Last July, Kenya became the first sub-Saharan country to launch an open data government site enabling its citizens to gain access to vital information. After only six months, Kenya’s Open Data Initiaitve (KODI) is still a work in progress, but it’s already reshaping Kenya’s culture of government.

When KODI was launched, Kenya was only the 22nd country with an open government portal. Today, 30 countries have live, open government sites, though dozens of other countries are in some stage of developing their own. Kenya’s early adoption is due in large part to the efforts of open data advocates both within Kenya’s government and among its influential technology community.

Whether Kenya’s open government will have a lasting, positive impact depends on how Kenyans use the information over time. But KODI’s successful launch illustrates what’s possible when government and technology converge to serve the needs of society.

Many stakeholders, one vision 

Last month, the World Bank released a detailed report about KODI that serves as a case study for open government advocates and practitioners everywhere. Among the takeaways, one can learn how a diverse group of stakeholders from the public, civic and private sectors coalesced to do something tough but important, despite their differences.

Gathering, structuring and publishing large data sets presented KODI’s developers with complex technical challenges. The portal makes available hundreds of data sets from the country’s 2009 census, and from health, education, infrastructure, water and sanitation services. The World Bank provided its development data.

Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Kenya’s Permanent Secretary of Information and Communications was the project driver with vigorous support from Paul Kukubo of Kenya’s ICT Board, and various government agencies.

To garner impetus and support, Ndemo forged a series of critical partnerships with the World Bank and Google, which both provided technical assistance, as well as with a host of local teams.

The platform is powered by Socrata, a Seattle-based company that fashions platforms for local, state and federal governments in the U.S., including open data sites for the city governments of Chicago and Seattle.

Choosing a U.S. firm’s platform rather than to use local developers raised initial concerns. But given the project’s aggressive timetable, the team settled on Socrata, one of only a few companies in the world with the capacity and experience in handling mammoth data sets.

Kenya’s celebrated technology community was instrumental in moving the project forward. Nairobi’s iHub, an “open space” community for developers, played a critical role, as did Ushahidi, the country’s homegrown crisis-mapping agency. (iHub developers built a mobile app enabling a user to locate Constituency Development fund projects and add images of them. The Ushahidi team mashed up census data with health services data on their Huduma site.)

Giant Leap forward

KODI’s launch marks a new chapter in Kenya’s government. Only four years after the country was rocked by post-election violence leaving 1,000 people killed and over a half a million displaced, Kenya fulfilled its mandate of providing citizens with unprecedented transparency and accountability.

Kenya’s President, Mwai Kibuki observed, “Data is the foundation of improving accountability and governance.” Dr. Ndemo tweeted, ”Data will fuel employment and wealth creation like never before.”

In his comments about the initiative, the The World Bank’s Tariq Khokhar, an open data evangelist, said, “Open data in Kenya is special: it comes at a time of national change; it’s got a head start on tools and expertise from the global open data community and it’s happening in a country where the information ecosystem is still maturing.”

The World Bank’s Country Director, Johannes Zutt remarked, “This portal is one of the first and largest government portals with reusable data in sub-Saharan Africa, making Kenya one of the world’s leading exemplars of open data.”

Alex Howard (@digiphile) of O’Reilly Media said, “Open Kenya isn’t simply about meeting data standards or publishing data online. Ultimately, it’s about changing the compact between citizens and their government.”

KODI’s development model can serve as a roadmap for other countries committed to realizing open government. Its successful launch is further proof that open government is an idea whose time has come.

At a time when politics is dictating social agendas in many countries, Kenya’s open government initiative is a testament to what a society can do when it focuses on what really matters.

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More on this subject?

Have a look at Alex Howard’s thorough piece, “GOV 2.0 2011 – Year in Review” and his earlier article, “Open Government Data to fuel Kenya’s App Economy”.  Here’s a post about KODI on the Ushahidi blog.

The OpenGovPartnership noted (1/31): “Now that Kenya has launched its open data portal, the OGP taskforce is becoming less focused on the programmers and more focused on civil society leadership. This week, Kenya’s open data initiative organized a workshop (with the World Bank and the African Media Initiative) for media leaders and journalists…”

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The New Year is a time to reflect on insights acquired in the past year and to contemplate their impact on what lies ahead. This season, my thoughts turn again to Africa, home of five of the world’s top 10 fastest growing economies. Africa’s mobile revolution is spawning exciting, new opportunities for entrepreneurs and engineers. For practitioners eager to experience the impact of their work, there’s no more dynamic and interesting place to be than Africa today.

With that in mind, I’d like to share three short but inspiring talks given in 2011 by three of Africa’s best and brightest pioneers. These trailblazers all began their careers in technology, but now they’re developing “platforms” in the broader sense, enabling a new generation of Africans to reshape their future.

Each speaker offers their unique perspective, but a common theme from all of the talks is that Africa is rising rapidly. Through their courage and determination, Africa’s trailblazers can inspire us all to persevere, whether we work on the continent or not.

Brief bios and video clips:

Patrick Awuah lived in the United States for two decades where he worked at Microsoft before returning to his native Ghana in 2002 to establish Ashesi University.

Ashesi’s mission is “to educate African leaders of exceptional integrity and professional ability”. ’Ashesi’ means “beginnings” in Akan, a language of the region.

With a focus on liberal arts, Ashesi offers courses in computer sceince, management information systems, and business administration.  Since its inception, the university has grown in size and stature. In 2011, Ashesi inaugurated its new campus in Berekuso near Ghana’s capital, Accra.

> His moving talk, The Spirit of the Time, was delivered at Zeitgeist Americas. “Education is about developing character,” he says of Ashesi’s approach to building the next generation of Africa’s leaders.

…

Erik Hersman lives in Kenya where he writes two influential technology blogs, White African and Afrigadget. He’s a Senior TED Fellow, a PopTech Fellow and an organizer of Maker Faire Africa.

During Kenya’s post-election crisis of 2007 – 2008, he helped to create Ushahidi, an open-source platform that tracked eyewitnesses reports of violence occurring in the country. Today, Ushahidi operates as a non-profit company which develops software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping.

In 2010, Hersman co-founded iHub, an innovative “open space” for Nairobi’s technologists, tech firms and investors with over 6,000 members. In 2011 he co-founded m:lab, a regional mobile incubation lab.

> In his TechPop 2011 talk, Africa on the Rise, he asks, “If you’re an entrepreneur, why would you want to be anywhere else?” He added, “The sun isn’t rising on Africa, it’s risen on Africa.”

…

Juliana Rotich is another co-founder of Ushahidi where she serves as the organization’s executive director. She is the author of the Afromusing blog, a Senior TED Fellow, and a contributor to and editor of Global Voices Online.

She co-founded Mobisoko, a mobile marketplace for language and location-relevant apps in Africa. She was also an analyst with Hewitt Associates in Chicago.

> In her Wired 2011 talk, Rotich tells the story of Ushihidi’s launch and describes how the company’s crowdsourcing platform has been used to track crisis information around the world. ”We started in one country in Africa,” she says, “and now the platform is used in 132 countries.”

