SMSONE: Micro-Local News From India To Make Silicon Valley Jealous

Tech Crunch: Of the hundreds of companies I meet in any given country, I only write about a handful. Sometimes it’s the ones that seem to be copying a US idea, but in reality are building their company in a completely unique—and frequently more profitable—way.  Other times, I’m captivated by an idea that’s perfect for an emerging market, but probably wouldn’t work in the US.

But every once in a while I find a company that hits the trifecta: It’s addressing a big problem locally, it’s something I don’t think is offered in the US, and…. I want it. And when a product in undeveloped, chaotic, messy India can make someone in Silicon Valley feel jealous, you know that entrepreneur has come up with something good.

I’m talking about SMSONE Media, a company I met in Pune about a week ago. Like most of the impressive companies I saw in India, it’s aimed squarely at the base of the pyramid and is using basic SMS to deliver services to people some of India’s most unconnected areas.  It was started by Ravi Ghate, who proudly points out that none of his core team graduated from high school, much less attended an IIT or IIM. (Typically not something you brag about in India.)

SMSONE is basically a very-local newsletter. Ghate goes to a village and scouts out an unemployed youth—preferably one who’s had jobs as a street vendor or has experience going door-to-door shilling for local politicians. The kid pays Ghate 1000 rupees (or about $20) for the “franchise” rights to be the local reporter for that village. He goes door-to-door signing up 1,000 names, phone numbers and other basic information, then mails the slips to Ghate. Ghate enters it all in his databases and all those “subscribers” get a text introducing the kid as their village’s reporter. In India all incoming texts are free so, the subscribers don’t pay anything.

And what readers get is pretty powerful. Right now there is no way to get a timely message to people in a village. There’s no Internet access, no TV, no local paper, and frequently no electricity. All they have is a basic mobile phone. SMSONE’s service can give farmers instant updates about crop pricing or news of a seed or fertilizer delivery a town away. That means the farmer only makes the trip when he knows the shipment is there, rather than wasting days of travel hoping the shipment is there.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Pune’s SMSONE gets techcrunched: Mirco-local news to make Silicon Valley Jealous (punetech.com)

Random Posts:

• Google launches the Nexus One smartphone
• Adding Fees and Fences on Media Sites
• The Virtual Mosque
• The Great Electric Car Quandary: How to Build a Charging Infrastructure Before Demand Grows
• How To Deflect Asteroids And Save Earth

Related posts:

1. India is morphing into a global R&D hub, but can it ever take on Silicon Valley?
2. India’s Rural Cell Movement: Can You Hear Me Now?
3. Why China Isn’t “The Next Silicon Valley”
4. Now on YouTube, Local News
5. Silicon Valley Shaped by Technology and Traffic

Tags: base of the pyramid, micro-local news, Silicon Valley, street vendor, unemployed youth

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Communications, Consider This, Innovation, TechCrunch, disruptive innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.