Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

Thinking Horizontally and Vertically
A Better Way to Approach Mobile Innovation
in the Developing World

The GSMA Mobile for Development team1 was delighted when Omidyar Network,
a leading social investor, told us it wanted to increase its investment in developing
world mobile technologies and asked for assistance in understanding the land-
scape of innovative products, services, and platforms. Organizations working in
this area frequently talk in terms of sectors or “verticals”—for example, agriculture
or healthcare—but, like most technology investors, Omidyar Network thinks hor-
izontally and looks for versatile technology platforms that can scale to meet a wide
range of user needs. The resulting research project forced the GSMA to take a dif-
ferent perspective, one that has changed the way it looks at mobile initiatives in the
developing world and has helped guide the formation of a newly launched Mobile
and Development Intelligence program.2 Through an online community, this pro-
gram aims to map out a complete landscape of developing world mobile products
and services, and to provide free access to a wide range of market data and analy-
sis.

This article describes a new framework for thinking systematically about
mobile initiatives in the developing world from both a sector (or vertical) perspec-
tive and a technology (or horizontal) perspective. This is based on a review and
categorization of more than three hundred products and services, which between
them account for hundreds of millions of users, customers, and beneficiaries. Le

Christopher Williamson is an Advisor to the GSMA Mobile and Development
Intelligence Programme where he provides support across all workstreams as well as
helping to develop a new focus area on mobile entrepreneurs and investors. Prior to
this role he played multiple roles in the mobile industry in both developed and devel-
oping world markets with companies such as Everything Everywhere, Psitek, L.E.K.
Consulting, and Ofcom.

Corina Gardner is the co-creator and Programme Manager of the GSMA Mobile and
Development Intelligence Programme, an open data platform and online community
dedicated to harnessing the power of mobile for good. Prior to this role she led a
career in international development which has included managing HIV/AIDS pro-
grams throughout Africa, evaluating and providing technical assistance to projects in
Central Asia, and advising impact investors on opportunities in China.

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Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

Tableau 1. Systematic Framework

aim was to get a full picture of the projects currently in operation beyond just the
most talked-about sectors and initiatives, and to understand the true scope of
innovation by uncovering patterns in the needs addressed and the nature of the
mobile products and services being deployed. This framework was used to map
out horizontal and vertical patterns of innovation and to look at the potential to
generate revenue and, hence, to achieve financial sustainability. The findings and
resulting recommendations are described below.

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

BACKGROUND: THE BREADTH OF MOBILE INNOVATION
IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

In just over a decade, mobile networks have become the predominant infrastruc-
ture in the developing world. Mobile phones are the most popular and widespread
personal technology on the planet.3 There currently are more than five billion
mobile connections in the developing world, and this number is still growing fast;4
in Africa, Par exemple, plus que 40 percent of people living on a low income now
have access to a mobile phone.5 The arrival of mobile connectivity has had a fun-
damental impact on the daily lives of these populations and will continue to do so.
This explosion in mobile access has given rise to an incredible breadth of inno-
vation in the developing world. Much of it is commercially driven, but there is also
a huge number of nonprofit and government initiatives as well as social ventures
with both financial and social objectives. The projects in this sample originated in
40 countries and covered every continent.6 As the innovative use of mobile contin-
ues to expand globally, a few hotspots are emerging—for example, India, the U.S.,
Kenya, and South Africa. While some products and services are developed in one
country and deployed in others, there is an increasing pattern of locally developed
solutions that support local needs.