***

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Image courtesy of Dave Ley.

Related resources:

This NYT piece (1/11), “Transforming Africa through Higher Education” discusses Mr. Awuah’s vision and challenges in maintaining Ashesi University.

Here’s a clip featuring Ms. Rotich addressing the UN about Huduma, a Ushahidi pilot initiative launched in 2011 in which citizen reports about government services are collected and mashed up with census and healthcare institution data. More info on Huduma is found in this Guardian article.

Here are two previous posts (2010) on Ushahidi: Out of Africa, Help for Haiti and Kenya’s Tech Helps Chile, too.  And, Ingenuity Born of Necessity in Kenya (2011) featuring Mr. Hersman.

Add: Mr. Erik Hersman’s post (1/4/12), What’s on Tap for 2012?

More info on this subject?

Check out Vijay Mahajan’s ’09 book, Africa Rising.

For up-to-date info on Africa’s high-growth economies, visit the blog by the World Bank’s chief economist on Africa, and the superb, resource-rich Centre for African Economics.

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The misdeeds of Africa’s despots get plenty of media attention because they fit a Western “plug-n-play” narrative about the region. Conversely, the work of Africa’s exemplary leaders is often overlooked.

I’d offer the story of an extraordinary African leader determined to improve the quality of life in her nation. She is Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was recently appointed Nigeria’s Finance Minister.

During a previous stint in that role, she compiled a stunning record of economic reform. She was the first woman to serve as her country’s Finance Minister and as its Foreign Minister.

She’s an inveterate disruptor of the status quo who is guided by a vision for what’s possible and a zeal for instigating change.

Stories like hers give rise to an emergent narrative that’s being written by Africans. As she puts it, “This is the Africa of opportunity. This is the Africa where people want to take charge of their own futures and their own destinies.”

The Journey

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has championed economic reform in her native Nigeria and on a global stage. Before accepting the job of Finance Minister for the second time, she served as the World Bank’s Managing Director. Her remarkable record of achievement is due to a formidable blend of intellect, creativity and steely tenacity.

Okonjo-Iweala tells the story of growing up in the Delta State near the Niger River during the Nigeria-Biafra war in the late 60′s. Her father fought on the Biafra side during the conflict as the family struggled to survive. At age fifteen, while her mother was ill, her three-year old sister became stricken with malaria.

She placed her sister on her back and walked 10 kilometers to a clinic. When they arrived, hundreds of people were queued at the entrance. Instead of waiting, Okonjo-Iweala made her way to the side of the building and climbed in through a window. “I knew if she didn’t get help she’d die.”

A doctor gave the baby a shot of chloroquine and re-hydrated her. Within hours, her sister had recovered. “The ten kilometers home with her on my back — that was the shortest walk of my life.”

Okonjo-Iweala’s journey had only begun. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree at Harvard and a Ph.D. in regional economics and development at MIT.

‘Trouble Woman’

Okonjo-Iweala was the mother of four children when she began her first stint as Finance Minister in 2003. Soon, she became known for rooting out corruption and making government more transparent.

She led a series of reforms including decoupling the country’s budget from the price of oil, Nigeria’s chief export, to end its perennial liquidity crisis. She led investigations into government corruption and sacked crooked officials.

In addition, she streamlined the country’s bloated public sector and led efforts to crack down on its notorious Internet and letter extortion scams. Oil companies were required to publish how much they paid the government.

As a result of her stringent measures, public trust in government skyrocketed and Nigeria became more attractive to foreign investment. While a majority of Nigerians embraced Okonjo-Iweala, she made enemies among the country’s anti-reformists.

“They called me Okonjo-Wahala [a play on her surname] — or Trouble Woman. It means ‘I give you hell’. But I don’t care what names they call me. I’m a fighter; I’m very focused on what I’m doing, and relentless in what I want to achieve. If you get in my way, you get kicked.”

Her tenacity served her well. In 2005, she spearheaded her government’s negotiations with the Paris Club of Creditors to pay down $30 billion USD of the country’s debt including the cancellation of $18 billion USD.

Before resigning her post in 2006, Okonjo-Iweala stabilized Nigeria’s currency and cut its inflation rate from 28 percent to about 11 percent. The country’s GDP grew to over 6 percent from 2.3 percent in the prior decade. She strengthened the country’s banks and recovered millions of dollars in stolen assets.

The Mandate

After leaving office, Okonjo-Iweala continued fighting for developing countries at the World Bank raising a record $49.3 billion USD through the Institutional Development Fund. She also had oversight of the Bank’s special food crisis fund helping countries impacted by high and volatile food prices. More than 40 million people in 44 countries around the world benefit from the fund.

Okonjo-Iweala reached her latest milestone on August 17, 2011 when Nigeria’s new president, Goodluck Jonathan, swore her in for her second term as Finance Minister.

This time she has a mandate for extirpating corruption. As a condition to accepting the job, she was granted expanded control over all aspects of the economy including oversight of its ministers.

Okonjo-Iweala’s job won’t be easy. Her mandate comes with lofty expectations. Nigeria’s growth rate remains high but much of its population of 140 million still lives on under $2 a day. Institutional corruption is pervasive.

“The expectation, not just for Nigerians but for the whole world, is quite high,” President Jonathan observed at her swearing in, according to AllAfrica.com.

“People expect so much from you. Some feel that you have the magic wand to change everything. I believe with your level of experience and the support we will give you and the cooperation of your colleagues, all of you collectively, will help to change our own country.”

***

Headshot images: Courtesy of the World Bank/IMF Archives

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Want more info on this subject?

Here’s Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s engaging ’07 TED Talk and a video clip in which she talks about facing Nigeria’s generals after recommending sizable defense spending cuts to fund education.

One of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s focus issues, not mentioned in the post, is South-South cooperation, i.e. fostering trade among developing nations.

“I Keep My Ego in My Handbag”, Guardian piece on  Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s career, work ethic and family life. 

“Is Okonko-Iweala the DeFacto Prime Minister? AllAfrica.com op-ed (9/4/11).

Related but interesting:

Her son, Uzodinma Iweala, is the author of a critically acclaimed novel, Beasts of No Nation (2005). (Here is an audio reading by the author.)

Background:

Recommended for readers interested in Nigerian history – Peter Cunliffe-Jones’ crisp account, My Nigeria – Five Decades of Independence (2010).

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Most everyone interested in Africa’s connectivity revolution has seen the handiwork of Steve Song, a South African social entrepreneur who wants to make telecommunications accessible to more Africans. His iconic map of Africa’s undersea fiber optic cables is a visual narrative of the continent coming “on-line”.

When Song began the mapping exercise three years ago, his intent was to document the continent’s two or three existing cables in order to aid his work. Since then, the number of new undersea cables encircling Africa has burgeoned, and Song has faithfully revised his map.

While engineers and mobile operators rely on the map for technical purposes, Song has found that a wider audience has been using the map for a variety of reasons.

