By Per Helmersen, GSMA mWomen Research Manager
Understanding the wants, needs and aspirations of underserved women as well as the barriers that stand in the way of fulfilling them is essential in order to develop relevant, affordable and accessible mobile service offerings. As obvious as this may seem, mobile network operators (and other players) are not always equipped to listen to the voice of the consumer; more often than not they view their customers through the lens of existing and proposed mobile services, ignoring their life priorities and pain points. By doing so they not only fail to ‘connect’ with existing and prospective customers, but also miss out on opportunities to develop attractive offerings that differentiate them from their competitors.
The recently published GSMA mWomen study Striving and Surviving: Exploring the Lives of Base of the Pyramid Women seeks to remedy this situation by giving voice to over 2500 women in four markets: Egypt, India, Papua New Guinea and Uganda. In addition to a quantitative survey designed to provide the all-important numbers, a wide range of qualitative tools were employed that allowed women (and a much smaller sample of men) to inform us about their lives in their own words. Thanks to generous funding from USAID and AusAID, we were able to explore the life space and priorities of so-called base of the pyramid women by means of focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and day-in-the-life-of ethnographies in their own village or urban location. Combined with quantitative data from the same markets this provided us with a unique combination of macro overviews and micro insights. In addition, we wanted to understand the role of the mobile phone in the lives of those fortunate enough to own or have access to one and the barriers that stood in the way of ownership among those who did not have access to this communication tool.
By combining these disparate information sources we were able to suggest marketing and service opportunities for the mobile ecosystem founded on well-documented priorities and access barriers among underserved rural and urban women. We discovered, for example, that 74% of married women who did not want a mobile phone said it was because their husbands would not allow it. This not only highlights the importance of understanding the cultural setting, but also suggest that value propositions should to a greater extent emphasize the benefits to the family (and men in particular) of women owning mobile handsets. We also found that 28% of women participate in some form of women’s group regularly and that 39% reported ‘female friends’ were a trusted information source. Engaging with these groups and understanding the structure of and social processes (buzz) within women’s communities will enable not only mobile operators but also NGOs to reach BoP women at scale. One final example: 73% of participants expressed interest in entrepreneurship to help support their families. Mobile solutions that help entrepreneurs manage their business or smallholder farming activities could have a powerful impact on empowerment of women and the regional/national economy as a whole.
In my next post I’ll share more information about the next exciting research project for the Programme. Check back soon!