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Technology for Emerging Markets

Technology for Emerging Markets Kentaro Toyama, PhD Assistant Managing Director Microsoft Research India Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India Microfinance and Technology Warana Unwired Simultaneous Shared Access Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India

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Technology for Emerging Markets

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  1. Technology for Emerging Markets Kentaro Toyama, PhD Assistant Managing Director Microsoft Research India

  2. Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India • Microfinance and Technology • Warana Unwired • Simultaneous Shared Access

  3. Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India • Microfinance and Technology • Warana Unwired • Simultaneous Shared Access

  4. MSR India • Established January, 2005 • Goals • World-class academic research • Contributions to Microsoft products and businesses • Support growth of research programs in India and elsewhere • Six research areas • Cryptography • Digital Geographics • Hardware, Communications, and Systems • Multilingual Systems • Rigorous Software Engineering • Technology for Emerging Markets • Currently ~50 full-time staff, growing • Collaborations with government, academia, industry, and NGOs Microsoft Research India Sadashivnagar, Bangalore http://research.microsoft.com/india

  5. Technology for Emerging Markets Understand potential technology users in economically poor communities Adapt, invent, or design applications that contribute to socio-economic development of poor communities worldwide Research Goals Computer-skills camp in Nakalabande, Bangalore (MSR India, Stree Jagruti Samiti, St. Joseph’s College)

  6. Interdisciplinary Research Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan – International Development Public Administration and Jonathan Donner Society Society – Communications Nimmi Rangaswamy – Social Anthropology Rajesh Veeraraghavan Group Group – Computer Science and Economics Impact Impact Understanding Understanding Archana Prasad Animation and Design – Individual Individual Indrani Medhi Design – Kentaro Toyama – Computer Science Randy Wang Technology Technology – Computer Science Innovation Innovation Udai Singh Pawar – Physics Rikin Gandhi – Astrophysics

  7. Rural Microfinance and IT Rural Kiosk Entrepreneurs Sample Projects Can computers help existing structures for rural microfinance? Study on the challenges and uniqueness of rural kiosk entrepreneurs MSR India: TEM Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan Associate Researcher Nimmi Rangaswamy Associate Researcher Text-Free UI Warana Unwired Digital Study Hall UIs without text for users who are illliterate and may never have seen a computer before Experiments with computing and communication systems in agriculture DVD exchange over postal service and TVs as display for rural education Indrani Medhi Assistant Researcher Rajesh Veeraraghavan Associate Researcher Randy Wang Researcher Government and Kiosks IT and Microentrepreneurs Simultaneous Shared Access The state’s role in rural kiosk projects, with a focus on Kerala and Andhra Information ecology of small businesses in developing markets Multiplying the value of PCs by allowing many users to access. Jonathan Donner Researcher Renee Kuriyan Research Intern Udai Singh Pawar Associate Researcher

  8. Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India • Microfinance and Technology • Warana Unwired • Simultaneous Shared Access

  9. Microfinance and Technology Aishwarya Ratan

  10. Exploratory Studies Site visits: • Interviews with… • Institution heads • MFI agents • Clients • Participant observation • Accounts and records Microfinance Institutions • Pradan • Ujjivan • Sanghamitra • CCD Mahakalasam • BASIX

  11. Uses of Microfinance Sustenance (40%) Fulfil basic consumption Protect against shocks Access lumpsums for lifecycle needs Growth (60%) Enterprise (30%) Buildup assets: education, home (30%)

  12. Models of Microfinance Commercial Cooperative JOINT LIABILITY GROUPS SELF - HELP GROUPS RS. NGO facilitator RS. @ 9-12% APR @ 9-12% APR MFI 12-20 members RS. @ 24-36% APR 24-36% APR 5 members External provider is the MFI Interest accrues to 3rd party intermediary ~8 mn outreach in India More profitable More commercially focused – EMI payments Most common model worldwide The group is the MFI Interest accrues to member-borrowers ~33 mn outreach in India Less profitable More welfare focused – flexible payments Most common model in India

  13. Case: PRADAN’s Computer Munshi experiment Original workflow (90,000 rural clients, EAST/CENTRAL India) • Problem area • Poor quality of financial data • No aggregate record • Issues • Costs associated with: • Time spent on accounting each week • Mistakes discovered at annual audit • Experiment • Goals • Improve SHG data quality & aggregate data • Outsource weekly accounting function – create sustainable business model • Methods • Have an Accountant with a PC serve a Federation of SHGs • Charge nominal fee for data processing service • Use manual transport to ferry data back and forth • Results • Weekly meeting time cut by half • Instant evaluation of financial performance of large group of SHGs possible Annual auditing by NGO Book-keeping done locally Weekly collections Improved workflow Copy of transaction record put in drop-box CM updates records & prints balances & dues Weekly collections Annual auditing by NGO

