A short video on the Harvard Business School Case Method.
Here are two videos on Aravind. The first one is the story of Dr. V. and Aravind and the second is about the model and its broader applicability (more slides and more data).
According to the ITC website eChoupal has become "the largest initiative among all internet-based interventions in rural India". It is also "the world's largest rural digital infrastructure created by a private enterprise". It now covers 4 million farmers in over 40,000 villages in 10 states through 6500 kiosks. Products include soybean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses (legumes) and shrimp.
S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive of ITC Agribusiness, identifies the following characteristics of the model (see first video below):
- Complete end-to-end information technology solution
- Aggregates demand for quality inputs and is also a marketing channel
- It is scalable because it is built on market principles
- It is replicable across different crops and geographies
Major obstacles are primarily infrastructure: power supply, telecom connectivity and bandwidth. So as we have seen in so many cases ... What should government do? is neither a profound or a trick question - government should do what it should have done in the first place - provide basic infrastructure.
Here is a short report from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development on this and other examples of ICT-enabled solutions for development.
And two relatively short videos on eChoupal (parts 1 and 2):
Nandan Nilekani talking about Economic Access
The enrollment process (footage from an enrollment station) and why people are enrolling.
A critique of Aadhaar - Jean Dreze
Government video on Aadhaar, MGNREG (rural employment) and financial inclusion.
A longer in-depth interview (NYU Stern) which talks about the technology issues and network effects.
The interview is about 40 minutes - followed by Q&A.
Do watch this if you have time although are not discussing the NSA and surveillance. The discussion raises some really important questions which all societies must answer.
If you do ... pay particular attention to the views of the person on the extreme left of the screen (in Black): Yochai Benkler, who IMHO has the best insights and also to the person sitting next to him: Bruce Schneier (although like me Bruce has a tendency to talk real fast sometimes!).
Talking about surveillance ... wonder why you did not read about this in Singapore papers? Why I am not surprised?
Please do visit the Paydiant website to see what they are up to. Looks like they have solutions for merchants (targeted mobile advertising), processors (differentiated service offering) and banks (attach to existing mobile solution).
We can discuss the point about regulation (of telcos) raised by Fenny next week since we have to talk about a telco model of mobile payments. Also Fenny needs a new phone (quit Android - Google is evil!) or a new QR code scanning software because the QR code appears on the screen of the POS equipment - so not necessarily printed on paper. Paydiant also appears to have a got a patent for ATM withdrawals using their technology. So lots of stuff we did not think about!
Here is a video from Paydiant's website
And the interview with one of the founders ... He says " we think of payments as the kernel and its all the neat stuff you wrap around it". So the monetization for Paydiant is not really 'payments' but the "neat stuff". Also the consumer data belongs to the merchant.
Thanks rehintz for the post on ebooks and how they are not selling. I don't know where Susan Moldow is getting her prices, but check out the Kindle Store (Canada):
Kindle edition with Audio/Video : $26.22
Kindle edition: $22.39
Hardcover: $17.49
So is it any wonder that the eBooks are not selling? More than books … publishers need disruption. Publishers are like Telcos, they always claim to be threatened whenever a new technology arrives ... they tell us they are going to lose money. Invariably they end up profiting from the new technology.
Moving on … it appears that that the eBook game is getting hotter in the education/textbook segment. Students in the U.S. and Canada pay way too much for their books and publishers would love to kill the used book market (usually they try to do this by coming up with new editions which have marginal changes). Of course the big announcement is from Apple … new version of iBooks … free authoring tool etc. … but there are other more interesting things happening. Nature has apparently come up with a Biology textbook - all digital, interactive … $49 for lifetime access. I wanted to have a look but was told that I need to be a Biology Professor (any old Professor won't do!).
Indiana University is shifting to digital using Courseload … here is what the CEO has to say:
The most exciting development is Creative Commons licensed books from Flatworld Knowledge … free books online … but more importantly, instructors can customize books to their needs … delete chapters, sections and add their own content … they call it 'MIYO' - Make it your own!