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Most of the counter-examples given as being examples of interesting companies sound terrible to me: >> ... Neema, an app to help poor people without access to

Most of the counter-examples given as being examples of interesting companies sound terrible to me: >> ... Neema, an app to help poor people without access to banks gain financial services... Neema sounds even more useless than Juicero. Poor people have no money so they don't need financial services. >> ... Kangpe, online health services for people in Africa without access to doctors. So they don't have access to doctors but they have an iPhone with internet. Totally realistic. >> Dost Education, helping to teach literacy skills in India via a $1/month course Does the $1 per month include the cost of the computer/iphone, electricity and internet? It's probably cheaper to just pay a private tutor for one hour a day. Teachers aren't that expensive in India. >> ... CBAS, which describes itself as “human bionics plug-and-play" Nice buzzwords but what is the actual point of this? Does it actually improve lives? Is this what people really want or is it what silicon valley wants them to want?

Laforet 9y ago
>Poor people have no money so they don't need financial services. We already have it in the form of check cashing and payday loan businesses. >So they don't have access to doctors but they have an iPhone with internet. Totally realistic Don't underestimate penetration of mobile internet in certaim parts of Africa.
bonniemuffin 9y ago
225M people in Africa have a smartphone today (I think that's like 20%?): https://qz.com/748354/smartphone-use-has-more-than-doubled-in-africa-in-two-years/ https://qz.com/748354/smartphone-use-has-more-than-doubled-i... Meanwhile in some places there's only 1 doctor per 100,000 people: http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-02-05-hullo-where-have-all-of-africas-doctors-gone http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-02-05-hullo-where-have-all-... So yeah, I do think there are probably a lot of people in Africa with a smartphone but not a doctor.
- SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
  You can get a smartphone in the US for 20USD I can only imagine that number is lower in Africa. In support of your point.

Laforet 9y ago

>Poor people have no money so they don't need financial services. We already have it in the form of check cashing and payday loan businesses. >So they don't have access to doctors but they have an iPhone with internet. Totally realistic Don't underestimate penetration of mobile internet in certaim parts of Africa.

bonniemuffin 9y ago

225M people in Africa have a smartphone today (I think that's like 20%?): https://qz.com/748354/smartphone-use-has-more-than-doubled-in-africa-in-two-years/ https://qz.com/748354/smartphone-use-has-more-than-doubled-i... Meanwhile in some places there's only 1 doctor per 100,000 people: http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-02-05-hullo-where-have-all-of-africas-doctors-gone http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-02-05-hullo-where-have-all-... So yeah, I do think there are probably a lot of people in Africa with a smartphone but not a doctor.

SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
You can get a smartphone in the US for 20USD I can only imagine that number is lower in Africa. In support of your point.