  14. Can technology assist microfinance? YES! TOUGH! • E-payments • Enabling e-cash transactions • Disbursal of amount (loan) • Collection of dues/ payments (loan, savings & insurance) MAYBE! Front-end IS • Account creation (loan, savings & insurance) • Collecting client data • Screening/ verification • Transaction data • Processing claims (savings, transfers & insurance) Back-end IS • Aggregation of client data • Actuarial analysis • Target offerings

  15. Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India • Microfinance and Technology • Warana Unwired • Simultaneous Shared Access

  16. Warana Unwired Rajesh Veeraraghavan

  17. Agriculture in India • Over 60% of population in agriculture • Mostly small and marginal farmers with 1-3 acres of land • Average income of $1-2 per day

  18. “Warana Wired Village Project” Sugarcane  Sugar 70 villages, 70000 farmers Asia’s first “Bridging Digital Divide” pilot ! (1998) Started with ethnographic studies…

  19. “Warana Wired Village Project” Factory FTP PC Landline phone FTP PC enabled Kiosks Standard PC network FTP Warana Farmer DB Weigh stations 54 kiosks in 54 villages Cost: Rs.2.5 crores (US$500,000)

  20. Original Goals • Internet access to farmers • Check market price information • Agricultural expert system • Automate land records • Other crazy dreams!

  21. Actual Use Internal account MIS: • Register land • Issues harvesting permit • Buy fertilizer through credit • Get paystub • Query quantity of sugarcane harvested

  22. Mounting Challenges High maintenance cost Intermittent power Network flaky PC not optimally used!

  23. The Problem Can we preserve the functionality of the existing PC based system while making the entire system cheaper and more effective?

  24. The Solution: Warana Unwired! PC-based kiosks SMS-enabled mobile phones

  25. Original PC-Based Set-Up Factory FTP PC Landline phone FTP PC-enabled kiosks Standard PC network FTP Warana Farmer DB Weigh stations

  26. GSM/CDMA SMS network New Mobile-Based Set-Up Factory SMS PC Windows Mobile Remote APIs SMS SMS-enabled phones Standard PC network SMS Warana Farmer DB Weigh stations

  27. Warana Unwired – Results 24-hour access to services • 6000 SMS processed 80% of requests for getting sugarcane output 1238 unique farmer requests Response time on harvesting data. • Original: 15 days PC: 2 days  Mobile: immediate Telcos’ interest has perked up. Neighboring cooperatives have expressed interest.

  28. Warana Unwired– Estimated Cost Savings Costs Units: Rs Savings over PCs 1 million Rupees /54 villages/1 year ($22,000)

  29. Qualitative Results – Solution Truly Mobile

  30. Farmer Response Disbelief to Joy: Farmer from Satve village: Initial Disbelief! Once he sees it on the phone! he gets excited and says: “Barabar hai, eh tho bahuth accha hai.” “The information is exact and it is very good.” Demands from other nearby villages: Farmer from Angali village: Demands access! We were trying to tell them we need to really test to see whether this works successfully, the farmer replied: “I saw messages are coming on the mobile phone. There is no problem. So where is the question of success?”

  31. Status So far: • Successful replacement of kiosks in seven villages. System in operation since October 2006. • Expansion to other villages in cooperative To do: • Analysis of feedback and surveys for concrete impact • Pilots with other cooperatives

  32. Outline Introduction Three Projects from MSR India • Microfinance and Technology • Warana Unwired • Simultaneous Shared Access

  33. Simultaneous Shared Access PCs Udai Singh Pawar Kentaro Toyama

  34. At school after school… One PC, many children.

  35. Solution: MultiPoint Provide a mouse for every student • One cursor for each mouse, with different colours or shapes • USB mice • Have tried up to 20 • Content modified • Game-like environment Early research work by Bier (1991), Inkpen (1995), and others.

  36. MultiPoint

  37. MultiPoint: Status Experimental results: • Children understand and enjoy multiple mice • On rote memorization tasks, games can be designed to allow as much learning as with one-PC-per-child • Strong gender differences w.r.t. sharing Publications in ICTD2006, CHI2007 Microsoft SDK shipped June 2007! “Mouse on Each Desk” project in Education Technologies group Ongoing work with Azim Premji Foundation Before After

  38. Split Screen

  39. Multi-Monitor

  40. Continuum of Sharing Nothing shared Shared processor Shared processor & monitor Shared processor, monitor & keyboard True personal computer Shared PC Personal mouse, keyboard & monitor (Thin client/ Multi-Monitor) Personal mouse & keyboard (Split Screen) Personal mouse (MultiPoint) Nothing personal

  41. Summary Introduction Three Projects from MSR India • Microfinance and Technology • Warana Unwired • Simultaneous Shared Access Technology’s relevance not always clear Increasing use of technology

  42. ICTD Conference IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development Co-organized by MSR India, UC Berkeley, IIIT-Bangalore, MIT, CMU First: May 25-26, 2006, Berkeley, CA Focus on rigorous academic work, with all papers double-blind peer-reviewed Establishing a community of academic researchers in technology for development Next one in December 15-16, 2007 Bangalore, India UC Berkeley, site of ICTD 2006

  43. Thank you! http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem

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