Curtains close down on CRS' 5th ICT4D conference

Judy Pyane (USAID), Ben Ray (Zerion),
Mark Davies (Esoko)
and Kwame Bentil (Image-AD) panelists
discussing business models for ICT4D

The curtains have just closed down on the Catholic Relief Services’ 5th Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) conference, held in Accra from 19 to 21 March 2013. The event, which in my view was a success, brought together religious leaders, the private sector, public sector, non-governmental organizations, and entrepreneurs involved in ICT4D initiatives. More than 150 participants shared experiences and lessons learned in implementing ICT4D initiatives across the globe. Discussions and exchange of information focused on the conference theme: "Mobile Services that Empower Vulnerable Communities"

Being from the agriculture domain, I enjoyed the presentations focusing on various aspects of  ICT4D in agriculture. Among them, the following stood out:

• Esoko – a market information service targeting projects and businesses and helping them to collect and disseminate information across the value chains. Esoko is based in Ghana and has operations and/or partners in 16 African countries;
• Fambook – an application developed by the Catholic Relief Service for use by field agents to register farmers, farmers groups and develop business plans incorporating profitability analysis;
• mFarm – an integrated platform aimed at helping stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to communicate and establish business relationships. mFarm is developed by Image-AD based in Ghana.
• FarmForce – a cloud based solution for managing smallholder farmer production and out grower schemes. Sygenta International Foundation funds FarmForce;
• ICT for Weather and Water Information and Farm Advice – an IFAD supported project by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The project is promoting the use of ICT-based technologies for the delivery of weather, water and crop information and advice to smallholder farmers in Africa;
• Community Knowledge Worker – a Grameen Foundation’s programme targeting smallholder farmers and supplying them with information to improve their farming practices.  The CKW initiatives involves farmer leaders at the grassroots level and these trained to use mobile phone applications to provide information and advisory services to the farmers and to administer surveys.

Master class on Farmbook led by Shaun Ferris of CRS

After listening to several presentations and discussions, both in the breakout and plenary sessions, I was left with the following question:

Why do have too many pilot ICT4D initiatives, especially in Africa, and almost no sustainable scale ups?

If you are reading this blog post, I would be glad to have your views. Please, leave a comment.

 

Esoko – a market information exchange launched in Ghana

Mark Davies, Esoko CEO with the Esoko Team
and a Representative of IFC

Today, more than 100 invited guests, some from as far as the United Kingdom, witnessed the launch of Esoko, a direct, simple and effective market information exchange, in Ghana. The launch ceremony was held on the seventh floor at Esoko’s new offices situated on the Ring Road in the heart of Accra.

Esoko, formerly known as TradeNet, allows anyone to distribute or collect market information over their mobile phones. Market information in Ghana is being collected from 34 markets all over the country and the platform is active in 15 countries, including Nigeria where some major markets are linked to Esoko. Users of Esoko, businesses and individuals, can access market prices, browse offers to buy or sell, or advertise their own products and services. The services available include SMS messaging, SMS price alerts, SMS bids and offers, SMS websites, Maps, SMS polls, Upload via SMS/Web and Inventory Reporting.

Mark Davies, CEO of Esoko Networks, also announced an investment of over US$2 million in Esoko from the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The event also saw the launch of the following products and services:

• Scout and Stock applications – a tool for polling thousands of Esoko users and reporting stock quantities using SMS;
• Esoko 1900 short code – SMS service available to users in Ghana, and anyone can text for top commodities and get price results from all over the country;
• Agricultural Commodity Index – providing market trend analysis on both wholesale and retail commodity trading levels. The index is made public on a weekly basis.

Esoko's goal is to improve market efficiencies throughout the value chain, thus reducing poverty and contributing to the role of agriculture in Ghana’s development.