THE VERTICAL PERSPECTIVE

A vertical, sector-based view of developing world mobile markets seems to be the
default approach; in fact, many of the GSMA’s own Mobile for Development pro-
grams work from a vertical perspective, including healthcare (mHealth), agricul-
ture (mAgri), and learning (mLearning).7 This approach is logical, since a relative-
ly narrow set of vertically linked user needs or problems often forms the starting
point for innovation. Mobile solutions can be very complex to deploy and scale, donc
focusing on a single sector, at least initially, can help to simplify the requirements
for the solution. Donor funding strategies are also commonly designed to meet
specific macro-objectives for having a social impact within a given area of need, comme
illustrated by the Millennium Development Goals.8

Mobile-based solutions address a comprehensive range of needs for develop-
ing world populations, touching on almost every aspect of life—healthcare, learn-
ing, livelihoods, personal finances, citoyenneté, even socializing and entertainment.
Looking across the 300-plus products and services sampled for this research,
40 distinct “use cases” emerged relative to the problem or need being addressed.
Although there may be some overlap, these use cases can be grouped reasonably
easily into seven distinct areas of need or verticals (see Table 2, following page).
Many of these verticals are already represented by established donor programs,
conference themes, and industry language and areas of expertise.

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Tableau 2. Use cases by vertical

A HORIZONTAL PERSPECTIVE

Let us return to the original challenge. While this vertical approach is valuable—
and often a natural starting point—it also is important to take a cross-cutting,
technology-based perspective on how products and services addressing each of
these use cases and verticals actually work. How can we think systematically about
mobile innovation for developing countries, and not just within vertical silos?

The primary challenge in taking this kind of perspective is one of simplifying
complexity. Mobile innovation can occur across three different technology layers;
at a network, device, and application level. Within each of these layers, services
often use a range of technologies in parallel. A service using one-way SMS mes-
sages to deliver information to a large audience on a basic handset works very dif-
ferently than a service using SMS messages to deliver peer-to-peer social network-
ing to the same group of users. On the other hand, mobile payment platforms
using USSD authentication have a lot in common with other payment platforms
using SMS authentication.

Some interesting findings emerged when each product and service was exam-
ined in more detail in terms of the supporting technologies, systèmes, and platforms
being used. Despite the diversity of use cases, some clear patterns emerged in the
way the services actually work. To take a relatively simple example, call centers
with trained experts are used for remote patient monitoring and diagnosis (par exemple.,
Telenor Teledoctor 911 in Pakistan 9); to provide agricultural help for farmers (par exemple.,
M-Kilimo in Kenya10); and to give business advice to small business owners (par exemple.,
Babsha Jigyasha in Bangladesh11). The use cases and expertise (or content) sont
diverse, but the underlying call center models are very similar. This is illustrated in
Chiffre 1.

Similar logic was applied across the full range of mobile products and services
that were included in this research. This led to the identification of 12 product and

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

Chiffre 1. Translating sector verticals into horizontal product and service types

service types across three technology layers, as shown in Table 3 (following page).
The first seven product and service types—the “Application level”—cover serv-
ices and applications delivered via mobile handsets. This is where most of the best-
known “mobile for development” initiatives fall. All of these product and service
types are already commonly used terms. Cependant, grouping them together high-
lights their distinctive characteristics and provides a more complete horizontal
perspective on how mobile technology is being leveraged in the developing
world—without getting stuck in too much technical complexity. As shown in the
text box “Service Mapping Examples,” it is possible to take horizontal or vertical
approaches to service delivery at the application level.

The next three product and service types, the “Device level,” cover the mobile
devices used to access these kinds of services and applications. Mobile handsets are
predominate here in terms of sheer number of devices; cependant, handsets and net-
worked devices were excluded from this research for simplicity (there are thou-
sands) and because they can’t be categorized in terms of verticals. Cependant, a num-
ber of niche devices designed for specific developing world uses were included in
this research. While most mobile devices are horizontal by nature and capable of
supporting solutions across a range of vertical areas of need, some niche devices
take a vertical approach, Par exemple, smartphone attachments for eye examina-
tion (EyeNetra).12

“Network-level” products and services were also excluded from this research,
for similar reasons. They could be seen as another set of product and service types;
two types are illustrated here, but they could be broken down further. Some of
these areas are covered by GSMA Mobile for Development programs, such as
Green Power for Mobile13 and Community Power from Mobile.14

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Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

Tableau 3. Horizontal product and service types

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

Service Mapping Examples at the Application Level

Single product or service type and vertical: Mobilink SMS for Literacy is an edu-
cation initiative that brings literacy and math skills to women and girls in
Pakistan’s rural areas. Along with instruction from local teachers, learners
receive push content—regular SMS messages—to complement the course. Le
program is now scaling to 100 centres.

