Village Cellphone. Empowering Bangladesh
Description
In the early 1990s, Iqbal Quadir, a Bangladesh-born MIT professor and entrepreneur, had the idea that cellphones could be used to help the very poorest people. For Bangladesh, a densely populated country strangled by frequent natural disasters and a serious lack of infrastructure, Iqbal saw communication technology as an essential resource. His vision: to help village entrepreneurs, backed by micro-loans, establish cellphone leasing businesses that retail phone services to their surrounding communities. Ten years later, with hundreds of "village phone ladies" in operation, did Iqbal's model for lifting developing nations out of poverty pay off? CBC News Sunday's Natasha Sweeney has the story of how one man, starting with one phone, helped a whole country leapfrog into the 21st century.
Runtime
11 min
Subjects
Geography
Genre
Date of Publication
[2014], c2008
Database
Films on Demand
Direct Link
Similar Films
Technology today. Episode 341
Connect. Episode 2
New iPhones to have colored or plastic cases. Misek
Samsung boosts capital spending
No contract, more customers? T-Mobile's big move
Topeka's White. IPhone 5 sales to top 5m in 3 days
Does Softbank's Sprint deal change wireless market?
Trash trail. Mobile phone. Episode 4
Tomorrow, today. Series 2, Episode 1
Be suspicious of Vodafone rumors. Newsome
New media startups and the connected TV wave
Planet of the Apps. A Handheld Revolution
The Mobile Revolution
Blackberry must sell 2-4m phones to compete. Gillis
Super tech. Episode 6