Mobile for Development Blog

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Five key insights from user-centred evaluation and design thinking sprint of a recycling start-up in Côte d’Ivoire

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More than five million tonnes of waste is generated each year in Côte d’Ivoire, a number that is expected to double by 2030. Less than half of the current waste is collected, and only about three per cent is recycled. The rest ends up primarily in open landfills or streets, ...

Staying connected: Digital platforms supporting MSMEs through Africa’s COVID-19 crisis

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This blog is the first in a two-part series on how digital platforms can help emerging economies recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second blog will explore the same topic for the Asia Pacific region.   This blog is co-authored by Matthew ...

Five key insights from evaluating a GSMA EdTech grantee in Côte d’Ivoire

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Côte d’Ivoire has made significant strides in improving access to education for all children; however key challenges still exist to keep students in school and ensure they receive a quality education. While primary school enrolment rates have increased to nearly 100 per ...

Low Tech, High Impact: USSD in the time of COVID-19

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Basic and feature phone technologies have revolutionised how people in emerging markets interact, as stated in our 2018 report on Mobile Technology for the SDGs: Reaching Further with Low Tech. Despite growing smartphone penetration on the continent and the growing ...

Supporting entrepreneurship in the Indo-Pacific region – Extending our partnership with the Australian Government

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We are excited to announce that our GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) Ecosystem Accelerator programme, which has actively supported entrepreneurship in the Indo-Pacific region since 2017, is now extending its partnership with the Australian Government.   The COVID-19 ...

Start-ups have begun their journey through the LaunchPad 2020

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The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most profound challenges to economic development and human wellbeing in a century. The pandemic will exacerbate the inequalities and hardships faced by already vulnerable groups and threatens to undermine the Indo-Pacific’s ...

Exploring the Rising Tunisian Start-up Ecosystem

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In 2019, the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI) published the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI), measuring the quality of start-up ecosystems on a country level. Tunisia ranked second in Africa based on 14 values measuring the ...

The Start-up Challenge 2020 is forging innovation despite this year’s global context

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Inspired by last year’s response to the Seedstars Pacific regional bootcamps and pitching competitions, with the help of the Australian Government, we’ve continued to support entrepreneurship ecosystem building activities in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa. In our effort to ...

Driving the adoption of tech solutions across Africa

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Lessons learnt from developing and scaling innovative mobile solutions in Africa In the last four years, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator programme has supported innovative start-ups across developing markets by providing grant funding, technical support and opportunities to ...

Using technology to fight COVID-19: A spotlight on SMS-based education start-up, Eneza Education

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This blog is the second in the series which will focus on the role of technology in fighting COVID-19. We will highlight how start-ups in developing markets are using technology creatively to fight the pandemic. Eneza Education offers a subscription service for educational ...

Driving the adoption of tech solutions across Asia Pacific – Part 2

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Lessons learnt from the Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund was launched in 2016 in order to provide selected start-ups in Africa and Asia-Pacific with grant funding, technical assistance, and the opportunity to ...

Driving the adoption of tech solutions across Asia-Pacific – Part 1

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Lessons learnt from Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund was launched in 2016 to provide selected start-ups in Asia-Pacific and Africa with grant funding, technical assistance, and the opportunity to partner with local mobile ...

Using technology to fight COVID-19: A spotlight on telemedicine start-up Sehat Kahani in Pakistan

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This blog is the first in the series which will focus on the role of technology in fighting COVID-19. The blog will highlight how start-ups in developing markets are using technology creatively to fight the pandemic. Sehat Kahani is a digital health start-up in Pakistan that ...

Meet our portfolio start-ups: Qlue, Indonesia

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According to the World Bank, over half of Indonesia’s population lives in cities, and by 2025 this will rise to two-thirds. However, resources for city services are often insufficient or misdirected due to a lack of accurate data on the performance of city departments and ...

The state of mobile in Ghana’s tech ecosystem

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The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team, represented by Gregory Omondi, was in Ghana between 25 and 29 November, 2019. The first of two objectives was to conduct a market visit for Agrocenta, one of the programmes portfolio start-ups based locally in Ghana. Secondly, to run a ...

Meet our portfolio start-ups: Greenovator, Myanmar

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Agriculture represents 38 per cent of Myanmar’s GDP, employs 60 per cent of the active population and uses close to 20 per cent of the country’s land. However, Myanmar’s agriculture sector is not as efficient as it could be due to a lack of agricultural information that is ...

Meet our portfolio start-ups: SkyEye, Samoa

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Samoa, like most other small Pacific Islands, has challenging logistical infrastructure due to the lack of a national addressing system. This makes it difficult for small businesses to market themselves and to use e-commerce to grow their business. SkyEye, in Samoa, develops ...

Bigger, bolder and better – The Africa Start-up Summit by Seedstars

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Bigger, bolder and better – The Africa Start-up Summit by Seedstars The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team was invited to attend the annual Africa Seedstars Summit in Johannesburg on 4 and 5 December 2019. The event brought together various stakeholders including start-ups, ...

Effective sales strategies for tech start-ups in emerging markets

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Scaling a start-up can certainly be challenging in emerging markets. It requires a thoughtfully developed sales process, intentionally recruited salespeople, and effective training and leadership to support them. Challenges with hitting sales targets are often repercussions ...