infoDev in Action: Working for Results
How infoDev is making a difference:
Supporting technology entrepreneurs in the Caribbean
The European Commission is drawing on advice and guidance from infoDev in designing a $15-million project to establish three business incubators, which provide support to technology entrepreneurs, in the Eastern Caribbean. The project will assist the governments’ efforts to shift economic reliance away from export crops towards ICT-related industries. This work is now leading directly to the development of a toolkit on business incubation for Small Island Developing States.
Promoting new business incubation in Vietnam
Vietnam’s Center of Research and Consulting on Management (CRC), an autonomous unit within the Hanoi University of Technology, received a US$50,000 grant from infoDev in 2004 to develop a business plan for a business incubator. The grant enabled CRC to build a model for business incubation that would respond to the needs of the community. Today, the business incubator is operational and is currently incubating five early stage businesses. In addition, CRC was able to leverage infoDev’s initial support, to obtain $250,000 from USAID and Microsoft to set up a virtual incubator network.
Supporting ICT-enabled growth in Ghana
A $40-million World Bank lending project in Ghana will help the government of Ghana stimulate growth of an ICT-enabled services industry. This project was designed in large part using the results of an infoDev study on the opportunities and constraints facing Ghana in the ICT sector.
Investigating ICT use in education
infoDev is implementing two regional survey projects in Africa and the Caribbean to help answer some basic key questions related to the use of ICTs in education. How are ICTs currently being used in the education sector in each region, and what are the strategies and policies related to this use? What are the common challenges and constraints faced by countries in each region? What is actually happening on the ground, and to what extent are donors involved? The surveys are meant to document the lessons learned from the past decade’s investment and activities, successes and failures related to ICT use in education, in order to inform a number of policy dialogues and project preparation activities going forward.
Assisting telecommunications regulators
Based on the earlier Telecommunications Regulation Handbook, infoDev is partnering with ITU on version II of the widely utilized regulatory toolkit -- the ICT Regulation Toolkit. The ICT Regulation Toolkit is web-based and is intended to assist ICT regulators with the design of effective and enabling regulatory frameworks to harness the latest technological and market advances. Its most prevalent themes are the impact of changing technology, the role of competition, and the regulatory implications of the transition from traditional telephony to next generation networks (NGNs). The completed modules have served as the basis for an advisory workshop for regulatory staff in Fiji in October 2006 as well as for over 70 participants from 25 developing countries at ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006. More capacity building work is now being planned.
Analyzing Business Process Outsourcing
The global market for IT-Enabled Services/Business Process Outsourcing (ITES/BPO) has been estimated at US $300 billion, and so far, only 10% of the estimated market has been realized. This sector’s strong potential for direct and indirect job creation and its relatively low capital and physical infrastructure investment requirements, have generated significant interest across the developing world. In some cases, this interest has led to well-intentioned, but poorly designed ITES/BPO initiatives. At the request of its donors, infoDev is developing an analytical framework for strategically assessing the opportunities the global ITES/BPO can, or cannot offer a developing country.
Extending financial services using mobile phones
infoDev is examining how the spread of mobile phones makes it possible to extend the reach of formal financial and other services beyond the realm of urban physical locations. infoDev partnered with the GSM Association and the IFC to analyze two of the most promising recent examples of these business models, both in the Philippines. The case studies analyzed market conditions, user segmentation, banking concerns, and regulatory concerns in order to be a resource for mobile operators, regulators, and policymakers alike. This report and a recent DfID report on “The Enabling Environment for Mobile Banking in Africa” provided the basis for a joint infoDev and DfID “Knowledge Map” on mobile banking (m-Banking), completed in 2006. The knowledge map identifies “gaps” where further work is needed, and donor assistance may most usefully be deployed. infoDev’s ongoing work in this area will be designed to address these “gaps,” and done in partnership with CGAP, GSMA and others.