Spaza owner wows CeBIT

By Jovan Regasek, ITWeb publisher and CEO

Germany, 02 Mar 2010

SA took centre stage at the opening ceremony of CeBIT 2010, in Hannover, Germany, last night.

Christina Marule, a spaza shop owner, joined German chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish prime minister Jos'e Luis Rodr'iguez Zapatero, and co-CEO of SAP AG Bill McDermott, in officially opening the CeBIT fair.

CeBIT is the world's largest trade fair for the ICT industry.

McDermott introduced Marule, 65, as living proof that we live in a connected world - the key theme of this year's CeBIT.

“IT can be a game-changer,” said McDermott. “IT is improving the standard of living in emerging communities, bringing people together and - yes - bridging the digital divide. One of the best examples of this is happening today in SA.”

As part of a European Union-funded pilot project, Collaboration at Rural, SAP and CSIR Meraka developed an application that allows small entrepreneurs to use a cellphone to order stock via SMS.

Business in the middle of nowhere

The idea of the Collaboration at Rural project was to reduce transaction costs through the establishment of virtual cooperatives - a large number of small spaza shops coordinated by local information service providers - “inforpreneurs”.
Simon Matumi and Ishmael Adams, two inforpreneurs in the Kgautswane community, in Limpopo, were trained by two SAP researchers - Christian Mertz and Carsten Friedland - on how to use the system, which lets them gather, manage and track orders from spaza shops.
“This is a real-life experiment on how to bridge the gap between the informal and established economy,” said Mertz. “It requires radical new thinking in terms of software design, development, distribution and support.”
The system opens up the possibility of setting up a small spaza in the middle of nowhere in a not-so-distant future, added Friedland. “Having no address, no street name, no house number, no bank account, you can still place an order on a cellphone, have it delivered, and be able to pay at the end of the month, due to previous reliable behaviour. That is something that has been unthinkable until now.”

“Collaboration at Rural, which ended at the end of 2009, aimed to enable the participation of rural dwellers in the digital economy,” said McDermott. Using text messaging, people who have no access to banks, or to the supply chain, are able to restock their shops and pay at the end of the month, without ever having to step out the store.

From hardship to hi-tech

A short movie taken in Marule's spaza shop in rural Limpopo showed her hardship as a remote small business owner.

She told the audience how she used to close her shop to go out and restock. Marule had to travel 32km to the nearest wholesaler, in Burgersfort, to get new supplies, leaving the shop unattended for the day and losing hard-earned income and profit. Due to her age, she would sometimes lose her stock in the taxi, coming home empty-handed.

Now she uses her cellphone to order the goods and pay for them at the end of the month.

“With the help of SAP Research, my life has been relieved,” Marule told the packed high-profile audience of dignitaries, business leaders and media. “I no more close my shop, I just press the phone and put the order through and everything is delivered to my shop by suppliers - and I feel happy for that. I wish this pilot project can continue, so that I have more time and I can take care of my little kids.”

Making connections

Marule's story was a poignant highlight of the evening. It illustrated the common sentiment, expressed in the opening speeches, that both Germany and Spain perceive ICT as a key economic enabler and driver.

“We can start to celebrate as this connected world is a reality and Christina is the living proof!” enthused McDermott, in closing.

Together with the two heads of state and SAP's co-CEO, Marule unveiled the symbol of this year's CeBIT - a globe representing the connected world.

Run by Deutsche Messe AG every year since 1986, and billed as “the key industrial fair of the digital industry”, the six-day CeBIT hosts 4 157 exhibitors from 68 countries, including IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Vodafone, AMD and Ericsson.

US Internet giant Google and online seller Amazon attended the expo for the first time. However, the number of participating firms is 3% lower than last year. At its peak, in 2001, CeBIT attracted over 8 000 exhibitors.

The spaza shop run by Christina Marule is a major attraction at the SAP stand at the CeBIT expo, which opened its doors to visitors this morning.