product innovation in market information systems

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs A short journey Getting started Version 1.0 Version 2.0 Lessons learned 9/11/2015 2

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Responding to a need 2004 meetings: technoserve & FAO Research visit with FoodNET in Uganda 9/11/ Conclusion: - agric people are not software people - better & new tools needed - a potential business opportunity

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs TradeNet v1.0 Online content management system customized for agriculture A commercial software product Available to anyone 9/11/2015 4

5 NEWS DOCUMENTS PRICES LISTINGS

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs 1.0 = innovation Realtime SMS uploads from markets Database customized for agric data (data assigned to commodities, people, places: other content management systems not viable) Multi-currency & multi-country Powerful analytic tools

Specific software designed for market information... Other content management systems can’t provide this level of control...

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Unique views across regions:

9/11/2015 9

10 requesting price data... Any country, any currency, 4 languages...

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Challenges of version 1.0 Classic top-down approach of a centrally-managed national MIS system Is the data accurate & relevant? No obvious revenue model We needed to understand the market itself and not just the NGOs needs

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Version 2.0; refocus to provide community toolset (web 2.0?) Commercial deals between users (p2p) Group extension services User-supplied content = public MIS! Challenge to give them compelling toolset 9/11/

13 OFFERS USERS GROUPS

9/11/ focus on basic group communication needs

Interactive SMS inputs... Automatic SMS outputs... ‘peer2peer’

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Powerful personal spaces for EVERY registered user My friends My groups My offers My profile My services My photos My files My notification preferences 9/11/

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs How far have we come? 13 countries in east, south, west Africa 650,000 prices uploaded 439 commodity varieties online Over 5,000 users registered 60,250 SMSes sent GSM partnerships setup and business models & contracts developed Toolset & partnerships just maturing 9/11/

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs You must be active in the markets... Not isolated in the labs Software NOT enough Help partners understand the social challenges Help partners see the business opportunities Ongoing impact assessments required Ongoing product development required

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Respond to market needs: Large buyers (maize, barley, sorghum) revert to international markets not just for price, but also dependability Local markets are opaque and poorly organized – information is lacking. Quantities are small, quality unknown. 9/11/

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Easy to extend tradenet to capture crop data... Setup a tradenet group of users Receive SMS inputs on planting, maturing, harvesting (met/disease etc) Generate crop production forecast reports for buyers Encourage collaboration & communication between big buyers and many producer groups 9/11/

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Our model 1. Group toolset: same model as web personals (free > upgrades) (50%) 2. User SMS subscriptions & traffic (40%) 3. Advertising & sponsorship (10%) (country franchises; mobile payments; gsm agreements) 9/11/ CostSMS limitCountriesMembers Basicfree100/month1- Silver$5002,000/month1100 Gold$2,000unlimited

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Lessons learned extensive marketing & training required GSM operators are key to revenue models Data profiling = valuable opportunities It’s about anthropology, not technology! Trust is a critical factor & takes time Most current web2.0 tools not relevant Public/private partnership required Mobile has changed everything: real opportunities do exist to improve livelihoods 9/11/

trade & business tools for projects; entrepreneurs Thank you 9/11/