Cellphones 1: Vodacom
I wanted to change my Vodacom account from a contract “Top-up 315s” package (which costs R315 a month (around $38), but rolls-over whatever you don’t use in airtime), to a prepaid account, which costs nothing a month, but has slightly higher call costs. I’m doing this because I’m not spending anywhere near the R315 a month, and will spend less now I have a company phone, so it was a waste.

So I called, with not much hope — I mean, I was asking for a contract to be cancelled, but to keep my number AND my chunk of unused airtime. But within minutes it was all done, and I received confirmation SMSs from the system while I was still talking to the representative. Congrats Vodacom!

Cellphones 2: Verizon
Got another Verizon bill today. This is from the 11 days or so of cellphone service I used from them back in June. Every bill I get tells a completely different story, that bears little relation to reality or the previous bill. This one was no exception: a bill for $174ish (or around $16 a day of use), due largely to an early termination fee. Now, I cancelled within 30 days, so there should be no termination fee — but more importantly, I didn’t even sign up for a contract that had a term that could be early terminated!! Fools!! Oh joy, another night on Skype to look forward to, fighting with their “customer service” reps.

Tax 1: South African Revenue Service
Unbelievable. The new filing system is fantastic. A simple website, where most of your return is already completed based on the data they have from employer, and you just have to confirm or add in any additional deductions (I’ve been paying my own health insurance). Not only that, from clicking the “submit” button, my refund was in my bank account within two days. Nice one, SARS!

Tax 2: Internal Revenue Service (USA) and Fulbright/Grantax
After spending the customary full day of finding forms, filling them in, attaching copies, etc., and finally posting them (snail mail), since that’s for some bizarre reason cheaper than e-filing, I’ve just been informed that my return was wrong. Yes, despite not receiving any income from Fulbright for years now, apparently an airplane ticket they bought me last year, to return to South Africa, should have counted as income, and so my return should have been routed through Fulbright’s tax services (Grantax). Nevermind that the cost of the ticket never went through me, or indeed that I didn’t ever know how much it even cost. This also means that I’m supposed to pay tax on a supposedly “free” ticket. And, of course, deduce these facts through the power of mind-reading.

This all arose because the IRS sent my refund check to Grantax instead of into my bank account, like my return requested. I haven’t used Grantax in years, and spent literally DAYS last year trying to find out from IRS how to somehow remove the Grantax power of attorney from my tax account. Wasted days, as I was never able to find a single human from IRS anywhere to talk to — or anything relevant online.

Bonus rant: Telkom
I had DSL Internet from Telkom for two days, on and off, as they kept cancelling it for reasons known best (if at all) to them. Still trying to sort out ludicrous billing. Top tip for Telkom: speak to Vodacom or SARS.

Phew! I feel better after that rant. Back to work — starting the new job at the end of the week, and there’s lots to get done before then. But I’m off to Austria for some training on Saturday, which should be great!

My first impression of Lusaka was that it felt like China — meeting the plane were a row of fully uniformed Chinese policemen/army officers, and it looked like there were Chinese military jets in the airport. Many of those on the plane were Chinese.

My second impression was that it felt like South Africa — most of the billboards and almost all the products in local shops (not to mention that local shops themselves) are South African. Lots of billboards, for example, are for the cellphone company MTN, and they all have the 2010 World Cup logo on them — even though the cup is going to be held just in South Africa.

After some chatting to the locals, we’re gathering that lots of infrastructure construction is being undertaken by the Chinese government — though often using Chinese labour, and sometimes of poor quality. They’re interested in building ties because of the resource wealth of Zambia. South African involvement, on the other hand, seems little driven by government, and much more by export of consumer products and groceries.

Which, on reflection, makes sense: China has a huge domestic market but few resources, so is engaged in government-driven development of resource sources. South Africa has all the resources it needs, but a small domestic market, so South African companies are building markets north of the border. So what might initially have seemed to be a clash of interests might well be more of a complementary involvement.

Of course, the real question is where this leaves the Zambians. I’m still trying to work that one out.

