Business Lessons from Mobiles in Malawi

by Nathaniel Whittemore

Published January 15, 2009 @ 12:02PM PT

One of the mobile technology for development projects we've been keeping track of most closely is Josh Nesbit's "Mobiles in Malawi." Josh spent last fall in Malawi setting up a communication network for a rural clinic and its community health workers using a few recycled cellphones, some donated computers and software called FrontlineSMS.

He's seen some incredible results. The idea behind the communication system is to improve the clinic's ability to undertake home-based care and keep track of dispersed patients. In the first few months of deployment, Josh estimated that the mobile network has saved community health workers more than 900 hours of travel time, and the clinic is receiving more than double the number of reports about patient's compliance with drug regimens than before.

Today, Josh wrote a great post about why the FrontlineSMS software worked so well for his project. He cites things like its low cost, ability to sync with locally available technology, and ease of use. I think that his bullets actually have a lot to teach us about bottom of the pyramid business - and you know what?- business in general:

Find the Right Price Point
For FrontlineSMS, the right price point is zero. But that's based on a conscious decision and vision for the way that they want to run their enterprise.

Allow users to innovate
The founder of FrontlineSMS Ken Banks certainly had and has ideas of how FrontlineSMS can be used, but that's different than prescribing how Frontline should be used. Josh wrote "Straightforward features allowed the hospital to take ownership and get creative, which encouraged user-driven functionality. One example: Auto-replies set to provide [community health workers] with immediate drug dosage and usage information."

Make it intuitive to use
Making your product simple and easy to use is not about "dumbing it down" for a different audience. It means that if your user is an average person, or an average organization, the learning curve for using the product shouldn't be steep.

The value should be clear
This seems self-evident but the value of a product or tool should be clear to the user. For Josh and his clinic, FrontlineSMS solved a distinct problem. In a recent post called "A User's Guide to 21st Century Economics," on Harvard Business Blogs, Havas Media Lab Director Umair Haques wrote:

"In the 20th century, marketing was the pusher of a consumption addiction: Madison Ave's game was to create perceived value by "differentiating" the same razors, blades, and toothpaste. At the Lab, we've found that companies who create perceived value are significantly less profitable and more vulnerable than companies who are rethinking marketing to create real value."

Where possible, integrate
One of Josh's points is that FrontlineSMS worked for his clinic because it didn't require them to get new phones, or new computers, or even a better internet connection. It worked with the resources they already had. In a world of increased fragmentation, people look for platforms and applications that integrate, snyc, and generally make things less complicated.