Horizontal approach: Mobenzi Researcher is a data-collection tool designed for
fieldworkers to gather various types of information (cross-sector). It works with
feature phones and smartphones, and allows mobile surveys to be designed and
deployed through a web portal. Surveys can include multiple-choice data, free
text, images, and GPS coordinates.

Vertical approach: KSL provides rural Indian farmers—many of whom have lim-
ited literacy—with high-quality agricultural information and services. Using a
special SIM card, customers gain access to a call center staffed by trained farm-
ing experts and receive frequent push content in the form of voice messages
with relevant content.

INSIGHTS ON INNOVATION PATTERNS

Integrating this horizontal perspective with the more established vertical perspec-
tive provides a more systematic way to classify and landscape mobile innovation,
using the matrix shown in Figure 1. Using this approach, each initiative was clas-
sified according to both the vertical need area(s) served and the product and serv-
ice type(s) used.

Although most initiatives could be mapped clearly to a single sector, quelques
projects are mapped against multiple sectors and are therefore counted more than
once on the “heat map” shown in Figure 4. Cependant, other projects were not
designed with any specific sector in mind; they were mapped separately as having
a “Cross-sector” focus. While the vast majority of projects clearly mapped to a sin-
gle product or service type, some used different product and service types in tan-
dem. Dans de tels cas, each component was mapped separately. This approach was
used to create the innovation “heat map” shown in Table 4.

Clearly this mapping isn’t exhaustive and there are many more initiatives out
là, but it does allow the reader to step back from the noise and make some high-
level observations about where innovation seems to be happening.

There is strong activity in vertical sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, et
financial inclusion, where numerous donor-driven programs, conferences, et
thought-leadership activities have helped to stimulate an active ecosystem.
Learning and micro-entrepreneurship are also increasingly hot innovation areas,
with a growing number of projects being launched in both. Fait intéressant, cependant,
a significant portion of new projects are cross-sector in nature, which highlights
the importance of taking a horizontal view, as such initiatives don’t necessarily get

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Tableau 4. “Heat map” of developing world mobile products and services

supported or picked up by vertically focused programs and media coverage. Dans
fact, given that the GSMA’s knowledge is largely based on its own vertical pro-
grams, this sample may even be biased against cross-sector initiatives or less well
established verticals.

Nearly all the types of products and services have use cases within a broad
range of sectors. This indicates strong technology and platform commonalities
between vertically focused program areas and highlights the potential risk of mul-
tiplicity and reinvention of the same tools. Par exemple, some of the sophisticated
interactive content platforms that have been developed with healthcare use cases
in mind could be reused to facilitate learning, agriculture, or micro-entrepreneur-
ship.

Mobile payments seem to be the most active horizontal innovation area, cov-
ering more than a third of the products and services that were mapped. Most of
this is operator driven and focused on providing users with mobile wallets, depuis
which they can access services like domestic and international money transfer, air-
time top-up, and bill and merchant payment. A growing number of projects also
use established mobile money platforms to make payments for a broader range of
services. Par exemple, in the health sector, Changamka is using mobile money to
facilitate access to medical insurance by offering micropayments to Kenyans who
are currently excluded from private insurance schemes because they don’t have a
formal bank account.15

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

Chiffre 6. Access technologies used for Interactive Content service

Interactive content services have been a huge innovation area across the devel-
oping world. These services bring a key element of Internet access—automated
access to previously created content—to populations without access to computers.
The full spectrum of mobile access technologies have been used here (voir la figure
6); for users with low-end handsets, a wide range of IVR, SMS, and USSD-based
services have been developed. They can be accessed from the most basic handsets
and will continue to play a key role among rural populations. There are more
options for feature phone and smartphone users; an enormous range of mobile
websites and apps are now available that focus on, and increasingly produced by,
developing world users.