I’m leaving on Tuesday for three weeks travelling through Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. I’ll be joining a few other people in a beast of an old-school Land Cruiser, and meandering through the game reserves and mountains, then along the coast of Lake Malawi ^{[does linking to Wikipedia even count as a link anymore?]}, and finally along the Indian Ocean in Mozambique, with side trips to places like Bazaruto Island. It’ll be my first trip to most of these places, and it’s looking awesome! What with camping, it’ll also be my longest separation from the Interwebs in many a year.

While on travel, I’ll be in Los Angeles, and briefly San Fransisco, arriving in LA on 5 June and leaving 17 June. I’m expecting big parties, so yeah, people over there, get organising. You know, between thesis writing. (And seriously, best wishes to all those in the write-up stage).

I’m staying in a really cool apartment in Killarney, which is fantastically central to almost anything in Johannesburg. Buying furniture from scratch has been a mission, but I’ve got most stuff covered now. Pictures are … uh … coming. Actually, I finally bought a camera recently, so when that arrives pictures will actually follow.

Wednesday Night Dinner has worked out really well, with as many as 17 people for some weeks, and a restaurant roster that’s included some really interesting places, and lots of new people to meet.

Going even further back, some highlights were Christmas holidays in the Western Cape winelands and at the coast — there’s nothing like hitting the beach and ocean to make it really feel like Christmas. A few days before that, I went to a Christmas party at a surprise venue, organised by a friend of a friend. We loaded into two buses, and were driven to an empty floor of a building in Braamfontein (somewhat analogous to areas around downtown LA). There we found a bar and small stage and sound system that had been set up, so we partied! Pitching up at a random place and having a party appeals to me, it turns out.

Looking forward, the big news is that I’m going to be changing jobs in July. The company I’m working on at the moment is doing well, and it’s interesting, but I’m getting tired of working by myself with just a computer screen. So it’s time to meet new people and work on new problems. As a result, I’ve taken a position at a large international management consultancy we’ll refer to as “M”. It is going to be a substantial change to my daily routine, but I’m very excited about the range of interesting problems that the Johannesburg office is involved in solving, around Southern Africa, including a lot of big public sector engagements. It does, however, leave me with a lot of programming to do before July.

And that’s the bulk of the news! Or at least the news that is going to land up online.

The last 40km or so of the trip to the hotel passes through a part of what was the “self governing homeland” of Kwazulu, under the Apartheid system. It’s been a long time since I was in this part of the country, and it’s just such a reminder of the bizarre results of Apartheid, and of the difficulty of overcoming its legacy.

To set the scene: the road winds through an achingly beautiful countryside, of rolling green hills, surrounded in the distance in nearly all directions with the peaks of the mountains, traditionally called the “Wall of Spears”, capped with snow in winter. The passes wind past places like Sterkfontein dam, a dam at the top of an escarpment, midway on the long journey of water from Lesotho to Johannesburg.

14 years after its dissolution, the border of Kwazulu is still quite clear in the landscape. The self governing homelands were roughly like the US’s reservations, and were supposed to be the legal homes of all black people in South Africa — thus leaving South Africa as a majority-white country. Some of the homelands were granted supposed “independence”, though Kwazulu did not reach this status. Passing the former border, one moves from large-scale commercial farming and forestry, with hardly a person in sight, to high-density, semi-urban subsistence farming. Spread over the hills as far as the eye can see are extended family homesteads, partially brick houses and party mud and thatch huts. Heavy land use and cattle farming has led to some erosion, though it seems like there is progress being made in containing it.

The absurdity of Apartheid-era development is best illustrated in the road. There are homesteads in all directions, but the road’s clear purpose is to go to the Cathedral Peak hotel. It is still the only tarred road, with much smaller gravel side roads occasionally heading off in other directions, complete with clusters of signposts for schools (Clover seems to have cornered the market for sponsoring such signs). One sees why a trip to the clinic might take a whole day — and why SMS delivery of diagnoses from blood tests has become such a hit application.

