Technology for Emerging Markets
Kentaro Toyama, PhD
Assistant Managing Director
Microsoft Research India
Outline
Introduction
Three Projects from MSR India
– Microfinance and Technology
– Warana Unwired
– Simultaneous Shared Access
Outline
Introduction
Three Projects from MSR India
– Microfinance and Technology
– Warana Unwired
– Simultaneous Shared Access
MSR India
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Established January, 2005
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Goals
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World-class academic research
Contributions to Microsoft products and
businesses
Support growth of research programs
in India and elsewhere
Six research areas
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Cryptography
Digital Geographics
Hardware, Communications, and
Systems
Multilingual Systems
Rigorous Software Engineering
Technology for Emerging Markets
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Currently ~50 full-time staff, growing
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Collaborations with government,
academia, industry, and NGOs
http://research.microsoft.com/india
Microsoft Research India
Sadashivnagar, Bangalore
Technology for Emerging Markets
Research Goals
Understand potential technology
users in economically poor
communities
Adapt, invent, or design
applications that contribute to
socio-economic development of
poor communities worldwide
Computer-skills camp in Nakalabande, Bangalore
(MSR India, Stree Jagruti Samiti, St. Joseph’s College)
Interdisciplinary Research
Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan
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International Development
Public Administration and
Jonathan Donner
Society
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Communications
Nimmi Rangaswamy
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Social Anthropology
Rajesh Veeraraghavan
Group
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Computer Science and
Economics
Archana Prasad
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Individual
Animation and Design
Indrani Medhi
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Design
Kentaro Toyama
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Computer Science
Randy Wang
Technology
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Innovation
Computer Science
Udai Singh Pawar
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Physics
Rikin Gandhi
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Astrophysics
Sample
Projects
MSR India: TEM
Rural Microfinance and IT
Can computers
help existing
structures for
rural
microfinance?
Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan
Associate Researcher
Text-Free UI
Warana Unwired
UIs without text
for users who are
illliterate and may
never have seen
a computer
before
Indrani Medhi
Assistant Researcher
Government and Kiosks
The state’s role
in rural kiosk
projects, with a
focus on Kerala
and Andhra
Renee Kuriyan
Research Intern
Rural Kiosk Entrepreneurs
Study on the
challenges and
uniqueness of
rural kiosk
entrepreneurs
Nimmi Rangaswamy
Associate Researcher
Digital Study Hall
Experiments with
computing and
communication
systems in
agriculture
Rajesh Veeraraghavan
Associate Researcher
Simultaneous Shared Access
Multiplying the
value of PCs by
allowing many
users to access.
Udai Singh Pawar
Associate Researcher
DVD exchange
over postal
service and TVs
as display for
rural education
Randy Wang
Researcher
IT and Microentrepreneurs
Information ecology
of small businesses
in developing
markets
Jonathan Donner
Researcher
Outline
Introduction
Three Projects from MSR India
– Microfinance and Technology
– Warana Unwired
– Simultaneous Shared Access
Microfinance and Technology
Aishwarya Ratan
Exploratory Studies
Site visits:
• Interviews with…
– Institution heads
– MFI agents
– Clients
• Participant observation
• Accounts and records
Microfinance Institutions
• Pradan
• Ujjivan
• Sanghamitra
• CCD Mahakalasam
• BASIX
Uses of Microfinance
• Growth (60%)
– Enterprise (30%)
– Buildup assets: education,
home (30%)
• Sustenance (40%)
– Fulfil basic consumption
– Protect against shocks
– Access lumpsums for
lifecycle needs
Models of Microfinance
RS.
@ 9-12% APR
MFI
RS.
@ 24-36% APR
5
members
External provider is the MFI
Interest accrues to 3rd party intermediary
~8 mn outreach in India
More profitable
More commercially focused – EMI payments
Most common model worldwide
Cooperative
SELF - HELP GROUPS
JOINT LIABILITY GROUPS
Commercial
RS.
NGO
facilitator
@ 9-12% APR
12-20
members
24-36% APR
The group is the MFI
Interest accrues to member-borrowers
~33 mn outreach in India
Less profitable
More welfare focused – flexible payments
Most common model in India
Case: PRADAN’s Computer Munshi experiment
(90,000 rural clients, EAST/CENTRAL India)
Original workflow
Problem area
• Poor quality of financial data
• No aggregate record
Annual auditing by NGO
Book-keeping done locally
Issues
• Costs associated with:
• Time spent on accounting each week
• Mistakes discovered at annual audit
Experiment
• Goals
• Improve SHG data quality & aggregate data
• Outsource weekly accounting function – create
sustainable business model
•Methods
•Have an Accountant with a PC serve a Federation of
SHGs
•Charge nominal fee for data processing service
•Use manual transport to ferry data back and forth
Weekly collections
Improved workflow
Copy of transaction record put
in drop-box
CM updates records & prints
balances & dues
•Results
•Weekly meeting time cut by half
•Instant evaluation of financial performance of large
group of SHGs possible
Weekly collections
Annual auditing by NGO
Can technology assist microfinance?
Back-end IS
Front-end IS
1. Aggregation of client data
1. Account creation (loan, savings
& insurance)
1.
2.
Actuarial analysis
Target offerings
YES!
1.
2.
Collecting client data
Screening/ verification
TOUGH!
2. Transaction data
3. Processing claims (savings,
transfers & insurance)
E-payments
Enabling e-cash transactions
1.
2.