Smartphone penetration in the developing world is still low; it currently stands
at around 7 percent in African markets16 and 1 percent in India.17 However, adop-
tion is accelerating rapidly, driven by commoditization and open ecosystems, tel
as Android—the majority of Africans, Par exemple, may well have a smartphone by
2017.18 The resulting increase in access to the mobile web and smartphone apps
will be a huge boost for more advanced forms of interactive content and could
transform lives and even cultures.

Returning to the heat map in Table 4, 40 different data-collection tools were
analyzed, most of them focused on healthcare initiatives. They vary in their
breadth of focus—from the very specific, such as Pesinet for child healthcare
records,19 to flexible non-sector-specific software such as FrontlineSMS20—and in
their means of implementation—from cloud-based services such as Mobenzi
Researcher,21 to open-source tools such as Open Data Kit.22 Another key difference
lies in access technology and device compatibility; some tools are designed for
large numbers of users to collect data on basic handsets (Par exemple, via SMS),

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Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

whereas others are designed for trained fieldworkers with smartphones. Cependant,
much of the functionality required across verticals is very similar—the ability to
capture data in the form of free text, multiple-choice questions, or even photos,
videos, or GPS coordinates.

While some of these tools are being widely used, there are many small-scale
initiatives that are not yet being leveraged across vertical sectors, geographic areas,
and/or mobile operators. This gives rise to interoperability problems; tools may be
designed for similar purposes (such as creating and accessing large databases of
simple patient information) but use completely different data structures. Better
alignment (Par exemple, through standardization of data structures) could result in
opportunities to integrate existing tools, improve functionality and ease of imple-
mentation, and achieve scale across a wider range of sectors and geographies.

In addition to global social networks like Facebook, which is used by hundreds
of millions in the developing world, a number of interesting peer-to-peer plat-
forms have also emerged that are specific to the developing world. As in the devel-
oped world, there is likely to be an increasing shift from centrally generated, inter-
active content toward user-generated, peer-to-peer content. These services fall into
two main categories. The first category within peer-to-peer is posting platforms; à
présent, these are typically used for buying and selling goods (Par exemple, Esoko,23
an information platform primarily used for market pricing), or posting jobs (pour
exemple, Souktel Jobmatch24), and have been designed for a wide range of handset
les types. The second category is social networks for users for whom the mainstream
social networks may be out of reach; Par exemple, social networks designed specif-
ically for basic handsets (Par exemple, Safaricom Semeni25), and even voice-based
social networks (Par exemple, Freedom Fone26) for users with low literacy levels.

Cependant, more basic enabling technologies such as call centers and push con-
tent systems continue to play an important role, especially in rural areas where
basic handsets are prevalent, and in regions where data access is limited or prohib-
itively expensive. Par exemple, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) combines
a call center with IVR push content to deliver comprehensive agricultural informa-
tion to Indian farmers. Push SMS messages also have unique broadcasting power
and are used in a wide range of health programs, especially in HIV/AIDS preven-
tion (educational awareness messages) and treatment (reminders to take antiretro-
viral drugs). Increasingly, narrowcast messaging is also being used, where each
SMS is tailored to geography, user segment, or other factors.

Inventory management tools are geared toward using mobile technology to
optimize supply chains for developing world consumers. A handful of these proj-
ects emerged in this sample, with pioneers such as Sproxil,27 Logistimo,28 et
Frogtek29 creating innovative services for shopkeepers, suppliers, and governments.
These tools can be used to track, manage, validate, and order inventory. There will
likely be a rising number and scale of inventory management services, given that
many of these tools use smartphones, which will become increasingly accessible in
urban areas.

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

There is less activity with niche devices, probably due to the higher capital
investment costs associated with developing mobile hardware. Cependant, some of
the innovations in this area, such as supervised mobile payphones (Par exemple,
Psitek’s Jembi phone30) and airtime vending devices, have been widely adopted. À
the moment, there are some particularly interesting use cases in healthcare, tel
as EyeNetra, a smartphone clip-on combined with an app and cloud-based plat-
form that allows eye examinations to be conducted quickly and cost-effectively in
the field.

