The Nation (Nairobi)
Randall Smith
2 October 2009
opinion
Nairobi — While the newspaper business continues to search for an answer to its economic problems in America, a clearer pathway is developing in Africa. The answer, very simply, is the mobile phone.
For the past four months, Google and a host of other businesses have been experimenting with a mobile phone business that offers African farmers instantaneous information on crop pricing, weather and even advice on how to deal with tough agricultural questions.
Reuters, the British wire service, is trying a similar model in India, and is also charging farmers for its menu of information. Elsewhere, mobile phone technology is being used by fishermen to find prices for their catch at various ports within a day's sail.
What's missing in this formula is the newspaper business. If they begin to participate in an active and aggressive way, they will produce revenue streams that will make the current ones look miniscule.
Much is at stake on who wins. A credible democracy depends on a fair and free press.
Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, said it best: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
The financial underpinning of today's newspaper business is shifting, and it will soon be focused on deep and narrow niches.
The reason: Accurate information saves time for business, allows for greater productivity on many fronts, and makes sure that you're doing the right thing at the right time.
Why plant a certain crop if there's not going to be enough rain to sustain it? When should I sell mid-year's harvest? Who will pay the most for what I'm selling? Now is the time to invent new mobile phone businesses.
There are already several models under way to help people transfer money from cities like Nairobi to families and friends in the rural parts of the country.
But they're also opportunities to provide other critical types of information, such as healthcare and employment opportunities.
When I was in Kenya, I learned how to text for the first time. A taxi driver taught me the basics, and another friend from the Mount Kenya area gave me the skills that now allow me to type a long letter almost as fast as I can think of the words.
I amaze my friends because I work on a very small phone like most use in East Africa.
Africans, I came to believe, would rather text than speak.
That's quite a bit different from here in America, where texting is part of our culture, but it's based more on entertainment than economic necessities.
Not long ago, mobile phones were a rarity in small rural villages in Africa. Thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit, Africa is now outpacing many other parts of the world in its demand and receipt of the technology.
But the best is yet to come. Soon, these hand-held devices will be turning into smart phones, and they'll give Africans the same access to the internet that's enjoyed by Americans and Europeans.
That access, in the hands of Africa, will produce a different use of the internet. Instead of the games and entertainment that dominate American usage, my prediction is that Africans will use this new access to improve their economic outlook.
All of this means good things for the media businesses throughout the continent. The key, however, is to not let those who transport and distribute the knowledge get in front of those who produce it.
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