Web foundation mobile entrepreneurs in africa

Public Document1 Mobile Entrepreneurs in Africa 11th September 2010

Mobile Entrepreneurs in AfricaVodafone sponsored Web Foundation Project

Stephen WolakVodafone Group R&D

11th Sept 2010

Advance the Web toEmpower People

Public Document2 Mobile Entrepreneurs in Ghana 11th September 2010

Web Foundation - Overview

www.webfoundation.org

• Created by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web; and led by CEO Steve Bratt• Mission: Advance the Web to empower people • First announced in 2008 and operationally-launched on 15 November 2009 • Organization: International not-for-profit: • Program funding: Through charitable donations and partnerships.

Gordon Brown joined Web Foundation Board of Directors2nd September 2010


Web Foundation - programmes


Web Foundation - projects

www.webfoundation.org


Vodafone donates $1m to Web Foundation

“It is clear that the creation of the World Wide Web combined with the growing ubiquity of mobile technology presents us with a unique opportunity to drive positive change,”

Vittorio Colao, CEO Vodafone Group

“The work of the Foundation will help us understand how society is adapting to new technologies. We will use the insights to help shape the communications infrastructure of the future in order to give as many people as possible access to the benefits that the Web provides.”


Mobile Entrepreneurs in GhanaVodafone sponsored Web Foundation Project


Pilot project in Ghana


What’s the project about?

Train entrepreneurs

to leverage mobile and Web technologies

that are particularly relevant to the context,

and that will enable them to launch new services

to provide locally relevant content and applications

and give them a stream of revenue.

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Vision

To create a vibrant local mobile eco-system in Africa.


Hypothesis

Training entrepreneurs in developing countries on relevant mobile technologies and business models, will lead to the creation of new mobile services that

result in positive socio-economic impact.


Training Course Philosophy

> Open to all – minimal entry criteria e.g. no formal education, basic technical skills and enthusiasm

> Focus on building businesses, business models

> Hands on development exercises

> Invite local entrepreneurs to speak each day .. “this is how I built my mobile / ICT based business”

> Certificate only given once service goes live

> Create a community of course participants

> Pointers to key country specific resources for mobile e.g. mobile resource wiki

> Local operator engagement with the course


Copyright © 2010. World Wide Web Foundation. All rights reserved 13

Mobile Entrepreneurship - Ghanao Objectives

o Empower local entrepreneurs and help them becoming mobile content or service providers and get a stream of revenue

o Web Foundation role

o Setup a mobile training lab in Ghana with an appropriate local partner

o Design and develop a training plan on mobile technologies and relevant business models

o Work with local operator to ensure that appropriate services, particularly for revenue sharing, are in place

o Train the local partner trainers, and work on self-sustainability of the lab

o Status

o Project Manager hired (Max)

o Field visit: 26 June – 3 Jul 2010


Why? Four assumptions

Mobile as main device to access content1448.1 million mobile phone subscribers in Africa by the end of 2009

Ovum research

Smartphones are entering the market four times faster than PCs or laptops

Fred Baumhardt - at Tech-Ed Africa 2009

Photo by nchenga - http://flic.kr/p/7xumP6



Untapped potential2Very recent awareness of:

potential of mobile phones as an ICT platform, different technologies that are available, opportunities of developing commercially-viable services

From June 2009 to June 2010, in the top 12 countries in Africa, mobile web

page views increased by 182%, unique users increased by 124%, amount of data transferred increased by 160%

Source: Opera http://www.opera.com/smw/2010/06/

However…



Local development of relevant content 3One size doesn’t fit all

Local needs and forms of expression are better interpreted by local producers



Small players could disrupt the market4Everything bigStarts small


Supportthe small players,

then


Training + tutorials

Training +on-the-field practice

Our first thoughts…

Training + incubator

Community creation


Yes, but how?


Accra Visit – June 2010

Encouraging a local mobile eco-system

Public Document

Interest for mobile technologies

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Public Document

Centres of excellence are emerging

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… but still need to bridge a gap between theory and practice

Public Document24

Communities are users too

Public Document

Entrepreneurs?

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Next steps


The training


The training will give you:

• More insight on technology• More insight on entrepreneurship• Guide on where to learn more• Who to work with, where to start• How to succeed• How to make friends and influence people

Public Document

Choosing a technology


Simple Complex

Few

Many

Users

Functionality

IVR

SMS

Mobile Web

Mobile Apps

Public Document

http://www.myhappinessproject.com/


Any Questions?


Further Information

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

> http://public.webfoundation.org/2010/08/meea-coordinator-job.html

> http://people.w3.org/stephane/ghana_062010/

> http://public.webfoundation.org/2010/07/ghana_field_visit.html

Advance the Web toEmpower People

Web foundation mobile entrepreneurs in africa

Technology

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