“My theory, for which I have no other evidence than the nature of the feedback I have received from users, is that the map paints a different-from-the-usual picture of Africa,” he observes.

“It’s not a picture of a dark continent but rather a brightly lit one, lit by terabits of light capacity brought by a dozen cables landing on sub-Saharan African shores either now or in the near future. Africa, the brilliant continent.  This also happens to be the Africa I believe in.”

The time-series version of Song’s map represents Africa’s digital divide being bridged as investment capital pours into the region.  Each iteration depicts incremental gains in Africa’s Internet access and associated reductions in the cost of access.

Terrestrial Edition

But Song’s undersea fiber map only chronicles bandwidth being supplied to Africa’s rim. Vast swathes of the continent’s interior have yet to be reached by terrestrial fiber, leaving gaps in coverage for millions of Africans. There are no maps that chart the Sub-Sahara’s complex terrestrial infrastructure.

Therefore Song decided to start mapping terrestrial cables, too. But that task will be daunting given that there are many more terrestrial lines than undersea cables. The good news is that Google Africa recently offered to lend a hand. The company is providing Song with much-needed funding and global information system (GIS) support.

Song dubbed the project ‘AFTerFibre‘ (Africa’s Terrestrial Fibres) which he hopes to complete by next year.  In the meantime, he’s set up a Google Group to encourage others to help fill in the missing pieces.

The implications of Google’s involvement are significant. The company recognizes the need for accelerating connectivity across borders, and they see mapping as a critical step in the process.

As the marketplace gets a more complete picture of Africa’s digital infrastructure, new opportunities for commercialization will result in Internet accessibility for more Africans while driving economic development across the continent.

Song says, “I hope that a map like this will inspire the same sort of local/regional projects in the way that undersea cables have inspired national fibre projects.”

***

Map courtesy of Steve Song. His aptly-named blog, Many Possibilities, is a Touch Points ‘recommended resource’.

Additional info on this subject is found on the Tech4change blog. Here are facts and figures on bandwidth and fiber penetration in Africa.

Addendum (Aug 20-11): Afrinnovator’s Internet/Broadband (Fiber) ‘Pulse Check’ (Aug 6).  And, here’s Matt Berg at PopTech 2010 who sums it up best:  ”We have fiber.  We’re no longer sipping through a straw.”

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Nairobi Skyline

“This is the future of African technology, and if you blink, you’ll miss it.”  ~Erik Hersman

On the ‘Silicon Savanna’

Last month in Nairobi, Kenya, a conference called Pivot25 connected 25 promising mobile app developers from East Africa with investors and venture capitalists. Events like this one, based on the Y Combinator model, give aspiring developers a rare chance to pitch their ideas for possible seed capital.

What’s intriguing about Pivot25 is the attention that it drew from outside the region. TIME Magazine ran a piece about the conference from the standpoint of Nairobi’s contribution to global technology. CNN’s Global Public Square covered the event, too. Why so much attention?

It’s due to Nairobi’s growing reputation as a hotbed of mobile software development. The city has earned the moniker ‘Silicon Savanna’ due to high-profile, innovative mobile ventures launched there including Ushahidi, the ‘open source’ crisis-mapping platform, and M-Pesa, the world’s first mobile money service — a model for ‘access to banking’ services.

Both platforms were originally modest, homegrown solutions for local problems that were later widely adopted outside the region. The global tech community is expecting stellar performers in Nairobi’s next wave of apps and services, too.

The right stuff

On the surface, Nairobi may not look like a prime contender to be the next ICT hub. With a population of 3.5 million, it’s only the 12th largest city on the continent, but it’s one of East Africa’s most vital commercial and cultural centers.

Incubators are springing up in Lagos, Accra, Dakar and other large African cities, but Nairobi stands out due to the top-tier multinational firms using the city as a base for serving Africa’s booming mobile markets.

Nairobi is becoming known for its vibrant community of mobile developers whose ingenuity and confidence are growing over time. Their cleverly designed apps — elegant in their simplicity — are now part of Africa’s social landscape.

The city is also home to a small, vocal cadre of tech advocates who’ve trumpeted their community’s early wins, convincing audiences around the world that there’s more innovation on the way. The impact of potent advocacy is often overlooked when observers speculate about why Nairobi has the right stuff to be the epicenter of mobile technology.

An ‘ecosystem built on talent’

One of Nairobi’s more influential advocates is Erik Hersman, co-founder of Ushahidi, and founder of iHub (‘innovation-Hub’), an open-space tech incubator with over three thousand members. He contends that Nairobi’s pool of gifted developers is responsible for the region’s dominance.

“It’s an ecosystem built on talent,” he said in an interview with TNW Africa. “Nairobi is exploding with world-caliber techies, and companies such as Google, Cisco, Nokia, Seimens and Airtel (all of which built their African headquarters in Nairobi) have recognized that.”

He added, “Certain cities tend to be hubs, success breeds success, so when someone wins in a place like Nairobi, it quickly attracts more entrepreneurs and spinouts.”

A global stage

Success does indeed breed success, but the region also benefits from Hersman’s unique ability to attract capital for funding new projects. He’s not only a champion for Nairobi’s talent, he also creates workspaces for nurturing it.

In addition to his iHub initiative, described as “part open community workspace, part vector for investors and VCs, and part incubator,” Hersman is a driving force behind m:labs — Africa’s first mobile incubator launched on the heels of Pivot25 with support from the World Bank, Nokia and the Government of Finland.

Through his influential ‘White African’ blog and his roles as a TED Fellow and a PopTech Fellow, Hersman has a global stage on which to showcase his community’s engineers who bring, as he says, “ingenuity born of necessity”.

His latest contribution to building Nairobi’s image as an tech hub was his involvement in the Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI), launched July 8, when Kenya became the first African country, and one of the first in the world, to make government data accessible to its citizens. (Here’s more on KODI.)

Hersman’s pitch to investors is compelling: Nairobi’s talented developers are creating the next wave of mobile software for the African market and beyond. Like their predecessors, the most promising new apps will affect a large number of people in a meaningful way.

This is an exciting space to watch. We’re witnessing history unfold now in Africa. As TIME Magazine’s Africa bureau chief put it: “…this is not a story merely of how technology is changing Africa. Africans are changing technology right back.”

***

……………………………………………………………………

Image: ‘Nairobi from Uhuru Park’ Courtesy of Arthur Buliva

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Want more info on this subject?

• –Superb WIRED piece, Switching On: Africa’s Vast New Tech Opportunity (7/11).
• –Other champions of Kenya’s mobile tech community include Ory Okolloh of Google Africa and Juliana Rotich of Ushahidi
• –Hersman makes the case (2 clips): Africa in the 21st Century, and in his ‘09 TED Talk on launching Ushahidi
• –For context, Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net and FrontlineSMS, shares his views on mobile usage in developing markets
• –WIRED piece (July 12, 2011): Switching on: Africa’s new tech opportunity
• –TED Global – Africa (’07) series from Arusha, Tanzania — it’s amazing how far the African tech scene has evolved since then
• –A Touch Points post on Ushahidi’s role in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake

• –Addendum: Hershman post (7/18), “What makes iHub work?”

As always, I’d appreciate your views…

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Turning the page…

Another interesting year is rapidly winding down. This year, I had the chance to work with many gifted business and tech leaders, but it was particularly satisfying collaborating with innovators in developing regions — the Sub-Sahara, the Middle East and South Asia.

It’s time for Western multinational companies — especially those in the customer-facing sectors — to enter developing markets where consumer-led growth is robust but capital and resources are in short supply.

Many Westerners have misconceptions about working in emerging markets. For example, they assume that the transfer of knowledge flows only in one direction — from us to them. But our clients in developing regions bring a keen understanding of their markets and what’s needed to elevate their businesses. We typically learn as much from them as they do from us.

Innovation Hothouses

Some of the most interesting business and technology breakthroughs are now coming from developing markets which have become hothouses of disruptive innovation. Behold the $2,500 car, the $25 business hotel room and the $25 mobile handset that provides service for just 2.5 cents a minute.

Developing innovators are finding novel ways for using mobile phones to perform vital functions like transferring money, paying bills, monitoring elections, diagnosing and treating illnesses, and buying and selling food. Each of these breakthroughs was created by inventive, driven entrepreneurs and engineers to improve the lives of consumers in their markets.

Those who aspire to work with innovators in developing regions must recognize the unique challenges that they face.  While conditions are generally improving, operators are often grappling with government red tape, dodgy distribution networks and difficulty securing credit. They demonstrate in quotidian ways how to overcome the kinds of constraints that would crush many Western enterprises.

Price of Admission

To contribute to and benefit from opportunities in emerging regions demands the wise use of capital, talent and resources. Understanding the market and culture are essential. Patience and perseverance are crucial.

Working in these markets also obliges us to give a portion of our time and resources to lend a helping hand where it’s needed the most. Whether that means donating digital equipment to bridge information gaps or mentoring a new generation of leaders, each of us can have a lasting impact.

Serving developing markets isn’t for everyone. For those who are fiercely determined to make a meaningful contribution on a global stage, the rewards outweigh the inconveniences.

_____________________

Want more?

I suggest a book, Winning in Emerging Markets, by two Harvard professors, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu. They write, “Companies with ambitious emerging market growth strategies have no choice but to engage deeply with these economies – but the complex nature of these markets has made success elusive.”

Also have a look at McKinsey On Africa — a continent on the move, a “box-set” of essays and interviews about the opportunities and challenges in Africa.

In prior posts I’ve looked at how mobile phones are being used in emerging markets including in this tribute to Professor C. K. Prahalad who died earlier this year. His sage advice resonates. “Focus on becoming part of global citizenry. In exchange for the opportunity to participate everywhere/anywhere in the world you have the obligation to do something productive, which will improve the world.”

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Out of the East

Asia’s growing influence in Africa is receiving worldwide attention. China’s investment in Africa will top $100 billion dollars this year making it the continent’s biggest trading partner. There are 800 Chinese companies with over 4 million Chinese people living and working there. China’s impact on Africa, as author Richard Dowden observed, is the biggest economic shift of the twenty-first century.

Now, the story of Asia’s push into Africa is being revised to highlight players from India. In June, Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile carrier – the 5^th largest telecom in the world – bought Kuwait-based Zain’s operations in 16 African countries for $10.7 billion in cash.

Bharti has been eager to grab a piece of Africa’s growing mobile market for some time. In 2009, it tried to buy MTN, Africa’s largest carrier, but the deal failed due to regulatory roadblocks. Undeterred, Bharti pivoted quickly setting its sights on Zain.  By June, Bharti bagged its African trophy, though some analysts thought it paid too much for Zain’s assets.

The Bharti Recipe

Bharti didn’t waste any time plotting its next moves. By September, the carrier had chosen IBM, a partner since 2004, to run its network and IT for its 2G and 3G services in a 10-year deal worth over $1.7 billion.  IBM will manage the company’s data centers, servers and desktop operations.

This week, Bharti announced its selection of two Indian outsourcing specialists, Tech Mahindra and Spanco, to run its back office and customer care operations in Africa.

With its coalition of outsourcing partners in place, Bharti aims to streamline its sub-Saharan operation and cut costs to service Africa’s low-income markets. The carrier hopes to grow its 36 million subscriber base to over 100 million by 2012.

That’s an ambitious plan considering that Bharti will only control the product development, brand management and marketing portions of its business. Bharti thinks that these are the only functions essential to differentiating its offerings.

Multinational carriers have been relying on “managed services” companies that specialize in providing technology and customer care. Bharti pioneered and refined the managed services strategy in India for nearly a decade. Their model is considered an industry prototype.

The African Factor

Bharti’s gambit in Africa is unique in several critical ways: Africa is Bharti’s first market beyond the Indian sub-continent. The African market is both large and amazingly diverse. The sheer scale and complexity of their African foray is raising a critical question among industry analysts: Can a company, even one as disciplined as Bharti, get its arms around such a diverse amalgam of people, cultures and processes?

Jai Menon, group director of IT at Bharti thinks it can. He told the Economic Times of India: “The system was built in India and did operate in geographies where the diversity is huge — be it culture, language, devices and affordability. It will be the same across Africa. This system will address the entire pyramid, and not just the top or bottom of the pyramid.”

It will be interesting to watch Bharti choreograph its operations while launching its brand across Africa’s disparate social, economic and political cultures.They’ve begun by hiring African personnel from other carriers to assume key roles. Bharti will need to recruit more African talent to build a business culture that can realize the company’s aspirations.

Bharti brings to Africa an uncanny knack for squeezing out costs. India has been a hothouse for cultivating their scalable, ultra low-cost model.  If we’ve learned anything, it’s that Africa will likely present new and unexpected challenges.  In any case, Indian companies, led by Bharti Airtel, are emerging as major players in Africa.

***

As always, I’d appreciate your perspective.

…………………………………………………………

Want more info?

The Economic Times of India’s (Oct 26)  piece : “Bharti splits $500 mn Africa deal among IBM, Tech Mahindra and Spanco”.

Bharti Airtel & IBM described their plan for Africa in joint video press release .

Want more context?

Richard Dowden’s quote in the post’s opening paragraph is from his ’08 book, Africa – Altered States, Ordinary Miracles.  His section (Ch 17) “Asia in Africa – new colonists or old friends?” sketches Asia’s  long  history in Africa. He writes, “India is following China’s path. Though its rise is less dramatic.  In a few years time maybe every reference to China in this chapter would be followed by ‘ and India’.”

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A recent Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation study revived the term “gazelle companies” to describe the young, rapidly-growing U.S.firms that are producing the majority of new jobs in the U.S.  The report recommends that policy-makers nurture Gazelles to stimulate job growth at a time when unemployment is high.

I’m interested in another class of companies—agile, well-run firms in emerging regions like the sub-Sahara. Like their Western counterparts, they’re creating a disproportionate number of jobs. But these young African companies are playing a more crucial role than gazelles do in driving market growth.

To belabor the metaphor, I call them Impalas, after the lean, swift gazelles indigenous to Africa. Impalas provide technology-enabled and outsourcing services to a growing number of multinational (MNC) service providers – mobiles, airlines and banks – in Johannesburg, Accra, and Nairobi, etc.  They share many of the characteristics of gazelles, but there are some notable differences.

Impalas make it possible for their MNC clients to devote more of their limited resources to building their core capabilities. For example, telecoms can concentrate on expanding their network infrastructures and building their brands while their resourceful Impala partners supply customer care and data services.

Business process outsourcers (BPOs) and large enterprises work together around the world—this practice is commonplace. Africa is different because it’s growing so rapidly. Only China’s consumer markets are growing more quickly.

Despite it’s rapid rise, the sub-Sahara’s growth trajectory is unsustainable because of  acute capability gaps in the region.  Companies are struggling to meet the needs of their customers. As African markets mature, Impalas are providing vital, high margin services like customer care, back-office support, and data analysis that require advanced technical and managerial talent.

Just as U.S. policymakers are advised to remove barriers to gazelles’ growth, African governments ought to lend a helping hand to Impalas which are creating jobs and raising standards of living for their citizens.

That’s been happening in economic hot spots like Botswana and Mauritius, but elsewhere on the continent, progressive economic policies are scarce.  Lack of access to capital and excessive regulatory burdens stifle young African companies.  Policymakers in Africa are missing a critical opportunity to move their economies forward at a time when the continent is poised for more growth.

There is an opportunity here for Western companies that can see and are willing to seize opportunities in Africa.  Partnering with Impalas on knowledge-exchange projects can be rewarding. Impalas benefit from acquiring tools and skills that Western companies have developed, and Western companies can become players in one of the most dynamic markets in the world.  Of course, it’s imperative to choose such opportunities wisely.

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As always, I’d love to find out what you think about this subject…

Image courtesy of Daryona

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The term ‘gazelle’  was coined by David Birch of Cognetics (c. 2001) to describe a class of companies that “run fast and jump high.”

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The World Comes to Africa

As the World Cup gets underway this week in South Africa—the first ever to be held on the African continent—the world media is turning its attention there.

Typically, coverage of Africa by the international media is limited to stories about intractable problems—disease, war, famine, and corruption. Many of the World Cup stories are taking a similar tact. Stories about the South Africa’s five new stadiums underscore the nation’s mounting debt while other pieces highlight its security concerns.

A lot of the coverage reflects the world media’s skewed view of Africa as a monolithic place that’s plagued with tragedy. Severe challenges do exist, but many African societies are quietly building their institutions and infrastructures.  It’s time the outside world views Africa through a broader, more accurate lens.

Scale and Diversity

Africa is a vast and diverse continent where triumph and despair co-exist with everything in between.  It’s the “in-between” that tends to be overlooked in coverage about Africa.

Outsiders tends to underestimate Africa’s scale. As writer John Reader points out, the U.S., China, India, and New Zealand, together with most of Europe, could all fit within Africa’s coastline. This enormous continent contains almost a quarter of the world’s land mass.

The continent is amazingly diverse. The continent’s billion people inhabit 53 countries and speak over two thousand languages arguably making it the world’s most diverse region.  Africa’s diversity extends to its topography, climate, and culture.

Despite its remarkable diversity, most outsiders tend to picture Africa as a homogeneous region instead of as a melange of distinctive ethnic groups and cultures that influence everything from art and music to social structures.

Author Richard Dowden observes, “Every time you say ‘Africa is…’ the words crumble and break.  Every generalization must exclude at least five countries. And just as you have nailed down a certainty, a defining characteristic, you find the opposite is true.”  Stark contrasts and rich diversity are Africa’s defining features.

Failed States and Model Nations

One need only look at Africa’s recent history to get a sense of its diversity. During the last decade, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was ravaged by an incomprehensibly violent civil war where millions perished. Somalia maintained its role as one of the world’s most lawless and dangerous states. Zimbabwe, endowed with abundant natural resources became known for its delusional ruler, Robert Mugabe, who decimated his nation’s economy. It’s understandable that such dire cases grabbed the headlines and shaped the world’s perception of Africa.

But during the same period, Botswana, Seychelles, Mauritius and, to a lesser extent, Senegal, Zambia, and Namibia encouraged private investment, grew their economies, and improved their living standards.  Kenya focused on building its tech sector and similar initiatives were launched in Ghana and Tanzania.  Oil-rich Nigeria took steps to reform its institutions and diversify its economy.

In light of Africa’s stark contrasts and rich diversity, it’s fitting that the World Cup is hosted by South Africa, a nation where eleven languages are recognized as official and many more are spoken.  South Africa has the continent’s largest and most diversified economy, but it faces serious challenges including steep unemployment and the world’s highest HIV/AIDS rates.  Here, too, great promise and opportunity co-exist with poverty and despair.

I’ve been traveling to Africa since the mid-80′s and whenever I think I’ve found an explanation for why things are the way they are, I’m proven wrong.  There’s always an exception. Diversity rules in Africa.

I’ll be watching the World Cup matches and rooting for the six African teams who qualified. They’re all underdogs, but I’ve learned never to count Africa out.

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Post-script:  It was a treat to experience the World Cup from Accra, Ghana. The country’s Black Stars team beat the USA to make it to the quarter finals.  Here are images from that trip.

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What do you think? As always, I’d appreciate your perspective.

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Downtown Cape Coast, Ghana

Pulsating business scene

I spent the last couple weeks on assignment in Accra, Ghana. On this trip, I’ve seen more growth than any time since my company started working there in ’07. This is a period of unprecedented business activity and promising new projects within and beyond the mobile sector.  Meanwhile, new competitors from around the world are streaming in. This corner of Africa’s business scene is pulsating.

Astute businesses here are taking steps to preserve their client base and deepen relationships with their customers. We’re privileged to work with a new generation of African business leaders with the courage and determination to transform their offerings to meet the needs of an emerging class of consumers.

These are exciting times to work with African business leaders who take seriously their mandate for investing in new technologies and business practices.  We’re helping them gain competitive advantages by improving the service systems that support touch points, by adding new service channels, and by harvesting business intelligence, among other initiatives.

Building competitiveness

The most effective strategy for businesses to gain a competitive edge here is to understand and meet the customer needs better than their rivals.  Forward-thinking leaders here know that competing on service will help preserve their customer base and attract new customers even as the marketplace grows more crowded with aggressive new entrants.

Developing insights about customers’ preferences and purchasing drivers helps companies here achieve competitiveness as well as profitability.

It also creates jobs. Thriving regional businesses are Africa’s greatest engine of job creation and economic growth.  That’s why we’re committed to collaborating with leading African businesses, knowing that their success means more jobs and higher living standards across the region.

What it takes to work here

This question comes up frequently in my circles. I think Western companies operating here require a distinctive set of leadership and communication skills. Traditional business skills are necessary but not sufficient to address the complexity and scale of challenges on this continent.

But what’s needed for Western companies to operate effectively in this environment? We’ve explored this question with business leaders in various sectors as well as academics, entrepreneurs, and technology innovators.

Our conclusion is that it’s not enough to bring an open mind. We must be skillful listeners. That means checking our assumptions at the door and listening with the intention of gaining deeper insights about the market and, most importantly, the customer.  Deep collaboration with partners and clients is key.

Africa’s dynamism and complexity require going beyond merely tolerating ambiguity. Ambiguity, a ubiquitous feature here, must be embraced.  “Leaning into” uncertainty is critical to problem-solving in this market.

It’s critical to drop the need for control, otherwise it’s tough to handle the inherent ‘push-pull’ of a region that’s steeped in tradition while it grows so rapidly.

The ability to consider competing, often “fuzzy” options helps us work with stakeholders here to produce the imaginative, yet practical solutions that the region demands.

Finally, operating in the region requires extraordinary levels of patience and perseverance.  Change rarely happens in sweeping strokes here. Instead change occurs through “successive approximations”.  One step forward, two back but always moving ahead.  Patience — never my strongest card — is essential.  (Note: I’m working on it.)

People, Process and Technology – Redux

Succeeding here requires mastery in choreographing people, process and technology, and we help clients focus on all three dimensions — what we refer to as “service systems”.  Of the three, ‘people’ is the most critical and challenging to optimize.

Africa’s leading companies are now investing heavily in their people because they know, in the end, that this the only sustainable ‘differentiator’.

On this trip, I observed how one company in particular, a leading business process outsourcer and partner, transformed its organization into a high performance business by nurturing its talent.  It accomplished this feat by fostering competition among its teams while encouraging buy-in and autonomy among team members.

Watching their evolution over time has been both heartening and instructive. Today, I’d stack them up against any competitor in the world. This kind of innovative, customer-focused organization is poised to meet the needs of customers in any market.

Lessons from Africa

Like all prior trips to Africa, this one was a valuable learning experience on several levels.  I encountered a new generation of leaders and was impressed by their willingness to invest in becoming more competitive. The vitality of the continent’s nascent mobile-web industry is breathtaking.  Keep an eye on this exciting space…

I also learned more about my company on this journey. I’m reminded that what separates us from our peers is our passion for and commitment to producing substantial results for our clients and their customers across the sub-Sahara.  It’s energizing to work on a continent of one billion people whose economic growth is only surpassed by China, and I never forget what a rare opportunity it is.

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What do you think?  I’d appreciate hearing your perspective.

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Want more info on this subject?  You’re not alone.  There’s a plethora of books about conflicts and coups in Africa, but there are fewer resources about doing business on the continent.  I’ve previously recommended Paul Collier’s ’07 book, The Bottom Billion, which remains relevant.

In ’07, TED organized Africa: The Next Chapter, a series of talks which included the first TED conference held on the continent.  The series featured a stellar lineup of speakers on a range of topics about Africa.  Since then, TED has added new presentations about business development in Africa to the series, and  I heartily recommend it.

Here are some of my prior posts about the sub-Sahara.

I’d appreciate hearing your recommendations about resources on this topic.

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Evening at Cape Point on the tip of South Africa

While the business world is preoccupied with the global economic recovery, a mobile revolution is quietly reshaping the marketplace in the developing world. In Africa, mobile phones are providing access to communications for millions of people who’ve never had fixed communications let alone cell phones. I’ve written before about the impact that such ‘leapfrogging’ is having on African business.  Now, we’re beginning to see exciting and substantial commercial projects taking shape, particularly in the service sector.

By the numbers

To call this a ‘revolution’ is hardly hyperbole. Consider the scale of mobile industry’s growth in Africa. According to a recent report by the International Telecommunications Union, the number of mobile subscribers skyrocketed from 5% of Africa’s population in 2003 to over 30% by the end of 2008.  Today, some 400 million Africans have mobile phones — that’s 100 million more than in North America.

Since only a third of Africa’s billion people have handsets, there’s plenty of room for more growth ahead. But, the interesting story, I think, is how the mobile phone is already remodeling African economies and creating promising, new opportunities for businesses and individuals in the region.

Mobile phones are enabling rural and low income people to join the economy while creating a stable infrastructure for businesses and emerging consumer markets.  Mobile communications are making it possible for new services to develop and thrive.

At the junction of mobile and web

Africa’s mobile subscribers are using handsets to access services that consumers in developed markets typically get from the fixed internet. The junction of mobile and web is a green field for inventive engineers and entrepreneurs.

New, innovative mobile applications are being developed in sectors ranging from banking, agriculture and fishing, medical, education, to government and non-profits.  It seems that every week, we read about a novel way that mobile technology is being used to meet the consumer needs.

M-banking, as mobile-banking is known, is arguably Africa’s most successful mobile-enabled service sector so far. Last year, m-banking initiatives were launched in almost every country across the continent. As banks and mobile operators join forces to deliver m-banking programs, Visa and MasterCard are watching the sector closely hoping to ‘leapfrog’ into markets where no viable payment infrastructure currently exists.

Kenya’s Safaricom was one of the first mobile operators anywhere to roll out an m-banking program, M-Pesa. Originally it was used solely for money transfer but Kenyans are increasingly using M-Pesa to pay their utility bills.

Taking this a step further, m-banking is enabling another layer of services — known as ‘m-commerce’ — where goods and services can be bought, sold or traded. In remote regions where the fixed-line communications are thin or non-existent, m-commerce can enable buyers and sellers of goods and services to find each other.

What’s next?

As new land-based and submarine cable deployments slated for later this year make 3G widely available in many parts of Africa, we’re likely to see m-commerce grow which should mean more investment by the business community and, ultimately, more jobs for Africans and improvements in their quality of life.

Africa’s mobile revolution is bringing as many challenges as opportunities. Governments on the continent must keep pace with dynamic mobile economy by taking courageous steps to encourage outside business investments.   African governments must develop templates for working collaboratively with businesses to enable their citizens to enjoy the benefits of the mobile revolution.

One thing is clear: there’s no stopping the growth of the mobile industry in developing markets, especially in Africa. The mobile phone is helping to put the continent on a path toward greater economic sustainability.  I find it utterly fascinating to see how innovative businesses and imaginative people are harnessing the power of connectivity in Africa.

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As always, I’d love to know your perspective.

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Want more info?  Here’s an October ’09 piece in the Guardian, “Africa Calling…” and a New York Times article from the same period.

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To support his argument, he cites the case of PUR, a low-cost water purification system developed by Procter & Gamble. The product provides the obvious benefit of affordable clean water where the risks of drinking contaminated water are high. But curiously, PUR* achieved low market penetration rates in test markets.