I was really struck by the contradictions of partial development. The houses and landscape are little changed from decades ago (though perhaps in generally better repair — people are poor but certainly not desperate or starving). Electricity, however, is now pretty much everywhere, and on many a mud-walled hut one finds a satellite TV dish. The rivers are spotted with women cleaning clothes — and chatting on their cellphones (3G internet and voice coverage is excellent).

Despite all the people, there are still no industries or major commercial centres. For wage-paying jobs, people need still to travel to farms across the the former border, or perhaps to the mines and industries many hours away in Johannesburg. But there are schools everywhere, and one passes a major hospital complex. South Africa is full of huge challenges and mountains to climb to build sustainable communities. But almost uniquely, it has also the resources and potential to run schools, build infrastructure and uplift an entire population. But what a challenge to get the schools right, the hospitals efficient, the roads built. And what personal challenges people face every day — how does one prepare a student at a small school in an almost timeless rural community, for a job in a first world economy? And over everything hangs the war-time demographic changes resulting from AIDS.

Hope, opportunity and challenge. And really nice mountains.

The idea is a modern alternative to initiation - a way in which school leavers could be introduced to the attitudes, ethic and life skills required to be an effective employee and citizen. The programme, for thirty school leavers, began this Friday with a weekend away in the Magaliesberg, and then runs for two weeks at GIBS (a business school).

The first few days have gone very well, with the participants committed, excited and learning lots. I particularly enjoyed hearing about some excellent spontaneous poetry in response to the weekend away.

A huge congratulations to Sarah Tinsley, Lanier Covington and Jonathan Cook for the concept and for making it all happen. This is also unlikely to be the last time the project runs, so I’m excited about it having a very useful impact on the lives of many high school leavers. Obviously, there’ll be a need for more volunteers to scale it all up, so anyone interested please drop Sarah a line — see contact details below.

Some further information:

“In terms of absolute numbers, of the close to 8 million unemployed people in the South African labour market, just over 5.5 million of these individuals are between the ages of 15-34.”

South Africa Addressing Youth Unemployment – the Most Pressing Post-Apartheid Development Challenge for Youth. Prepared by the Youth Development Network (YDN) 24 June 2004

What is BizSchool?

BizSchool is a pilot programme that is going to be run for 2008 Matriculants who do not have any study or career plans or goals for 2009.

What is the goal of BizSchool?

To try and assist Matriculants who have no study or career plans by:

· Creating a self awareness of their individual skills and talents

· Teaching them basic life skills for entering an adult world,

· Giving them knowledge of career and study opportunities

· Teaching them basic small business and entrepreneurship skills

· Inspiring the participants with hope and encouraging them to dream

· Giving them the knowledge that there is a purpose for each of their lives and to encourage them to take responsibility for their lives.

At the end of Biz School each delegate will leave with:

1. A personal budget

2. A bank account

3. A personality profile and career suggestions for future study and work

4. A mission statement, goals and an awareness of how to achieve their goals

5. A testimonial from the Biz School team

6. A CV

7. A knowledge of how to start their own small mini company

8. Various life skills and work skills

9. A peer accountability group and a mentor

10. An email address

What is the format of Biz School?

The programme for Biz School is a 15 day programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science and a three day camp.

Through a variety of seminars, individual and group activities, self reflection exercises, adventure based activities, simulation, debates, use of psychological tests, panels, multi-media, outings, peer counseling and mentoring we hope to achieve the above goals.

When is BizSchool going to take place?

· BizSchool Camp: Friday 28 November 15h00 to Sunday 30 November 16h00.

- Monday 1 December to Friday 12 December 2008. 08h00 – 17h00 each day.
Where is BizSchool going to take place?

· Gordon Institute of Business Science, 25 Melville Road, Illovo, Sandton.

· The camp will take place in Magaliesburg.

How can I help?

We are looking for people to:

· Teach/facilitate topics that interest them in the BizSchool programme

· Lead small groups

· Mentor the delegates

· Assist with the camp

· Assist with transport

· Sponsor or part sponsor a delegate: The programme costs R3000 per participant.

