Mobilizing Entrepreneurship

volume 7 | issue 4 A quarterly journal published by MIT Press innovations TECHNOLOGY | GOVERNANCE | GLOBALIZATION Mobilizing Entrepreneurship Lead Essays Iqbal Quadir Form, Transform, Platform Raj Gollamudi Mobilizing Entrepreneurship Chris Locke The Challenge of Sustaining App Entrepreneurs Cases Authored by Innovators Mark Davies Fertilizer by Phone Hans Wijayasuriya and Michael de Soyza Bridging Divides with Inclusive mCommerce Erik Hersman Mobilizing Tech Entrepreneurs in Africa Analysis and Perspective on Policy Chris Williamson & Corina Gardner Thinking Horizontally and Vertically: A Better Way to Approach Mobile Innovation Maja Andjelkovic and Saori Imaizumi Mobile Entrepreneurship and Employment Jane Vincent Using ICTs to Support New Global Societies Philip Auerswald and Jenny Stefanotti Integrating Technology and Institutional Change ENTREPRENEURIAL SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES Editors OpenInnovations Team Advisory Board Philip Auerswald Adam Hasler Susan Davis Iqbal Quadir Colleen Kaman Bill Drayton Contributing Editors Kate Mytty David Kellogg Chris Williamson Laura Neuhaus Eric Lemelson Corina Gardner Publisher Granger Morgan David Taverner Nicholas Sullivan Jacqueline Novogratz Roger Stough Senior Editor James Turner Winthrop Carty Xue Lan Managing Editor Editorial Board Michael Youngblood David Audretsch Senior Researcher Matthew Bunn Adam Hasler Maryann Feldman Richard Florida Associate Editors Peter Mandaville Dody Riggs Julia Novy-Hildesley Helen Snively Francisco Veloso Strategic Advisor Yang Xuedong Erin Krampetz Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization is co-hosted by the School of Public Policy, George Mason University (Fairfax VA, USA); the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (Cambridge MA, USA); and the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge MA, USA). Support for the journal is provided in part by the Lemelson Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Innovations (ISSN 1558-2477, E-ISSN 1558-2485) is published 4 times per year by the MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1315. Subscription Information. An electronic, full-text version of Innovations is available from the MIT Press. Subscription rates are on a volume-year basis: Electronic only—Students $25.00, Individuals $48.00, Institutions $172.00. Canadians add 5% GST. Print and Electronic—Students $28.00, Individuals $54.00, Institutions $199.00. Canadians add 5% GST. Outside the U.S. and Canada add $23.00 for postage and handling. Single Issues: Individuals $15.00, Institutions $50.00. Canadians add 5% GST. Outside the U.S. and Canada add $6.00 per issue for postage and handling. 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Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization is indexed and/or abstracted by AgBiotech News & Information, CAB Abstracts, Forestry Abstracts, Global Health Abstracts, RePec, PAIS International, and World Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology Abstracts. website: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/innovations/ © 2012 Tagore LLC innovations TECHNOLOGY | GOVERNANCE | GLOBALIZATION Lead Essays 3 Form, Transform, Platform: How the Ubiquity of Mobile Phones is Unleashing an Entrepreneurial Revolution Iqbal Quadir 13 Mobilizing Entrepreneurship Raj Gollamudi 21 The Challenge of Sustaining App Entrepreneurs Chris Locke Cases Authored by Innovators Esoko 27 Fertilizer by Phone: Esoko Enhances African Farmers’ Livelihoods through Innovations in Data Access Mark Davies Dialog Tradenet and Creating Shared Value 43 Bridging Divides with Inclusive mCommerce Hans Wijayasuriya and Michael de Soyza iHub 59 Mobilizing Tech Entrepreneurs in Africa Erik Hersman Analysis 69 Thinking Horizontally and Vertically: A Better Way to Approach Mobile Innovation in the Developing World Chris Williamson and Corina Gardner 87 Mobile Entrepreneurship and Employment Maja Andjelkovic and Saori Imaizumi 109 Using Information and Communication Technologies to Support New Global Societies Jane Vincent volume 7 | issue 4 Perspective on Policy 109 Integrating Technology and Institutional Change: Toward the Design and Deployment of 21st-Century Digital Property Rights Institutions Philip Auerswald and Jenny Stefanotti About Innovations Innovations is about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. The journal features cases authored by exceptional innovators; commentary and research from leading academics; and