Mobiles For Development in Africa – Talk and Discussion by Kentaro Toyama

mLab East Africa. Credit - Peter Durand (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Mobile development in Africa especially in Sub-Saharan Africa has boomed over the past five years with a growth rate of 550%. The African market does not merely offer hope in the form of investment opportunities, but has indeed transformed the way in which mobile phones have traditionally been used.

Mobile phones are transforming lives in low-income countries faster than ever imagined.  The effect is particularly dramatic in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile phones have often represented the first modern infrastructure of any kind. The stories emanating from Africa shows that this industry has allowed for significant gains in socio-economic development, on a continent where development indicators are painfully low.

I recently covered an interesting talk and discussion by Kentaro Toyama [a researcher in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley] themed “Mobiles for Development” at the m:Lab Nairobi.

The talk covered the role of Non-profits and for Profits in the Developing world. He shared his views on:

“Do the poor have a say in the type of development being presented to them through the mobile technology?”