conference earlier this year in Jakarta, Indonesia, was GeoChat, a facility that turns the spoken word into the written word and allows information to be gathered on subjects ranging from disease outbreaks to rural businesses.

GeoChat is an example of a technology that has been tweaked and adapted so it can reach the poorest people — those who inhabit the "base of the pyramid", or BoP.

Title: Bottom of the Pyramid Expenditure Patterns on Mobile Phone Services in Selected Emerging Asian Countries
Authors: Aileen Agüero, Harsha de Silva
Pages: 29 pp.
Source: CPRsouth
Date (published): 15/12/2009
Date (accessed): 22/12/2009
Type of information: conference paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
This paper evaluates the importance of mobile telephone expenditure in consumer budgets of the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Thailand. We examine if mobile phone services in the selected countries display characteristics of a luxury good or that of a necessity. Upon evaluating the expenditure patterns as a share of total personal income we conclude the service to be a necessity.
Welfare and poverty issues are then addressed with the estimation of Engel curves, as they show how consumption of various goods and services change with variations in the consumer’s income. We estimate Engel curves for expenditure on mobile telephone services for the BOP in the selected countries to show that mobile phones are part of everyday lives among the selected consumer group.

See also:
Presentation pdf

Title: The Future of the Public Phone: Findings from a six-country Asian study of telecom use at the BOP
Author: Nirmali Sivapragasam
Pages: 26 pp.
Source: CPRsouth
Date (published): 15/12/2009
Date (accessed): 21/12/2009
Type of information: conference paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
(CPRsouth4: Speaking Truth to Power, Conference, 7 - 8 December 2009, Negombo, Sri Lanka)
Public phones, such as traditional payphone booths have been in use since the 19th century. However, with the emergence of mobile telephony, the demand for public phones has experienced a decline in recent years both in developed and developing markets. Growing telephone ownership, particularly mobile phone ownership has meant a declining role for public phones in connecting people. The paper draws on findings from two consecutive quantitative studies of 6,000 – 10,000 low-income telecom users in 2006 and 2008 in six emerging Asian countries, supplemented by qualitative research. Findings reveal a significant decline in public phone use since 2006, particularly in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the three countries which displayed the highest level of use in 2006. This decline has corresponded with an increase in phone ownership, particularly that of mobile. The likely welfare and policy implications arising from this emerging phenomenon for users, public phone providers and policymakers are explored.

See also:
Presentation pdf
Policy Brief pdf