Twitter “Social Enterprise of the Day” Roundup

Monday, August 3, 2009 – Friday, August 7, 2009

Last week, we thought we’d try something new for our “Social Enterprise of the Day” – a theme. Our first theme was mobile-based technology. Since there is just so much happening in the space, this could literally be our theme for the foreseeable future. But alas, all good things must come to an end. So, this week, the theme will change. This is not to say that we won’t revisit mobile-based technology many times in the future.

Mobile-based technology has changed the entire communication landscape. No longer are we prisoners to our landlines. No longer is there an excuse not to be in contact.

But more heartening – no longer are rural communities not connected. No longer can the informal or unorganized labor force complain of being unaware of employment opportunities. No longer can farmers be cheated by middlemen in the pricing of their produce. No longer do pregnant women lack access to medical information or a doctor.

Suddenly, with inexpensive mobile technology (both in hardware and software) under-served urban and rural communities have become empowered. And this is the point of development, no?

The following five enterprises that we featured as our “Social Enterprise of the Day” are doing their part to connect people, and doing a good job, at that.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – SMSONE

SMSONE is setting an example of social entrepreneurship in India. With a vision to create SMS as a local, micro-media and to provide self-employment to 200,000+ school dropouts, SMSONE runs an SMS newsletter service for mobile phone owners in rural Maharashtra, India. The SMS-based newsletter updates citizens – free of cost – about local happenings, whether they are social, cultural, political, governmental, economic, or health-related. But this is just the beginning of the work that SMSONE is doing. Not only a local SMS community newsletter, it also provides self employment to youth.

The newsletter is run by local 10th-12th grade failed students or dropouts. These youth now have a job and a source of income. The youth – now called “mobile journalists” – collect 1,000 mobile numbers from local residents. They then start a SMS-based newsletter to alert, update, and inform the community about local happenings. It is a free service to citizens, and the youth earn between US$150 and US$200 per month (quite a nice rural salary!) through promotional messages. In turn, these formerly shunned-upon youth earn social respect from the community. What could be better?

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – Hope Phones

“Old Phones Save Lives” is the message Hope Phones is actively spreading. Hope Phones is a mobile phone collection campaign supporting mobile health programs at medical clinics in over 30 countries.  Led by Josh Nesbit, Hope Phones asks people to donate their phones to a wireless device recycling center, making a usually anticlimactic task quite meaningful in the process. There, a value is placed on the old phones, enabling Hope Phones to purchase usable, recycled cell phones for health care workers. Your old cell phone is thus put to use as a tool in the fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other life-threatening diseases in the developing world. Relying on FrontlineSMS:Medic (which will be showcased later in this post), these phones serve as critical tools for health workers in Africa – connecting clinics to remote healthcare workers and patients.

Better yet (for us donors, at least) is that as phones are distributed, Hope Phones posts video interviews with community health workers, statistics about the impact the cell phones have on patient care, and stories from the clinics receiving phones. Mapping their distribution, each donor gets to know exactly where phones are going.

Follow Hope Phones on Twitter at @HopePhones

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – CreditSMS

It seems that mobile-based technology is the way of the future. It even makes the internet immaterial! While the other organizations profiled here have focused on community issues, health, and greater development needs, CreditSMS takes the mobile platform and applies it to microfinance, hopefully lowering interest rates charged by MFIs in the process.

The CreditSMS system is envisioned as a convergence of SMS-aggregating software and mobile commerce systems to provide an efficient and accessible platform for MFIs to deliver and track loans via SMS. Since CreditSMS utilizes the widely available GSM wireless telephone network, implementing MFIs need neither an Internet connection nor a permanent office to conduct business, dramatically lowering their operating costs. Further, MFIs that utilize alternative power sources such as solar panels will be able to operate ‘off the grid’ and thus gain a comparative advantage in rural and underserved areas.

By allowing microloan officers to receive weekly loan repayments via SMS instead of spending time and money to travel to group meetings, implementing MFIs will spend significantly less on fuel and have more time to pursue and manage a larger loan portfolio. Thus, transaction costs – the costs of getting loans to and regular repayments from individuals and loan groups – will be reduced, allowing MFIs to lower their interest rates commensurate with the amount of money saved, thereby creating a more competitive loan environment and encouraging greater entry from rural populations.

Follow CreditSMS on Twitter at @CreditSMS

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – Frontline SMS:Medic

Frontline SMS:Medic is a build-it-yourself, two-way text messaging system for health workers. I know, sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But that is only the beginning.

Frontline SMS:Medic gives health workers the ability to set up private, two-way communications networks using its free open source software, a laptop, a modem, and a few cell phones. In situations where patient follow-up would normally be time-consuming and costly, all of a sudden it isn’t. Physicians and health workers in geographically difficult areas are given the ability to create a closed communications system with their patients. The system is two-way, so recipients can reply to senders and ask questions—an especially important function for communication between doctors and patients.

Even better, it doesn’t require internet access. The only thing required that cannot be purchased off-the-shelf is a working GSM wireless network.

Although anecdotal, the data is promising. In a six-month pilot in Namitete, Malawi, doctors saved approximately six hours of travel time each day by no longer needing to leave their clinic to do basic follow-up rounds in the field. They used the time to double the number of TB patients they see in the clinic.

FrontlineSMS:Medic is an extension of the open source messaging platform called FrontlineSMS.

Follow FrontlineSMS:Medic on Twitter at @SMSMedic

Friday, August 7, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – USC Frontline SMS

The USC Frontline SMS team, a team of college students affiliated with FrontlineSMS, has spent the summer building an SMS-based healthcare information network in southern India. The team aims to empower outreach workers and staff at the Bhoruka Charitable Trust by employing an SMS-based communications network to simplify information flows in the Dharwad District in the state of Karnataka in South India. The technology’s pilot is focused on HIV/AIDS prevention in the female sex worker community. Through the platform, USC Frontline SMS is tracking referrals for HIV testing, targeting follow up visits, and reporting critical information from the field back to the District Office.

Follow USC Frontline SMS on Twitter at @USCFrontlineSMS