INSIGHTS ON FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

In addition to providing insights around patterns of innovation, this systematic
framework can also help provide a better understanding of the potential for long-
term financial sustainability and how this currently relates to different horizontals
and verticals.

There is a broad spectrum of organizations working within this sphere, rang-
ing from purely commercially driven businesses, through social enterprises and
revenue-generating nonprofits, to donor- or government-funded initiatives. Pour
the sake of simplicity, these can be categorized according to one simple question:
does the organization generate any kind of revenue? This could come from end
users, other businesses, advertisers, or government but excludes grant funding.
This clearly does not prove financial sustainability; a detailed financial analysis of
each organization would be needed to do this. This is simply a rough but useful
indicator of the potential for financial sustainability.

The results are shown in Table 5 (following page), which shows the proportion
of products and services that generated some kind of revenue stream across each
vertical and horizontal.

dans

the short

term (for example, “Financial

In sectors where projects directly empower end users to generate or save
money
inclusion” and
“Entrepreneurship”), a high percentage of products and services generate revenue
of some kind. This is probably indicative of a relatively higher level of willingness
or ability to pay. In other sectors, where services are typically publicly funded (pour
exemple, “Learning,” “Health,” and “Governance and transparency”), more prod-
ucts and services are purely donor or government funded—although there is
increasing evidence of commercial returns within these areas and an increasing
shift toward public-private partnerships with mobile operators for delivery.

For other sectors there is a more even mix of revenue-generating and non-rev-
enue-generating projects. Dans l'ensemble, 69 percent of all the projects included in this
research had some kind of revenue stream (ou 53 pour cent, if excluding “Financial
inclusion” as a sector).

Horizontal approaches may have some clear benefits here in terms of financial
viability. Reusing the same technologies and platforms for a range of use cases can
lead to better economies of scale and scope. En outre, horizontal approaches
make it possible to serve vertical areas of need that users may be unwilling to pay

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Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

Tableau 5. Proportion of revenue-generating projects by horizontal and vertical

by charging for services in other verticals; for example, SMSOne in India is a
microfranchise that charges local SMEs to advertise to the local community via
SMS; the local users in turn sign up to receive a wide range of free, locally relevant
news content authored by the franchisee.*

HIGH-LEVEL OBSERVATIONS

Taking a high-level, systematic view of mobile innovation across the developing
world yields some interesting observations:

• Although a few narrow hotspots of innovation emerged (Par exemple, pay-
ment systems to meet basic financial needs), the general pattern was a broad
spread of activity. De plus, there is a huge overlap in how different types of prod-
ucts and services are used within different sectors; similar technologies and busi-
ness models often are being used to address fundamentally different human needs.
• Many initiatives that are cross-sector in nature already take a horizontal view.
This may be driven by a desire to make the most of a strong technology platform
across different types of users, or by a desire to meet the holistic needs of existing
users through a diverse range of services delivered through a common platform.
There is a risk that these kinds of initiatives may be overlooked by research or can-
not be funded by existing vertically focused programs and funding structures.

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

The GSMA’s Response:
Mobile and Development Intelligence

This research laid the groundwork for a new and broader GSMA program called
Mobile and Development Intelligence (MDI). Funded by Omidyar Network,
MDI offers data, analyse, and user-generated content to support business deci-
sions and to clarify the evidence of socioeconomic impact of the mobile indus-
try in the developing world. MDI is free to use and has been designed with a
broad range of stakeholders in mind.

MDI currently includes more than 100 market metrics for 140 developing
countries and detailed mobile coverage maps for 180 mobile network operators.
It also holds a growing database of over 1,300 relevant organizations and 600
products and services, including those profiled in this research, which will con-
tinue to be added to by the mobile community. Future tagging and categoriza-
tion of organizations will allow users to analyze these products and services by
sector, product, or service type and business model.

