As experts gathered for the TED Global conference in Oxford, Iqbal Quadir, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, outlined a brave new method to help the Developing World – he argued the way to aid developing nations is by local technological development, in particular communications technologies rather than the traditional aid packages.
Technology in the developing world is not about closing the digital divide, or promoting the latest gadget but helping them to increase productivity - Iqbal Quadir pointed out – technology is "of the people, by the people and for the people".
Mr Quadir’s ideas to use technology to empower the people, began 12 years ago, when he started up Grameen Phone, a company that provides mobile telephony into Bangladeshi villages and rural areas. Today, the company provides 115,000 phones in villages across the country, to more than 3.5 million subscribers.
Empowering the people
Talking at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Global conference, where leading thinkers unveil technological ideas, which shape the future of society, he emphasized how this can be used to improve communication in developing nations and increase productivity:
"The only way we can depend on each other is if we connect with each other. Connectivity leads to dependability which leads to specialization and then productivity," he said.
By providing something as simple as mobile technology to the people, the power structure within a village can change, and more and more, the voice of the people can come out. Through the Grameen Phone scheme in Bangladesh, woman in the village now provide a vital link between their relatives and the local services such as the Hospital. Their lives have been changed; known as the Grameen phone ladies, they can now make their voices heard:
"A woman with a mobile becomes important in a village," he said. "This changes the power distribution."
Future Growth?
Following the success of Grameen Phone, Mr Quadir hopes to get wireless internet through the mobile devices into the villages, but warned of growing too quickly:
