The old expression goes "Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime." An article from the latest issue of the Economist seems to imply that we could add a BoP twist to update this saying - something like "Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Sell him a cellular phone and you will give him the ability to sustain long-term income by efficiently marketing his fish at the highest price in the location where they are in greatest demand, simultaneously saving resources by ensuring no fish markets get oversaturated."

Or something along those lines, I won't deign to mangle Chinese proverbs any further. The article itself centered around a study conducted by Robert Jensen on Kerala fishermen, who had to constantly deal with distorted pricing because they had no way of knowing in advance where to sell their catches - ie knowing which markets gave the best price, which were already saturated - with a resulting deadweight loss of 5-8%, the amount of fish that would get thrown away on a daily basis.

That is, until cellular technology became widely available. All of a sudden, fishermen were able to call associates while at sea to determine which market they should head to, bringing local consumer prices for fish to a lower equilibrium over time while raising profits for fishers and bringing waste down to virtually zero.

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I encountered a strange dilemma while perusing the website of Mobile for Good. Charged with doing a write-up of the organization, I quickly realized that the folks at M4G have already done a great job of describing what they do. As a result, I’ve just reproduced text from the website here, and added a few of my own comments for good measure.

Mobile for Good (M4G) is a social franchise project designed to use mobile phone technology to help alleviate poverty and improve the lives of people in the developing world. It delivers vital health, employment and community content via SMS on mobile phones in order to inform and empower disadvantaged individuals and help bridge the ‘digital divide’ – the widening technology gulf which exists between rich and poor countries.

The content services are targeted at Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) consumers – generally defined as the low income segment of the population that lives on less then two USD a day. However, the business concept also includes premium services aimed at higher income groups, which allows services offered to the BOP to be subsidized.

The content services include:

• Kazi560, a job information service aimed at blue-collar workers and employers. It offers jobs in more than 40 categories from carpenters to secretaries

• Health Tips, which is designed to provide subscribers with useful tips on various pertinent health issues.

• MyQuestion, a service that allows customers to anonymously ask HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer related questions and receive answers.

• Her560, a lifestyle channel aimed at professional women, providing information on health, diet, fitness, fashion, family, finance, events, etiquette, motivation, romance and the home.

• The Community News service, which is distributed free to subscribers in Kibera, Kangemi, Kawangware, Mathare and Mukuru. It provides a channel for sending out information on events in the community.

The Mobile for Good project has already been implemented in Kenya via a project called OKN Mobile launched by One World UK (OWUK) in 2003, where it has been instrumental in helping more than a hundred people to find jobs every week. Additionally, the business has already broken even and has had over 70,000 people use its services. Over 60,000 have found employment through the job service, Kazi560. In addition, some employers have said that this is the only form of recruitment they are now using.

A social franchise model has been developed by OWUK to provide entrepreneurs with a package of tools including a generic business model, technical platform, marketing advice, links with local telecom companies, and ongoing consultancy, which will allow them to set up a M4G business in their country. The success of this pilot has driven plans to replicate the franchise in further countries across Africa and the rest of the developing world including Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and Nepal.

Mobile for Good has been extensively covered by both national and international press, including articles from the BBC, New York Times and Reuters, amongst others.

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