• The most successful vertical initiatives often use a number of complementa-
ry product or service types in tandem so as to reach a broader range of users and
to drive a deeper level of user engagement—for example, IKSL. This approach can
both broaden and deepen the social impact of these initiatives.

• Most developing world mobile projects are revenue generating. Although not
explored in depth, the range of pricing models is huge—from subscription-based
services, to pay-per-use, to “freemium” and advertising-funded models, ainsi que
many B2B offerings.

• However, some sectors and types of products or services seem easier to mon-
etize than others. Services that are most closely linked to users’ livelihoods and
financial needs seem to have the highest potential for generating revenue.

• Although there is still enormous untapped potential for mobile technology to
play a role across every sector, some areas are better understood and have received
more financing than others. Cependant, despite a lack of vertical program funding,
there is an interesting range of emerging opportunities that has promising com-
mercial potential and social impact around the theme of micro-entrepreneurship.

CONCLUSION: A CALL FOR SYSTEMATIC APPROACHES

While the vertical, sector-based paradigm has yielded some impressive results, notre
conviction is that this needs to be combined increasingly with a horizontal para-
digm oriented around how different types of products, services, and platforms can
be scaled to meet multiple needs. For organizations that currently work within a
specific vertical, this means developing a greater awareness of how mobile technol-
ogy is being used in similar ways elsewhere, or considering horizontal approaches

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Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

that use their products and services across other areas of need. A systematic per-
spective rather than a silo perspective is needed.

This perspective has a number of clear benefits:
• A clear view of how existing platforms can meet new sets of user needs. Many
strong and scalable platforms exist, but their use currently may be limited to a
given sector. Others who are looking at different areas of need may do better to
reuse or build on these platforms, rather than starting from scratch. Although a
degree of “reinventing the wheel” is natural early in product lifecycles and tends to
self-correct, it often is limited by a lack of awareness of what else is out there—
especially given the relatively low profile of most mobile initiatives in the develop-
ing world.

• Sharing of knowledge and best practice. Where existing platforms can’t be
reused or adapted, they can be learned from; a horizontal perspective gives inno-
vators a wider view of what has or has not worked elsewhere. While collaborative
approaches and standardization of technology can be difficult to manage, le
resulting benefits and increased scalability can be extremely attractive.

• A holistic approach to users’ needs. En réalité, users in the developing world
have a wide range of wants and needs. There are big advantages to using the same
platforms to meet a wide range of these needs simultaneously, which will provide
users with a more streamlined experience and leverage the technology learning
curve they already have overcome.

• Product and service types as a toolkit. These can be thought of as a toolkit;
many projects actually use multiple product and service types and access technolo-
gies to fulfill a specific set of linked, vertical user needs. Promoting awareness of
these different product and service types could stimulate real service innovation,
thereby solving problems at multiple levels via different kinds of user interaction.
Inversement, the costs of taking a purely vertical or sector-based view can be sig-

nificant:

• Increased development costs, reduced success rates, lower social impact and
financial returns. Trying to solve problems without an awareness of how these have
been addressed elsewhere increases the risk of failure and leads to diminished
financial and social returns on investment. It might take longer up front to
research existing solutions and platforms thoroughly, but doing this will inevitably
pay off later in the rollout.

• Platform multiplicity and interoperability issues. Having a purely vertical focus
means that organizations tend to look for inspiration only at other projects in their
same sector. This results in a fragmented ecosystem of small-scale initiatives—or
“pilotitis.” While some common platforms are developing, our analysis of the over-
laps between technology platforms reveals a strong indication of multiplicity. Ce
may be exacerbated by tightly focused donor-driven programs. If this is the case,
donor-funded organizations should consider developing more diversified funding.
• Limited scale-up and diversification across sectors. Reaching scale is a chal-
lenge that all businesses and international development programs grapple with,
and technology is often seen as the solution to overcoming this barrier. Cependant,

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Thinking Horizontally and Vertically

Donors and Investors

Take time to research what products, services, and platforms have already been
developed, and how and where they are being used, before funding or investing
in similar new initiatives.

