The mWomen team is eagerly anticipating the inaugural mWomen Working Group which begins tomorrow, Tuesday 9 November, in Chennai, India. MNOs and development experts from all over the world will be flying in to discuss how to sustainably provide mobile connectivity to women living on less than $2 a day in the developing world.

Hosted by Uninor, the working group aims to provide a forum in which MNOs and experts from the academic and international development community can come together to discuss the benefits of connecting women at the base of the pyramid. The two day agenda includes case studies illustrating the positive social and economic impacts mobile phones can bring to these women. There will be presentations, debates and a business case workshop which will highlight the business value of the female BOP market segment that will be key to MNO growth over the next few years.

In addition, there will be a field trip to a Uninor Hand in Hand Citizen Centre, one of the company’s hundreds of facilities across the Indian state of Tamil Nadu designed to allow female entrepreneurs to deliver information communication technology training and support to other women in their communities. It is one of several industry commitments to mWomen designed to use mobile connectivity to empower women, supporting the UN Millennium Development Goals.

‘Right from the start, the mWomen programme has brought the public and private sectors together to collaborate in reducing the mobile phone gender gap,’ said Trina DasGupta, mWomen Programme Director. ‘We expect this meeting to provide some fascinating insights on both the impacts and successful methods of providing BOP women with mobile connectivity.’