June 10 and 11 2014, Kigali Rwanda
The Mobile Enabled Community Services (MECS) Programme conducted its second annual Africa Working Group, in Rwanda, early June. Over 30 industry stakeholders from across Africa, including Ghana, attended the event, engaging in a lively conversation around the key opportunities, challenges and trends facing energy and water access for underserved populations in the region.
The 2-day Working Group kicked off with a welcoming note by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Youth and ICT, both strongly committed to the development of ICT and mobile technology for socio-economic growth.
Presenting MECS
Following the welcome notes, the MECS team presented the Programme’s Innovation Fund and some of the early findings from its grantees, which you can also read about in the Annual Report. The floor was then handed over to the participants, which include an almost equal number of water and energy service providers (last year’s representation of water companies had been considerably lower), Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), investors, International and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Role of & partnerships with MNOs
The first panel invited MNOs Tigo Rwanda, MTN Rwanda and Airtel Group to discuss the role of and partnerships with MNOs in the sector of mobile enabled community services. It was interesting to note the new approach of MNOs, willing to work with innovative service providers to make their services more relevant to customers.
The following discussion had Mobisol, an energy service provider and MECS grantee, and Skyfox Ltd., a Ghanaian internet based payment service provider, present the impact and challenges of mobile money on their services. They highlighted the importance of streamlining mobile money integration for third parties in order to reduce time spent on technical delay, overhead costs, and allow the models to be replicated in other markets. Interoperability and strong distribution networks are other key factors required for mobile money services.
“To M2M or not to M2M”
Two water service providers and MECS grantees, Living Water International and Nextdrop as well as energy service provider Off:Grid Electric tackled the question. A highlight was the participation of Nextdrop from India to discuss its work with the Bangalore water utility and how lessons can cross borders.
The lack of GSM coverage in the most remote areas, the low signal as well as the unclear cost/benefit of M2M are all obstacles to the full rollout of M2M solutions in underserved areas of emerging countries. Before engaging in the deployment of these solutions, the panel agreed that there was a need for innovators to consider 1) what information is required 2) the amount 3) level of accuracy and finally 4) the usage of the information they will gather.
Stories from the trenches and investors’ insights in the water and energy sector
The day ended with “stories from the trenches” by water practitioners, SeeSaw, UNICEF and Water Forever International, who discussed the still nascent collaboration of the water sector with mobile technology. Water, unlike energy, is often a service that is not paid for by the customer, the challenges lie less in the technology than in the community’s acceptance of the service, its willingness and ability to pay.
The next morning investor panel had African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) and African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) present their work, followed by energy practitioners BBox, d.light as well as software service provider Dimagi discuss their own stories and challenges.
A key learning from the final panel of energy practitioners BBox, d.light and Dimagi was the importance of building flexibility and quality into the business model: make the service work for different types of end users and be ready to be upgraded. Distribution and working capital are also crucial for service to grow.
Field visits to Mobisol and Living Water International
The Working Group finished with a visit to the field to meet the customers and see the solutions in action! Attendees left the conference room to visit to two of MECS grantees’s projects: a water hand-pump equipped with Portland State University – Living Water International GSM- sensors (see blog about this) followed by a visit to one of Mobisol’s merchant customer, equipped with a GSM-enabled Solar Home System.
This blog presents at a glance the discussions that were held at the Working Group.