• When funding technology solutions, consider allocating funds horizontal-
ly as well as vertically, or pooling initiatives from a number of different vertical
programs.

• Encourage cross-pollination between portfolio projects where technology

overlaps and synergies could exist.

• Engage in collaboration and open dialogue to create platforms and tech-

nology standards and build innovation ecosystems.

• Put a stronger emphasis on the scalability and adaptability of the technol-

ogie, rather than on the depth of the social impact.

• Look for innovative new ways to use tried and tested access technologies.

Innovators (mobile operators, entrepreneurs, NGOs, etc.)

• Take time to thoroughly research existing products, services, and platforms
before building anything new from scratch. Leverage other organizations’ suc-
cesse, learn from their failures, and avoid surprise competition later on.

• Ask whether you should be building a service tailored to a specific need, ou

a flexible platform for others to build on.

• Think carefully about the tradeoffs between device capabilities and reach;
high-end and low-end solutions both have their place. Indicators such as litera-
cy rates, interoperability across MNOs, and/or mobile money adoption rates
may all have an impact on which access technology is most appropriate to deploy
in a given market.

• Understand your target users holistically. Can a range of needs be

addressed with the same product, service, or platform?

• Start with a tight focus, but consider horizontal broadening as well as geo-

graphic expansion to achieve scale.

• Seek to fund horizontal initiatives from multiple sources when funding is

tightly linked to outcomes in a certain sector.

if mobile solutions are developed from a narrow, sector-specific point of view, ils
may miss the opportunity to reach the full scale of end users who could benefit
from the same solution.

• Increased risk of obsolescence. Even if broad scale-up is not a priority, niche
developments not supported by common platforms are harder to support over the
long term and are much more likely to be left behind as handsets and access tech-
nologies and user behavior advance.

Making this shift might look very different from one organization to another.
Cependant, the recommendations above offer some specific actions for donors and

nouveautés / volume 7, number 4

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Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner

investors, and for a broad range of innovators using mobile technology in develop-
ing world markets.

While there already are many success stories, there is still untapped potential
for mobile technology to achieve superior financial and social returns on invest-
ment in the developing world. There has been great excitement about the oppor-
tunity it offers to address barriers to economic progress that the international
development community has struggled to overcome. It offers an ability to commu-
nicate with vulnerable populations more quickly and easily than has ever been pos-
sible, and to provide much needed commercial infrastructure.

Cependant, to realize this potential, mobile solutions to development problems
need to be created with the horizontal perspective of technology markets, not only
vertically, as is the established paradigm within the development community.
Mobile technology doesn’t only provide unparalleled access to developing world
users; it also opens up new approaches to how innovation can happen. Unlike ear-
marked donor funds, technology knows no geographic borders, doesn’t favor one
group of users over another, and thinks first about the potential to scale. Applying
a systematic horizontal and vertical perspective will strengthen our understanding
and ultimately unlock the benefits of mobile technology to meet the needs of more
people worldwide.

ANNEX: METHODOLOGY

This research is based on a broad landscape analysis of over three hundred prod-
ucts and services using mobile in the developing world, undertaken by the GSMA
dans 2011-2012.

The focus of this sample was on new products and services, rather than reuse
of existing mobile tools (Par exemple, NGOs using existing push SMS platforms for
healthcare messaging). The sample included a broad spread of “B2C” products and
services, as well as many “B2B” offerings, such as mobile money platform vendors
specializing in developing world deployments.

The GSMA’s extensive knowledge and contact network in this sphere were
used to define this sample, along with desk research of existing relevant databases
and websites, donors’ and investors’ lists of recipients, company websites, press and
social media coverage. Although there is a large and growing volume of innovation
in this space, much remains below the radar of press and social media coverage. Il
is therefore impossible to form a truly comprehensive view of relevant organiza-
tion. Cependant, while the sample has been increased substantially since this proj-
ect was initially carried out, the overall picture and patterns have been consistent.
Each product and service was systematically characterized according to the