· Sponsorship and funding of programme materials, entrance fees on outings, transport costs, lunch each day etc

· Telling matrics who could fit the criteria for BizSchool, about BizSchool and encouraging them to apply.

Where do I sign up?

Please contact Sarah Tinsley on 0823745535 or [tinsleys at gibs.co.za] for more information.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/12/04/biz-school/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/21/my-first-art-commission http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/21/my-first-art-commission#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:59:52 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/?p=195 Just got two oil paintings completed! (EDIT: By which I mean, the people who paint these have finished painting them for me, the buyer). Turns out there are people in Vietnam (where my father recently visited), who will paint big oil paintings like these (the larger one is more than a metre across) from photos, for an excellent price.

On the left right is our family place in Hogsback, in the forests and mountains of the Eastern Cape. On the right left are some candles as arranged at my parents’ place. Now need to get them framed.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/21/my-first-art-commission/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/17/size-of-the-derivatives-market http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/17/size-of-the-derivatives-market#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:07:09 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/17/size-of-the-derivatives-market Fascinating analysis of the numbers involved in the murky, model-driven world of the derivatives markets:
The Size of Derivatives Bubble = $190K Per Person on Planet .

Thanks to @RubyGold for the link.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/17/size-of-the-derivatives-market/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/15/mobileactive08-project-diaspora http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/15/mobileactive08-project-diaspora#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:34:45 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/15/mobileactive08-project-diaspora Project Diaspora
TMS Ruge

(A personal note: it’s been great meeting Teddy, who’s behind this project — five days of conferences makes for good friends quickly!)

We started with the reminder that the African diaspora is a highly educated and useful group of people!

As a starting point, looking at mobile banking. Many African banks may not accept the huge volumes that the Africa diaspora transfers. Solving the remittance problem is obviously a huge ICT issue. But regulator is even a bigger problem — 54 countries! Suggestion that some banks (mostly South African) are starting to gain footprint across the continent. Perhaps a better system is partnering with an existing provider — using volume to build incentive for providers to offer lower-cost providers. Finally, donating to NGOs rather than person-to-person reduce costs.

Big problem with NGOs: people don’t know what other people are doing — get lots of duplication of effort. This is a known but unsolved problem. Should Project Diaspora attempt to solve this problem? Shouldn’t duplicate effort towards preventing the duplication of effort. Suggestion: define a microformat, to allow aggregation of databases.

This led to discussion of whether diaspora should create new projects, or support existing projects. It’s hard to set up and manage something from another country! There are also already groups that manage relations between donors and NGOs, including accountability.

Challenges to diaspora using the existing organisations: too many projects to search through; and desire to be involved especially as being a diaspora member, rather than just another citizen of your host country. What about project information from government? Problem: a lot of people distrust the government.

Project Diaspora as a social network. www.mykenyanspace.net is an existing one for the Kenyan diaspora. A further comment on these — being part of an existing organisation is better for raising funds and being sustainability. One challenge is getting recent news from people actually IN the country concerned. nabble.com: provides opportunity for volunteers in projects, and has people on the ground — citizen media type activity. Focus HAS to be on providing value to the people in the social network — some ways are letting people from the same country get in touch where they are, and also provide sources of information from their original countries.

Difference with “normal” social networking is perhaps the need for “community co-ordinators” who extract key information and memory out of the forums, and organise the database and summary pages.

A very different suggestion: work on existing open source Java applications for chatting (eg. Praekelt foundation has one) / SMS replacement on phones, and make it available through Project Diaspora — this makes international SMS essentially free! Huge draw to the site too.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/15/mobileactive08-project-diaspora/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-mobile-technology-and-government-communication http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-mobile-technology-and-government-communication#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:46:02 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-mobile-technology-and-government-communication South African Government Communication and Information Service (GCIS)

Two representatives from the above government office are here, and looking for feedback on how best to use mobile technology for communication from the government. Great to see people working really hard on working out the best models.

Where have we been: GCIS descends loosely from propaganda wing of previous regime, but with different ideal: make government available to everyone. Very expensive currently (hundreds of millions of Rand), questions about whether it’s a useful service. Mobile devices is a new medium, but usage testing has NOT been very successful. Now looking for suggestions from us. Platform on trial was WAP-based.