MAYBE!
Disbursal of amount (loan)
Collection of dues/ payments (loan, savings & insurance)
Outline
Introduction
Three Projects from MSR India
– Microfinance and Technology
– Warana Unwired
– Simultaneous Shared Access
Warana Unwired
Rajesh Veeraraghavan
Agriculture in India
• Over 60% of population
in agriculture
• Mostly small and
marginal farmers with
1-3 acres of land
• Average income of $1-2
per day
“Warana Wired Village Project”
Sugarcane  Sugar
70 villages,
70000 farmers
Asia’s first “Bridging
Digital Divide” pilot !
(1998)
Started with
ethnographic
studies…
“Warana Wired Village Project”
Factory
PC
Landline phone
Standard PC
network
PC enabled
Kiosks
FTP
Weigh stations
54 kiosks in 54 villages
Cost: Rs.2.5 crores (US$500,000)
Warana
Farmer DB
Original Goals
• Internet access to farmers
• Check market price information
• Agricultural expert system
• Automate land records
• Other crazy dreams!
Actual Use
Internal account MIS:
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Register land
Issues harvesting permit
Buy fertilizer through credit
Get paystub
• Query quantity of
sugarcane
harvested
Mounting Challenges
High maintenance cost
Intermittent power
Network flaky
PC not optimally used!
The Problem
Can we preserve the functionality of the
existing PC based system while making
the entire system cheaper and more
effective?
The Solution: Warana Unwired!
PC-based
kiosks
SMS-enabled
mobile phones
Original PC-Based Set-Up
Factory
PC
Landline phone
FTP
Standard PC
network
PC-enabled
kiosks
Weigh stations
Warana
Farmer DB
New Mobile-Based Set-Up
Factory
PC
GSM/CDMA
SMS
SMS network
Windows
Mobile
Remote APIs
Standard PC
network
SMS-enabled
phones
Weigh stations
Warana
Farmer DB
Warana Unwired – Results
24-hour access to services
– 6000 SMS processed
80% of requests for getting sugarcane
output
1238 unique farmer requests
Response time on harvesting data.
– Original: 15 days PC: 2 days  Mobile: immediate
Telcos’ interest has perked up.
Neighboring cooperatives have expressed interest.
Warana
CostsUnwired– Estimated Cost Savings
System
Units: Rs
Cost/Farmer
/Year
New PC
System
394
Existing PC
System
177
SMS Mobile
(kiosks)
159
GPRS(kiosks)
139
SMS
Mobile(without
kiosks)
111
GPRS ( no
kiosks)
91
Savings over PCs 1 million Rupees
/54 villages/1 year
($22,000)
Qualitative Results – Solution Truly Mobile
Farmer Response
Disbelief to Joy:
Farmer from Satve village: Initial Disbelief!
Once he sees it on the phone! he gets excited and says:
“Barabar hai, eh tho bahuth accha hai.”
“The information is exact and it is very good.”
Demands from other nearby villages:
Farmer from Angali village: Demands access!
We were trying to tell them we need to really test to see
whether this works successfully, the farmer replied:
“I saw messages are coming on the mobile phone.
There is no problem. So where is the question of
success?”
Status
So far:
• Successful replacement of
kiosks in seven villages. System
in operation since October 2006.
• Expansion to other villages in
cooperative
To do:
• Analysis of feedback and
surveys for concrete impact
• Pilots with other cooperatives
Outline
Introduction
Three Projects from MSR India
– Microfinance and Technology
– Warana Unwired
– Simultaneous Shared Access
Simultaneous Shared Access PCs
Udai Singh Pawar
Kentaro Toyama
At school after
school…
One PC,
many children.
Solution: MultiPoint
Provide a mouse for every student
– One cursor for each mouse, with
different colours or shapes
– USB mice
• Have tried up to 20
– Content modified
• Game-like environment
Early research work by Bier (1991),
Inkpen (1995), and others.
MultiPoint
MultiPoint: Status
Experimental results:
– Children understand and enjoy multiple
mice
– On rote memorization tasks, games
can be designed to allow as much
learning as with one-PC-per-child
– Strong gender differences w.r.t. sharing
Publications in ICTD2006, CHI2007
Before
Microsoft SDK shipped June 2007!
“Mouse on Each Desk” project in
Education Technologies group
Ongoing work with Azim Premji
Foundation
After
Split Screen
Multi-Monitor
Continuum of Sharing
Nothing
shared
Shared
processor
Shared
processor,
monitor &
keyboard
Shared
processor &
monitor
True
personal
computer
Shared PC
Personal
mouse,
keyboard
& monitor
(Thin client/
Multi-Monitor)
Nothing
personal
Personal
mouse
(MultiPoint)
Personal
mouse & keyboard
(Split Screen)
Summary
Introduction
Three Projects from MSR India
Technology’s
relevance
not always clear
– Microfinance and Technology
– Warana Unwired
– Simultaneous Shared Access
Increasing use of
technology
ICTD Conference
IEEE/ACM International Conference on
Information and Communication Technologies and Development
Co-organized by MSR India, UC
Berkeley, IIIT-Bangalore, MIT, CMU
First: May 25-26, 2006, Berkeley, CA
Focus on rigorous academic work, with
all papers double-blind peerreviewed
Establishing a community of academic
researchers in technology for
development
Next one in December 15-16, 2007
Bangalore, India
UC Berkeley, site of
ICTD 2006
Thank you!
http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem