Innovating a Business Icon

Submitted by _Patrick Donohue on May 27, 2005 - 15:40.
Published in:

Originally posted on the Workshop at BRINQ,
under: Base of the Pyramid Protocol - Why Not? Calls for Innovation

In less than a week we hit the ground in Kenya, to begin the pilot test for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Protocol, a multinational, NGO, and university sponsored effort to find innovation and business opportunities among the world’s poor. Sure, we’ll spend time at corporate offices, with NGOs and government officials, but most of the time we’ll be visiting and living with people who don’t have easy access to running water or electricity, probably not phones or computers either. So, being an MBA, I fixated right away on the most important question.

Should we bring business cards?

“For NGOs and companies sure,” answered Bryn, one of our cultural advisors, “but to give them to people who don’t have access to communications would be pretty silly.”

Actually, business cards can be pretty silly even for someone like me, a guy who has plenty of access to communications. The business cards I receive tend to sit in my wallet or bag until a lucky few are transferred to my phone or address book. Most of the rest just get lost. I imagine there are hundreds tucked in little hideaways throughout my office and house, each dreaming of a day when some Indiana Jones of the stationary world will find them and comment on the novelty of their logo and daring use of a Verdana font. And let’s not even get started on my own business cards, I’ve been looking for a way to play solitaire with those poor things for years.

So… sounds like we should say no to business cards for Kenya, right?

But let’s wait a minute here. Opportunities to ask new questions should never be overlooked, and this question, as silly as it may sound, could lead to some real innovation. Think about it.

What uses could we find in the Base of the Pyramid to help us innovate the business card, that 3.5” x 2” icon of modern business? What do you put on a business card when people can’t easily call you, much less email you? What kind of information could make a card useful? Or, better yet, what could be more useful than a card?

[...read the full article at the BRINQ Workshop]


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Maybe you CAN use those business cards
Submitted by Rob Katz on May 27, 2005 - 16:29.
Patrick - I've been sitting here at my desk, thinking I should go home, but your post is making me think. Perhaps giving business cards to everyone you meet in Kenya isn't such a bad idea after all. When you think about it, not many people who don't have access to communications will be getting business cards from anyone. But it could work in a couple of ways: first, getting a business card could encourage someone to seek out a way to call you (shared-access phone, mobile-phone entreprenuer, etc). Second, if those people who have your business card use it as a networking device, then they can all meet up through you, so to speak. The opening line, "So, what did you talk to Patrick about?" - this could build social networks and collaboration from the bottom up. Or maybe people will just think its cool to have a business card. Regardless, I hope you can post from Kenya and let us know what happens - and if not, then we'll hear from you when you get back.
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Bringing cards - which bytes to pass?
Submitted by _Patrick Donohue on May 27, 2005 - 20:16.

We will be bringing business cards and for similar reasons to what you described Rob. Though unfortunately those cards don't yet incorporate any of the ideas we posted in the full version of this article on BRINQ, though we may give those ideas a spin if they fit the situation.


Supposing that people will not be able to access communications is as short sighted as assuming they will. And we've seen a number of stories of cellphone roll out in places we might not have imagined. I remember at the conference in December, Ricardo Neves gave a great talk on how we overstate or misinterpret poverty. I think WRI's Digital Dividends work helps to demonstrate that as well.


At its root, a business card is just another way of passing bytes around. Which bytes should be passed doesn't have to be a fixed constant though, nor what those bytes will be used for either. In some places, exchanging a business card is more than just passing information, it has cultural significance, as in Japan. Or look at my uncle's neigbors in central Viet Nam: farmers with phones, but they never called me, just tacked my business card to the wall next to other mementos. As you said, it may have just been cool to get one. Or they were just humoring me and didn't know what to do with it.


By the way, I love the idea of modifying the cards a little bit to support more social networking.


I will definitely try to write from Kenya, and later I'll post some info on where to find other Protocol team members reports as well.


--
Patrick C. Donohue
BRINQ - Innovation at Play
www.BRINQ.com

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