SOCAP10 is part of a handful of organizations and businesses that have begun to explore the potential frontiers associated with mobile technology in the emerging market arena. Mobile banking is seen as the preeminent success story, enabling the once neglected and disenfranchised access to savings and other critical financial services. However, this access to capital as well as a great deal of other technological innovations presupposes the user has access to a cell phone. While the number of cellular phones in circulation has exponentially increased over the years, many still cannot afford a phone. Movirtu and frog design are two of the organizations coming to SOCAP10. They recently made a collaboration that will be a hot topic in Mobile Tech Track at the conference.
Movirtu has created patent pending products that create a virtual mobile network to those who cannot possess a phone but desire mobile connectivity. The user borrows a cell phone and then creates a private account with Movirtu. Once finished, the user can now have private access to all the possibilities associated with cell phones, such as SMS texting and phone calls (MXshare), access to send/receive remittances (MXpay), and access to personalized information like healthcare, agriculture and education (MXinfo). Movirtu capitalizes on recent technology by storing all users’ private information on a telecom cloud as oppose to a SIM card; this maintains privacy, reduces security risks and enables universal access.
This product’s intended consumer demographic are at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), a community not collectively familiar with the rudiments of mobile technology. To best bridge this divide, Movirtu has partnered up with frog design, a global innovation firm focusing on business/product incubation, to specifically address product navigation, ease of use and lifestyle appropriateness at the BoP. The intent is to ensure that these potential customers – consumers at the BoP – find the product engaging, important and most importantly, simple.
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– Blog by Kishor Nagula and Cameron Campbell
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