essays from globally recognized executives and political leaders. The journal is jointly hosted at George Mason University's School of Public Policy, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and MIT's Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. Topics of interest include entrepreneurship and global development, the revolution in mobile communications, global public health, water and sanitation, and energy and climate. Authors published in Innovations to date include three former and one current head of state (including U.S. Presidents Carter and Clinton); a Nobel Laureate in Economics; founders and executive directors of some of the world’s leading companies, venture capital firms, and foundations; and MacArthur Fellows, Skoll awardees, and Ashoka Fellows. Recently the journal has published special editions in collaboration with the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ashoka, the Lemelson Foundation, and Social Capital Markets. Subscribe at http://www.mitpressjournals.org/innovations Iqbal Quadir Form, Transform, Platform How the Ubiquity of Mobile Phones is Unleashing an Entrepreneurial Revolution The spread of mobile technology throughout low-income countries has given rise to prominent entrepreneurs like Indian-born Sunil Mittal and Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim who took initiatives to introduce the technology in large parts of India and Africa, respectively. Entrepreneurs like Mittal and Ibrahim, along with major mobile phone operators, have succeeded in making mobiles virtually universal and have deservedly become highly visible industrial leaders and examples for younger generations to create new success stories. Now mobiles themselves, in turn, are unleashing thousands, if not millions, of entrepreneurs in low-income countries. These new entrepreneurs are less visible but nonetheless contributing to a dispersed entrepreneurial ecology on the ground that will change lives, create innovations and strengthen democratic forces. Numerous studies and accounts on mobile phones have discussed their global ubiquity, their substantial economic impact, and the extent of entrepreneurial possibilities they unleash. How can we better understand the scope of these new entrepreneurial roles? To start, we can observe that, for each new widely accepted technology, there are at least three phases of interactions between the technology and the economy. Each of these phases gives rise to a class of entrepreneurs (although the relative importance of these classes may vary for any given technology). I call these three categories Form, the development and utilization of a new base of purchasing power arising from increased user productivity; Transform, the new ways of doing business that further capitalize on the technology’s possibilities; and Platform, the new applications based on the original root technology. With these three classifications, I seek to create a framework for understanding the broad range of entrepreneurial roles created when a technology like the mobile phone flourishes in an economy. Take the case of the Model T a century ago; Henry Ford, in this case, would be the equivalent of Sunil Mittal or Mo Ibrahim. When these affordable cars first Iqbal Quadir is a professor of the practice of development and entrepreneurship at MIT, the founding director of its Legatum Center, and the founder of Grameenphone, in Bangladesh. © 2012 Iqbal Quadir innovations / volume 7, number 4 3 Iqbal Quadir came out, their users travelled much faster, saving time and accomplishing more. The ensuing economic benefits allowed users to advance materially and gain the ability to purchase other goods and services. This created an opportunity for entrepreneurs to produce and sell these other goods and services. This is the category I call Form. Next, as the affordable cars became widely available, it became possible to build larger factories away from residential settings, employing more workers dispersed over a wider area who could drive to work. Complementary but non- automotive assets such as better roads and highways were built to fully capitalize on the benefits of automobiles. Shopping malls away from city centers became desirable. With time, the economy adjusted to the new possibilities of automobiles. I label the entrepreneurs in this category of activities—rethinking and reworking solutions to the needs of the economy—as Transform. Finally, a third set of activi-

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