Android and development 2

2.   Ruma’s “Market Intelligence” in Indonesia

Ruma is a social enterprise that empowers the poor using mobile phone technology. It started as a pilot project of Grameen Foundation and Qualcomm and has now metamorphosed into an enterprise serving millions of clients. Ruma has recruited and trained over 10,000 low-income entrepreneurs in Indonesia, of which 85% are women, to sell prepaid airtime, electricity and other value added services. Now, Android powered tablets are helping these low-income entrepreneurs act as conduits for gathering market intelligence across Indonesia.

The low-income household market is probably the most difficult market to obtain  information. Goods are sold through 2 million plus warungs (small shops), scattered throughout Indonesia. The distribution of the goods goes through multiple layers of distributors, making information gathering very expensive.

Through the mobile survey product built on the Android platform and administered on smartphones and tablets, consumer goods companies like Danone and Nestle contract Ruma to obtain rapid market information from the Ruma entrepreneur network. Over 70% of Ruma’s entrepreneurs were already selling basic consumer goods when they were recruited to the network. The existing network of thousands of shops and over one million end consumers can provide market research professionals with valuable insights.

Surveys with a broad sample with only a select number of questions can be administered in real time via SMS or through Telesurvey. Whereas an in-depth study of products through focus group discussions or a pilot of the product can be conducted using a customized data collection application.

Ruma believes that by providing companies with better access information to the low-income segment, companies can create products that address the segments true needs.

So why GF prefers Android to other operating systems?

·      Open source - GF can customize the phones for improved use of power and to make applications usable when the phones aren't connected to the network

·      Fastest growing OS - Phone prices are bound to drop

Why GF uses smartphones / tablets when feature phones are cheaper and more popular (especially in the underdeveloped world)?

·      Location data and photographs are possible with GPS & camera

·      Large data can be stored on external memory cards

·      Input and storage of data on the phones is possible even when the user is out of range of a cellular network. This information is uploaded once the user moves within range of the network

·      Improved analytics capabilities (with salesforce.com)