Why would consumers reject a product as salient as PUR? The author contends that Western companies simply haven’t created demand among low income consumers. “Companies must create markets—new lifestyles—among poor consumers,” he insists. His prescription is that Western businesses need to do a better job “conditioning” low-income  people to be better consumers.  Really?

He argues that Western businesses ought to show people in emerging markets how enjoyable life would be if they were using products like PUR.  Companies, he says, ought to “make the idea of paying money for the products seem natural,” and “induce consumers to fit those goods into their long-held routines.”  Get a load of our stuff!

The fact is that consumers in developing markets usually know value when they see it. For example, businesses don’t have to create demand for mobile phones bought by the millions at the Bottom of the Pyramid—the fastest growing mobile market in the world. Consumers in developing markets can see how phones improve their lives.

Low-income consumers often buy mobile phones from street vendors, and they continually invent ways to squeeze more value from the devices than designers could have imagined. Customers use the devices to handle tasks like transferring money and finding markets for their goods that were never conceived by the phone’s developers or market researchers.

Jan Chipchase, a field researcher at Nokia who studies user behavior in developing markets observes that however cleverly products and go-to-market strategies are designed, “the street” figures out novel ways to distribute and use them.

So what does it take to sell products in developing markets? Listen to and carefully observe potential users. It makes sense to educate and inform emerging market consumers, but businesses have a lot to learn from them about creating value in their markets.

A more enlightened approach to serving the needs of potential consumers in emerging markets is to bring them into both the product design, communication and distribution processes.

I don’t mean to sound flip but next time a Western company comes up with a hot new product for the Bottom of the Pyramid, they should keep it out of the hands of marketing gurus. Instead,  they ought to consult vendors on on the street and figure out a way to share the revenue with them.  If street vendors can’t sell it, no one can.

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* P&G now sells PUR in developing markets at cost and is partnering with non-profit organizations to distribute the product through humanitarian relief networks.

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What do you think? As always, I’d love to hear your views…

Want more on this topic?

Check out INSEAD’s piece, Social Innovation — Creating Products for Those at the Bottom of the Pyramid. For a broader perspective, read C. K. Prahalad’s classic, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

My related posts include Mobile Growth in Emerging Markets and various posts on emerging markets.

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Over the coarse of the eighteenth century, the Gold Coast produced more than a million slaves, about 15 percent of the total shipped from West Africa… ~Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship

The first African-American President of the U.S. landed in Accra, Ghana last evening. His first trip to the Sub-Sahara has symbolic significance for many reasons. Many Africans believe that Barack Obama represents the ascendancy of Africa on a global stage, reversing the despair and hardship that’s plagued the continent during the post-colonial era.  They hope that his visit will call attention to the steep challenges and promising opportunities the continent faces.

Ghana is West Africa’s most stable, enduring democracy in a neighborhood where coups have been commonplace.  Obama’s visit is a symbolic endorsement by the administration of the democratic process. But the symbolism doesn’t end there.

On Saturday, the Obamas are heading to the town of Cape Coast where they’ll visit one of the more infamous “slave castles” of the region.   Slave castles like this served as both “factories” and prisons where slaves were kept until they were loaded aboard ships — floating dungeons — bound for the New World.

When I visited the castle during a business trip last year, I was overcome by its horror and unprepared for its impact. The images of those rooms haunted me for days.

It’s difficult to fathom that millions of human beings were “processed” in such a brutal and efficient fashion.  After entering the cramped, airless rooms where  slaves were kept and following their trail of misery to the infamous “Door of No Return,” it’s hard not to be moved.  It’s heart-breaking.

Many politicians and celebrities have used the Cape Coast Castle as a photo-op over the years. But, when the Obamas visit the castle on Saturday, it could feel like a circle has finally been completed. Talk about symbolism.

As always, I’d love to hear your perspective.  Please share your views and insights with my readers and me!

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Want more on this subject?

Here are images of the Cape Coast region’s two slave castles and its diverse people from my trip there.

> Update (7/11/) Hulu clip on the Obamas visit to the Cape Coast Castle.

A couple great books:

The Slave Ship – A Human History (referenced above), by Marcus Rediker is painstakingly researched and compelling.

The Door of No Return – The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade by William St. Clair is reviewed by the NYT here.

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Paris Urban Pattern

I’ve recently noticed a subtle but perceptible attitude shift among Americans working in foreign markets. My overseas colleagues are noticing, too. American business people, they say, are displaying more thoughtfulness than usual. U.S. companies operating overseas seem less inclined to approach global business as though its epicenter is in New York or Palo Alto.

It’s too soon to call this a new Zeitgeist, but change is in the air. The global economic crisis, which has its roots in the U.S., may be partially responsible. I think the new vibe is also influenced by Washington’s new tone in its approach to global  affairs.  As an American doing business abroad, this is promising.

Historically, many American firms have approached business from a decidedly ethnocentric perspective–more so than many of our European rivals.  U.S. companies have missed opportunities as a result.

Things seem to be moving in a better direction now.

More Americans are coming to terms with the fact that global power is shifting away from America. It’s not that the U.S. is declining. Instead, other nations are rising. The U.S. is still a hothouse for science and technological innovation, but emerging markets are coming into their own.

We now find ourselves in a multi-polar world–one that Fareed Zakaria describes as the “Rise of the Rest“.  It’s a world where more people in other markets are well-informed and better-skilled than ever before. This is true in markets where living standards are considerably lower than ours.  The pool of business and technology talent in emerging markets is growing deeper every day. In my view, this isn’t a problem. It’s a golden opportunity, but one for which we have to prepare.

Globalization has created more homogeneous markets, but there are marked differences in the pace, etiquette and style of conducting business. These differences are more pronounced in emerging regions.  In any case, it’s immensely helpful to learn about the customs, behaviors and culture of markets where we’re doing business.  It starts by taking a considerate view of other cultures and appreciating what makes them unique. The most obvious benefit to this approach is that it helps build more durable business relationships and friendships.

How can greater respect and appreciation be demonstrated for colleagues in foreign markets?

I suggest five practices that we can undertake to improve the way we engage clients and colleagues in other cultures.  More enlightened business people working in foreign markets–including Americans–already use these practices:

1) Learn the language. At least learn enough to greet your clients but, ideally, strive for more. If your linguistic skills aren’t strong, at least how to how to greet, thank and toast your host in their native language. Go beyond merely learning “please” and “thank you”. Work on your pronunciation. Ideally, take language courses, download language lessons or–and this is my preference–hire a native-speaking tutor.

English is the language of global business, and it’s likely that your clients speak English. But, recognize that it’s often their second or third language. Never assume they understand your meaning.  Avoid slang or jargon. In any case, I suggest following up formal discussions with written summaries using direct, simple terms to recap key points.

2) Broaden the lens. Get as much contextual background information about the local culture as possible. It’s not only enriching, it helps you see your client’s challenges from their perspective. When I’m studying a new market, I gather market research as dictated by the project. But, I also try to learn about the region’s history and current affairs. I read as much as possible and talk to as many people from the region as I can before stepping foot in the market.

