The Business Models of mLabs and mHubs— An Evaluation of infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Support Pilots 2 2 The Business Models of mLabs and mHubs— An Evaluation of infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Support Pilots 23 The report “The Business Models of mLabs and mHubs—An Evaluation of infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Support Pilots” is available at https://www.infodev.org/mobilebusinessmodels Copyright © 2014 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank Mailing Address: MSN I9-900 1818 H St. NW, Washington D.C., 20433 USA Telephone: (+1) 202- 458-4070 Website: www.infoDev.org Email: [email protected] Twitter: @infoDev Facebook: /infoDevWBG Some rights reserved. This work is a product of the staff of infoDev / World Bank. Note that the World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content included in the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of the content contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. 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All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to infoDev, The World Bank, MSN: I9-900, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA ; email: [email protected] Photo Credits infoDev / World Bank (photos on pages iv, 6, 10, 12, 16, 17, 23, 29, 44, 49); IFC (page 24); Jonathan Kalan (pages 32, 39, 41); iHub (pages 8, 42); mLab ECA (page 17); Zena Fruits (page 34); Caribbean Growth Forum / Digital Jam 2.0 (page 47). 24 Cover design: infoDev and Jean Manuel Wegimont About infoDev infoDev, a global trust fund program in the Financial and Private Sector Development Network of the World Bank Group, supports growth-oriented entrepreneurs through creative and path-break- ing venture enablers. It assists entrepreneurs to secure appro- priate early-stage financing; convening entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, mentors, and other stakeholders for dialogue and action. We also produce cutting-edge knowledge products, closely linked to our work on the ground. About infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program supports growth-oriented mobile app businesses in emerging and frontier markets. infoDev does this by 1) enabling entrepreneurship in the mobile industry, through venture incubation and acceleration, 2) building mobile innovation communities of entrepreneurs, investors, partners, and mentors, and 3) researching the app economy of emerging and frontier markets. The backbone of infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program is a global network of Mobile Application Laboratories (mLabs) and Mobile Social Networking Hubs (mHubs), rolled out across eleven countries. 25 Acknowledgements his report, commissioned by infoDev, a global partnership program within the World Bank, evaluates the business models of infoDev’s Mobile Application Laboratories T(mLabs) and Mobile Social Networking Hubs (mHubs). mLabs and mHubs were implemented under the Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy (CSBKE) program, funded by the government of Finland, in partnership with Nokia. Nicolas Friederici (Oxford Internet Institute) wrote the report. Toni Eliasz was task manager for infoDev. The task team leaders were Ellen Olafsen and Tim Kelly. The team is indebted to the more than 200 stakeholders that provided input and feedback for the analysis through interviews and focus groups. Special thanks are due to mLab and mHub managers, who helped with extensive results reporting and interviews, local facilitation during country visits, as well as reviewing. Several infoDev staff gave detailed comments during an internal review: Angela Bekkers, Brett Dickstein, Rick Doerr, Diletta Doretti, Carolyn Florey, and Zoe Lu. Colin Blackman copy-edited the report and Jean Manuel Wegimont designed the layout. The review and decision meeting was chaired by Chris Vein (Chief Innovation Officer for Global ICT Development at the World Bank). Peer reviewers were Chunlin Zhang (Lead Private Sector Development Specialist, World Bank), Mavis Ampah (Regional Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa, ICT Sector Unit, World Bank), Jussi Hinkkanen (Vice President for Corporate Relations and Business Environment for Nokia Middle-East and Africa), David Taverner and Marissa Drouillard (Mobile for Development, GSMA), and Tayo Akinyemi (Director, AfriLabs). The report was made possible by the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland. 62 Contents Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................10 Part I: Rationale for a Business Model Evaluation of mLabs and mHubs..................................... 16 Introduction and Background................................................................................................. 16 Why Evaluate the Business Models of mLabs and mHubs?............................................25 Results for mLabs and mHubs.............................................................................................. 28 Part II: Lessons Learned and Future Directions for mLab and mHub Business Models..............................................................................................................................................32 Lessons Learned for mLabs and mHubs............................................................................ 32 Room for Debate: Open Questions for mLabs.................................................................... 45 Lessons Learned and Future Directions for infoDev........................................................ 53 Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 67 Part III: Case Studies of mLab and mHub Business Models.............................................................70 Applying the Business Model Canvas to mLabs and mHubs.......................................... 70 mLab East Africa.......................................................................................................................73 mLab Southern Africa.............................................................................................................. 83 mLab ECA................................................................................................................................... 93 mLab East Asia........................................................................................................................ 101 mLab South Asia..................................................................................................................... 107 Mobile Nepal (mHub Nepal)..................................................................................................111 TOPICA Mobile Social Networking (mHub Vietnam)....................................................... 117 Akirachix (mHub Kenya)........................................................................................................ 121 Mobile Monday Kampala (mHub Uganda)......................................................................... 126 Appendixes.................................................................................................................................... 134 References.................................................................................................................................... 137 72 Lists of Boxes, Figures, and Tables Box 1: Why infoDev?........................................................................................................................... 17 Box 2: The Development Potential of App Economies and infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program......................................................................................................................... 18 Box 3: What Makes mLabs and mHubs Different from Other Entrepreneurship Support Channels?.........................................................................................................................