We all know poverty is a societal ill that needs to be tackled. Mobile technology enables us to address poverty but to do so from a commercial perspective.
Truly tapping into the value of smart tech to alleviate poverty and to have a social impact is about moving beyond a grant or funding platform. It is about coming up with sustainable models to enable social change. Achieving this requires strategic partnerships between private entities, civil society and governments.
This was the topic of a panel discussion on the final morning of the GSMA Mobile 360 event in Cape Town.
The group discussed the use of mobile technology for development and the role of mobile devices in providing access to basic services.
Whether it is for commercial purposes, for disaster relief or for getting market information, mobile has tremendous potential but industry players must come up with sustainable business models that address social problems such as poverty. This requires businesses, governments and NPOs to look at mobile technology, business and development from a different perspective, the panellists agreed.
People often think making money and championing social development is a bit of a contradiction, but Algy Williams, CEO of Every1Mobile, disagrees. There exists an interesting marriage between social impact, and the delivery thereof, and commercial imperative. In the past, development projects were very case-by-case-driven but now we are more focused on creating sustainable initiatives.
"Mobile is phenomenally good at reaching audiences, engaging with them and measuring the impact of that engagement."
Success in the "mobile for development" space requires finding opportunities that benefit businesses and people on the ground, said Adam Lane, director of Sustainability Programs at Huawei. He stressed the importance of having people pay for services because getting people to actually invest in something, either by giving money or their time, means they are more likely to attribute value to that thing.
Mobile technology allows governments to get feedback from the people they are targeting and this information means they can develop solutions to real problems, noted Kellen Eilerts, regional director for East and Southern Africa at Human Network International.
The movement away from a project-based approach to development means we are better able to target different spheres of society. "Mobile really provides us with different channels to reach these groups."
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