Some initial criticisms and points: I discussed the difference between push and pull mobile technology, and how push is very disruptive, that needs to be immediately relevant. Someone else discussed that mobile should be a part of a larger spectrum of channels, and so needs to be considered as successful as part of the larger project.

Question of whether government should use details requisitioned from elsewhere, or build databases from more opt-in processes.

Some suggestions: tag messages onto “please call me”s, confirmation SMSs to social grant grantees with additional messages attached.

Discussion is really interesting! I’m so involved I’m not typing. Sorry.

Lots of suggestions around service delivery issues, but of course that’s a local government issue rather than central government, so that’s a problem. But excellent idea seems to be a lookup service by SMS, where one can at least find out who the appropriate people to contact with an issue are. Call to use open standards and open source systems, and open information — get the IT sector involved in spreading the information further.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-mobile-technology-and-government-communication/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-hivaids-support-groups-via-sms http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-hivaids-support-groups-via-sms#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:42:55 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-hivaids-support-groups-via-sms Power of Mobile Group Communication - HIV/AIDS support groups
Anna Kydd - SHM

Project called Zumbido, in Mexico: support networks for those living with HIV/AIDS sufferers anonymously but intimately and conveniently.

Project development: lots of workshops, meetings with stakeholders. Pilot ran with 40 participants for three months. Groups of 10, mostly HIV positive, also family and health workers. All messages sent to everyone in the group, to build group cohesion.

Huge message volumes! Average 1000/week/group sustained, and messages remained relevant to HIV issues. Participants’ social networks expanded, felt supported, and perspectives to HIV/AIDS and the epidemic had changed. Also debate crossing lines of class, gender, sexuality, etc. Improved mental health, self management of treatment and other life issues.

Sustainability of model: expensive for messages! Socially, though, the groups did not require moderation or supervision. Good for empowering people to use phones, and especially good for working women who may not be able to attend support groups. Interestingly, though, many groups would NOT want to continue the project indefinitely.

I really think this model would work excellently over MXit, as this solves the price problem. Luckily, apparently Cell-Life are working on exactly this! Good to see.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-hivaids-support-groups-via-sms/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-use-of-cellphones-by-sa-youth http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-use-of-cellphones-by-sa-youth#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:40:31 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-use-of-cellphones-by-sa-youth Getting the numbers straight: Use of mobile phones by low-income youth
Tino Kreutzer

Incredible presentation — I’ve always said that South African cellphone users are very savvy. This really confirms it, even (and especially) at the bottom end of the income spectrum.

We all know about the huge growth in cellphone usage, but not a lot of data on what people are really doing with them. Industry report data insufficient for usage info, and cellphones are shared (which muddies data); household surveys are insufficient — and seem to be wrong (asking wrong questions)! More on this later.

This research project: quantitative and qualitative, cultural probes to get the questions right. Currently towards end of data collection, covering students in bottom 50% of income in Cape Town. Pilot study: 11th graders in extreme case (bad) high school in Samora Machel township, Cape Town. 100% have used cellphones, 97% use daily, 75% own (very few own a SIM card but NOT a phone — this is different to elsewhere in Africa). Everything else (including desktop computer) have around 30% EVER USED figure. Used for: roughly equally voice, SMS, “please call me”s. (As an aside: “please call me”s were offered to get people not to do missed calls, as missed calls are heavier on the network).

Most said hadn’t used internet, but about 83% had in the previous day used a service actually on the intern - instant messaging, news, weather, downloads — so people are not identifying this as “the internet.” About half of students were doing each of taking pictures, playing games (mostly by girls!), recording videos on phones. Lots of usage of Facebook — even amongst students who have never used a computer. Mobile internet messaging: MXit 29%, noknok 17%, meep 9%, 2go 5% (note: large MTN market share here — interesting trend this).

Average expenditure on airtime a week: R30 — about HALF of all expenses (obviously these are students living at home). Fair amount of this is for social standing value — callphone use is decreasing and is seen as a little embarrassing (phoning your girlfriend from one would be considered cheap).