Learn about your client’s business culture, management practices and technology, but also get a feel for the “market context”. What’s the local business climate like? For example, many governments have recently privatized and deregulated  industries resulting in greater competition. Will such reforms continue in light of the economic downturn and, if so, how will they affect the problems you’re helping clients solve?

3) Be flexible. When booking client conferences, I observe their schedule. That means early morning, sometimes pre-dawn, conversations with clients who are 10 or more hours ahead of me. The upside is appreciative clients. (The downside, of course, is sleep deprivation.) It also means conferences on weekends with Middle Eastern clients whose days of rest are Thursday and Friday, or Friday and Saturday, and who observe different holidays. Flexibility is essential, but the rewards are substantial.

4) Integrate and collaborate. Happily, the days when a team of high-priced consultants flies into a region to fix problems for clients are over. Next generation collaboration tools like wikis are making it possible for distant, cross-cultural teams to integrate their skills and minimize project costs from start to finish. For example, our U.S. based technical team will work with a client’s process owners to develop solutions that neither team could produce on their own. Much of our team stays behind as the project unfolds. The result is a more cost-effective solution that is validated on a real-time basis by the client which also means fewer surprises.

5) Assume an attitude of humility and consideration. Approach assignments in other markets from the standpoint that the client knows what works best on the ground. Sometimes they need help seeing it from a different perspective, but their insights are valuable. My team lets foreign clients know at the start of an assignment that we recognize this fact.

An appreciative stance toward the client and their culture helps us build trust so we can move swiftly toward a more integrative solution.  A humbler, more considerate approach paves the way for a more enriching and successful assignment.

The global marketplace has undergone a seismic shift. Business people who bring a considerate attitude to their assignments in foreign markets will fare much better in a world that is now being defined and driven by talented, skillful people in those markets.

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Want more info on this subject? Read Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World (W.W. Norton & Co., 2008).

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Today, there are more than 3.3 billion mobile-phone subscriptions worldwide, which means that there are at least three billion people who don’t own cell phones, the bulk… found in Africa and Asia.                                                                                                                                                                                                  --Sara Corbett, author “Can the Cell Phone Help End Global Poverty?” (NYT)

I’ve been optimistic about the continued growth of mobile services in emerging regions, even through this downturn. If that happens, it’s good news for those who appreciate what connectivity is doing for new subscribers in the developing world. The nascent mobile sector is an enabling engine for other industries in the developing world notably health care, agriculture, banking, and goverment services.

We see continued growth in emerging markets where there are few fixed line communications, low mobile penetration rates, and the arrival of new, highly motivated operators. Look for continued double digit growth (CAGR). Revenue growth (ARPU) will likely lag subscriber growth as companies add more lower-income users. Despite a crowding market, prospects for for growth by incumbent and new operators remains strong so long as they manage their growth with an eye to the future.

The next big thing on the horizon are cheaper handsets that enable service for very low income subscribers.  Handset makers like Nokia are working on it, but reaching a critical, ”ultra low” price point is just out of reach. But we’re moving in the right direction.  Meanwhile, as service is steadily rolling out to areas that had no prior coverage, we’re glimpsing the rapid evolution of the service economy in developing markets.

Our regional partners and we see more promising opportunities for helping emerging mobile companies and other service providers to leverage smart technology, astute  management practices, and business analytics to operate efficiently and profitably.  That works for commerce, and it works for emerging consumers who yearn for something better.

For more on this subject, I recommend: Nokia researcher and behavioral designer Jan Chipchase’s TED talk(2007). He discusses insights he’s discovered about how people in developing regions use mobile technology.  He reminds us, “People want to be part of the conversation.”

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Ex Africa semper aliquid novi — Out of Africa always something new. ~Pliny the Elder

This week marks my company’s 3rd anniversary of working in Africa within our emerging markets service practice. Helping companies in the region to understand and serve the needs of their customers has been enriching on a personal level.  I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the growth of the sub-Sahara’s nascent service industry and I marvel at its favorable impact on a growing number of people in the region.

The ascendant mobile industry illustrates the point.  On a continent where few people have landlines due to the high cost of installing cabling, cell phones are bridging the communications gap. In many sub-Saharan markets, like Ghana where we work, mobile growth rates have been approaching 50% annually. While less than 20% have mobile phones now, hundreds of millions of Africans are expected to get handsets in the next few years. Keep in mind that this is a continent of almost a billion people. That’s a lot of potential new subscribers.

I’ve written about how people in emerging markets are using their new cell phones to perform essential functions like transferring money (m-banking). But mobile technology is connecting people in wondrous, new ways every day.  Local entrepreneurs are devising inventive means of helping people meet their needs. TradeNet, a company in Ghana, has developed an eBay-like site enabling buyers and sellers of agricultural products to post their needs and offerings using text messaging.  MPedigree, another Ghanaian venture, lets consumers check the serial numbers of malaria or other drugs to determine if they are legitimate, a pressing regional concern.

Mobile technology is a “disruptive force” that is quietly but inexorably changing the lives of Africans across all socio-economic strata. The industry employs thousands of workers, improving living standards and slowing the region’s talent drain. A recent London Business School study found that a 10% increase in mobile-phone penetration adds 0.6 percentage points to the economic growth rate.  According to Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs, “The cell phone is the single most transformative technology for development”.  It’s the region’s best hope for bridging the growing digital divide.

Make no mistake: the challenges of building on the early successes are steep. Despite inroads by equipment makers, handsets are still too pricey for people at the bottom of the pyramid who live on less than a couple dollars a day. Governments and companies must work more closely to make low cost handsets available to more people.  Telecom firms must invest in tools and practices to meet the growing needs of customers as their markets grow crowded with new competitors.   The mobile business is pushing Africa’s service industry forward rapidly.

There is growing uncertainty about how the global economic crisis will affect the region. While developing economies are tanking, analysts believe that regional GDP growth will slow but not recede. And, the region is expected  to bounce back sooner than developed nations.  While I’m not confident in analysts’ rosy predictions these days, I’d wager that we’ll see growth, albeit below the robust 5% rate the region has enjoyed in recent years.

When it comes to Africa, my rule is to always expect the unexpected.  Stability is something that people in the region don’t take for granted. In January, Ghana witnessed a peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another.  But memories of coups and tyranny are too recent and too close at hand to take stability for granted.

I genuinely enjoy working and spending time in the West Africa. It stimulates my mind, quells my restlessness and, at times, tries my patience. Often projects take longer to develop  than seems reasonable to a Westerner, and it’s imperative to figure that into any timetable.  But if you’re wired for adventure, it’s one of the most compelling business destinations on the globe.  I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the sharpest, most resourceful entrepreneurial minds I’ve ever encountered.  And, there’s nothing like the thrill of making things happen in a region where doing so has such a profound impact on people’s daily lives.  There’s nothing like that.

More on the impact of the mobile industry in Africa from BusinessWeek.

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