Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 - (Page 12)

Life is calling. So is SPEA. “One of the big draws for me to consider SPEA for graduate study was its Fellows program. SPEA has had a long history with Peace Corps and supports a large RPCV community. The Fellows program not only offers a merit aid package but an opportunity to invest in the local community while making the tie of classroom learning to realworld scenarios. Plus, Indiana University and Bloomington offers such cultural diversity— all within a quaint college town.” Stephanie Waldman, RPCV Tashkent, Uzbekistan SPEA Peace Corps Fellows/USA Program W information assures that middlemen will have less opportunity to take advantage of the poorest at the base of agricultural production chains. Farmers and ﬁsherman can now get accurate market data and bargain with the middlemen. Producers are also becoming more eﬃcient through the use of mobile phones. Rural and peri-urban merchants can manage their inventory from wherever they happen to be, allowing them to forgo long trips and drastically cut back on travel time. ere is even a new ﬁeld of business growing up around mobile phone maintenance for the base of the pyramid, including ‘recharger entrepreneurs’ who serve regions without electricity in Africa by charging a small fee to recharge mobile phones using their car batteries. Kindred spirits, a stellar education, and the new Peace Corps Fellows Program— just some of the beneﬁts awaiting you as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University. Contact us for information on our Master of Public Affairs (MPA) or Master of Science in Environmental Science (MSES) program. www.spea.indiana.edu speainfo@indiana.edu (812) 855-2840 • (800) 765-7755 SPEA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS Smart Policy. Sound Science. Stronger Communities. 12 Winter 2007 hile the booming mobile phone market beneﬁts producers, consumers at the base of the pyramid–those with the least earning power–also have a chance to win. Consumers are able to purchase goods and services from a wider range of vendors, comparing prices and selecting from a diverse array of products and services. One emerging trend on the consumer side is mobile phone banking. M-PESA is one such mobile banking service, oﬀered by Safaricom Ltd. in Kenya. M-PESA allows users to deposit, withdraw, and transfer money to within and outside of the M-PESA network. G-Cash, oﬀered by Globe Telecom in the Philippines, facilitates and capitalizes remittances of Filipino emigrants and oﬀers comprehensive ﬁnancial services. Wizzit in South Africa targets the base of the pyramid with ﬁnancial services and recruits new customers by hiring lowincome university students to run demonstrations in slums and rural villages. ese are examples of eﬀorts to turn a proﬁt by serving millions of previously unbanked customers in lowincome communities. Mobile phones are also improving emigrants’ lives by making it easier to transfer money across long distances. While technology allows families M to keep in touch, new services have cut the cost of sending domestic and international money transfers so families can exchange money in a cheaper, more eﬃcient way. e increasingly mobile labor force from such countries as Mexico, Nepal, India, Haiti and the Philippines is more eﬃcient and better able to develop their hometowns. Information technology infrastructure is operated and maintained primarily by the private sector. Mobile phones, information and communications technology are central catalysts for global development, and people at the base of the pyramid have much to gain from this technology. Mobile phones are not a panacea. Mobile banking companies must cultivate their clients’ trust and build conﬁdence in this technology–or they will lose customers. Furthermore, mobile ﬁnancial services companies must be careful to protect their systems from money laundering and other forms of fraud, a new challenge for many telecoms. For example, Pakistan is writing regulations targeting mobile ﬁnancial services–these new regulations will apply to both banks and phone companies, a unique crossover. obile 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. e 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. Robert S. Katz is an associate with the markets and enterprise program of the World Resources Institute. He is managing editor of NextBillion.net and co-author of e 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. http://www.spea.indiana.edu http://NextBillion.net http://www.spea.indiana.edu http://NextBillion.net

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 Contents President's Note Lafayette Park Note to Readers Commentary Letter from India Commentary Letter from Botswana Letter from Ha Teboho Letter from Jumbi Valley Letter from Mununga Letter from Medellin Giving Back Community News

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.