Challenges: not yet a shared vocabulary, tricky to get questions right — eg. people are using other people’s phones to get around having an older phone themselves.

Full results: tinokreutzer.org/mobile

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-use-of-cellphones-by-sa-youth/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-in-the-elevator-with-operators-pitching-new-ideas-to-mobile-operators http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-in-the-elevator-with-operators-pitching-new-ideas-to-mobile-operators#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:37:46 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-in-the-elevator-with-operators-pitching-new-ideas-to-mobile-operators In the Elevator with Operators - Pitching New Ideas to Mobile Operators
Peter Verkat- Chief Marketing Officer MTN; Vuyani Jarana, Executive Director Regional Operations Vodacom; Moderator: from Global

Some lingo:
- A.R.P.U.: Average Revenue Per User/Unit (eg. UK $40/user/month, SA $15/user/month, elsewhere Africa as low as $5/user/month)
- Churn: subscribers lost per month (lower in developed countries with contracts)
- Acquisition cost: cost per new customer
- V.A.S.: Value Added Services (core: voice, SMS, some extent data)

Started with fairly lengthy discussion on expenditure and investment made by oeprators. Started with discussion on how volume is often the most important issue. Capacity is determined by peak demand, so operators try to drive volume to non-peak times. When building base stations, take into account financial, strategic as well as social concerns.

New services. Key issues: enhance revenue; provide strategic value / brand differentiation to operator; contribution to acquisition / retention. Then go to second tier detail: interface with open / existing standards; cost of implementation and maintenance (including, eg., the training of sales people); service activation costs over many users. For example, 3G networks: will lose money for a while, but long term value and retention.

Other interesting aspect of mobile networks: huge on-the-ground presence, including in very poor areas, through dealer / airtime sales presence. When looking at marketing to all areas, need to make technology simple to present, and focus on developing small businesses around the network.

On making pitches: first tier is obviously the above issues, but after that simplicity is a key factor, especially in projected uptake.

Nothing hugely unexpected so far. Unfortunately, I had to take a call now, so I missed the discussion part.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive08-in-the-elevator-with-operators-pitching-new-ideas-to-mobile-operators/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive-08-in-the-elevator-with-operators http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive-08-in-the-elevator-with-operators#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:36:40 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive-08-in-the-elevator-with-operators In the Elevator with Operators - Pitching New Ideas to Mobile Operators
Pieter Verkade, Chief Marketing Officer MTN; Vuyani Jarana, Executive Director Regional Operations Vodacom; Moderator: Jesse Moore

Some lingo:
- A.R.P.U.: Average Revenue Per User/Unit (eg. UK $40/user/month, SA $15/user/month, elsewhere Africa as low as $5/user/month)
- Churn: subscribers lost per month (lower in developed countries with contracts)
- Acquisition cost: cost per new customer
- V.A.S.: Value Added Services (core: voice, SMS, some extent data)

Started with fairly lengthy discussion on expenditure and investment made by oeprators. Started with discussion on how volume is often the most important issue. Capacity is determined by peak demand, so operators try to drive volume to non-peak times. When building base stations, take into account financial, strategic as well as social concerns.

New services. Key issues: enhance revenue; provide strategic value / brand differentiation to operator; contribution to acquisition / retention. Then go to second tier detail: interface with open / existing standards; cost of implementation and maintenance (including, eg., the training of sales people); service activation costs over many users. For example, 3G networks: will lose money for a while, but long term value and retention.

Other interesting aspect of mobile networks: huge on-the-ground presence, including in very poor areas, through dealer / airtime sales presence. When looking at marketing to all areas, need to make technology simple to present, and focus on developing small businesses around the network.

On making pitches: first tier is obviously the above issues, but after that simplicity is a key factor, especially in projected uptake.

Nothing hugely unexpected so far. Unfortunately, I had to take a call now, so I missed the discussion part.

