Every year the top players of the mobile ecosystem gather at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, to shape the future of the mobile industry and to unveil the winners of the Global Mobile Awards, which are some of the most highly recognised awards in the global communications industry.
GSMA mWomen is particularly looking forward to celebrating the winner of the 2014 GSMA Global Mobile Award for “Best Mobile Product or Service for Women in Emerging Markets”, which aims to salute an innovative product or service specifically designed to meet the wants and needs of underserved women in developing countries.
2014 Shortlisted Nominees
The shortlist of nominees for this year’s award has been announced, and the winner will be named on Tuesday, 25th February. The 2014 shortlist for “Best Mobile Product or Service for Women in Emerging Markets” includes nominees from around the globe, all with offerings that increase women’s access and use of mobile phones:
- Easypaisa
- Etisalat for Etisalat’s mWomen program – Weena
- Millicom for Tigo Ghana Market Women MFS project
- Vodafone Foundation in India, the Self Employed Women Association (SEWA) and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) for RUDI Sandesha Vyavhar (RSV) project
- Yesteam Solution Private Limited for SHG E Bookkeeping
Last year, Ooredoo’s Asiacell won the prestigious prize with the Almas Line, a specific proposition that meets the needs of Iraqi women. Deep and comprehensive consumer insights research allowed Asiacell to understand the wants and needs of women in its market and to tailor Almas Line offerings to the demands of Iraqi women for mobile technology. Almas Line offerings included “step charging,” which offers a 50% discount after the third minute; freedom for women to choose their own off-peak hours; discounted rates for off-network calls; and a free “bye-bye” service that blocks potential harassers from calling or texting. Since the launch of the product in April 2011, the proportion of Asiacell’s female customers has grown to close to 40% and about 1.8 million women in Iraq have been connected to friends and family, allowing Asiacell to significantly increase its customer base while strongly contributing to closing the mobile gender gap in Iraq.
Propositions like the Almas line are important because they deliver real value to women by meeting their needs to connect and feel safer while adjusting to the unique challenges women face when purchasing and using mobile phones.
We would like to take a moment to recognise the incredible members of our judging panel, whom we are honored to call mWomen advocates:
Malaika Judd: Malaika is a Principal and Mentor at Savannah Fund and pseudo-mother to the Accelerator startups. Her personal interests and expertise are in Transportation and Entertainment. Malaika has lived in the USA, UK, France, Holland, and Kenya and finds energy in discovering new cultures, business environments, startups, and hubs. Malaika gained extensive corporate experience as a Brand Manager, and discovered the startup scene in Africa as a Consultant for Mobius Motors.
Erica Kochi: Erica co-founded and co-leads UNICEF’s Innovation Unit, a group tasked with identifying, prototyping and scaling technologies and practices that improve UNICEF’s work on the ground. Erica also serves as Innovation Advisor to UNICEF’s Executive Director. Working with partners in private sector, academia, and international development, the Innovation Unit supports UNICEF’s 135+ country offices in the practical application of design and technology to strengthen international development outcomes. UNICEF Innovation has recognized success in innovative design of international development solutions. Erica was named to the TIME 100 “World’s Most Influential People” List in 2013.
Ingrid Lunden: Ingrid is a writer and editor for TechCrunch, joining February 2012, based out of London. Before TechCrunch, Ingrid worked at paidContent.org, where she was a staff writer, and has in the past also written freelance regularly for other publications such as the Financial Times. Ingrid covers mobile, digital media, advertising and the spaces where these intersect.
Lohini Moodley: Lohini is a Partner in McKinsey’s Johannesburg office and one of the leaders of McKinsey’s Telecoms, Media and Technology Practice in sub-Saharan Africa. She has focused on the telco and ICT sectors over the last four years, and is passionate about the role that technology can play in Africa’s development. Lohini has consulted to telecom operators, IT services companies, technology companies and to government departments on broadband and ICT strategies, focusing on how to drive broadband penetration and expand into the IT sector. She has also consulted on the impact of regulatory policy, such as local loop unbundling, spectrum allocation, interconnection and universal service obligations on the telecoms industry. Through her work, she has developed deep knowledge of the different models countries have adopted to roll-out broadband and to support national broadband strategies.