]]> http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/14/mobileactive-08-in-the-elevator-with-operators/feed http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/13/mobileactive08-m-banking-and-m-commerce http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/13/mobileactive08-m-banking-and-m-commerce#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:00:53 +0000 paulcook http://langabi.name/blog/2008/10/13/mobileactive08-m-banking-and-m-commerce Thought experiment: what would it be like not to have a bank account and live by cash for one month. But yet, applies to maybe five billion people — and this prevents them from being economic citizens. Estimated R12 billion under mattresses at any given time, in South Africa.

First speaker Brian Richardson, CEO of Wizzit, new model bank. Looks really awesome! Use around 2000 people on the ground rather than fancy branch offices, so aimed at the unbanked. Pay-as-you-go fees, no minimum balances. Backed by International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Next speaker: Alex Comninos from ICT Africa, The EDGE institute, looking at using data from a recent survey. Titled, “From unbanked to m-banked.” Major reason people cite for not having an account: actually not expense, but, “I don’t have a regular income.” Education failure? Current m-banking is mainly supplementary to existing banking accounts, and for larger transactions.

Airtime as currency models:
1) Airtime / cash equivalence: regulation a problem, eg., have to pay VAT on airtime purchases!
2) Treat airtime as cash: requires everyone accepting airtime as a cash substitute. (Or storekeepers sell phone use to “convert” airtime to cash).
3) Airtime can be converted back to cash: good for transactions, eg., remittances.

Lots of data available — we saw some briefly! Mostly airtime is NOT a currency yet. Zero transaction costs are vital — cash is cheap for people (though not, of course, for banks).

Next: Tonny Omwansa, lecturer in Kenya and a researcher. Starts again with idea that most transactions use cash. But 93% of people in Kenya know about cash transfer services, eg., M-PESA, plus others like Western Union. People exchanging airtime between cell networks to deal with M-PESA being only for Safaricom provider. Most businesses using M-PESA also have bank accounts — it’s a more useable system! M-PESA usage stats: peaks at end of months, and at times that school fees are due.

Some applications: mukuru.com (?), mamamikes.com — buy things remotely for people.

Lastly, Jonathan Donner, Microsoft Research India. Concerned with UI issues for users, especially illiterate ones. Many differences in different markets in how people use things and regulatory frameworks, but universally we need to look at links between design, adoption, and impact. Design approach needs to take into account existing systems for transferring value, as well as socially-embed transactions (giving to family vs. lending to friends). Determines size and frequency of transactions, handset usage patterns, etc. Are we replacing a wallet or a bus driver that takes cash to our friend far away?

These usage patterns determine what metrics we should use for impact. Ended with four “types” of transaction:
- P2P transfers (remittances, transfers)
- Payments (utility bills)
- Disbursements (payroll, pensions)
- Aggregations (fundraising, shared lending)
All of these will have VERY different impacts when moved to m-banking.

Panel discussion time: Kenya is regulated such that receiving money doesn’t require a banking license, which allows things like M-PESA more easily (they also don’t offer interest). This is very rare. Regulation, however, is also necessary.

Zero transaction costs plus no interest — is it a valid model to make money only on the rolling balances held? Brian mentions how for cellphone operators and other businesses, merely the reduction in customer churn makes the rest of their business more profitable.

“Bank” may not be the best model — pawn shops and bus drivers carrying cash around for people may be better models (even if it is a bank behind it).

Brian suggested that the best model is to focus on domestic transfers first, for regulatory reasons — which is counter to usual model of international remittances. Similar problem when looking at interoperability between different systems, even domestically. Money quote: “Mustn’t underestimate the difficulty of the cash-in cash-out question.” Domestic vs. international: international regulation forces local changes in systems for compliance, but nothing is entirely local anymore. Suggestion on interoperability: look at the early history of how this develop in banking long ago.

Effects on society of adding m-banking: Look first for amplification of existing dynamics, then change. Possible changes: women have more control; negative is makes people stay on phone, and spend too much if it’s easy; psychological empowerment.

Some suggestions on what the future will hold: operators, banks will understand families more; expanding applications to support personal finance as well as banking. There are many huge organisations with vested interest, so only collaborative models will work.

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