Publication: Do mLabs Make a Difference? : A Holistic Outcome Assessment of infoDev's Mobile Entrepreneurship Enablers
Loading...
Date
2014
ISSN
Published
2014
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report is an assessment of the overall effects of infoDevapos;s mobile application labs (mLabs). mLabs are specialized mobile business incubation and acceleration facilities offering physical workspace, mentoring and coaching, devices for mobile application testing, training, and startup competitions. mLabs were designed as pilot projects under the Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy (CSBKE) program and have since become part of infoDevapos;s Mobile Innovation Program. The Outcome Assessment compares mLabs results against the original program objectives. At the outset, the goal for mLabs was to derive and test new approaches that would quot;1) increase the competitiveness of innovative enterprises in the mobile industry, and 2) ensure that locally relevant applications are created to meet growing developing country user demands.quot; Within the three-year project implementation period, the pilots were expected to quot;generate 8-10 mobile applications; increase the commercialization rate of applications that have the potential for significant development impact; and increase the scale and competitiveness of innovative mobile applications enterprises leading to greater reach to disadvantaged populations.quot; The design and testing of mLabs started in 2010. In accordance to the original objectives, the assessment examines mLabsapos; effects on startup creation and development (as the best available proxy measures of increased competitiveness in mobile application enterprises) and the development impact generated through the use of applications developed by mLab-supported developers and entrepreneurs, including the number of relevant applications. The assessment also includes an analysis of mLabsapos; effects on entrepreneurial ecosystems, since anecdotal evidence previous to the assessment pointed towards potentially substantial effects that were not originally envisioned under the CSBKE program.lt;BRgt;
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2014. Do mLabs Make a Difference? : A Holistic Outcome Assessment of infoDev's Mobile Entrepreneurship Enablers. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20810 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market : Learning from infoDev's Mobile Microwork Innovation Competition(Washington, DC, 2013)The Information for Development Program's (InfoDev) "From Mind to Market" approach was designed to bridge early-stage innovation support gaps and guide promising ideas on toward minimum viable products, ultimately turning them into sustainable businesses. The approach aims to source ideas from a large talent pool and spur the best innovators to turn their innovations into sustainable, growth-oriented start-ups. The primary goal is start-up creation. Secondary goals include the generation of pools of ideas and prototypes, the creation of basic topical knowledge for a large group of innovators, and broader awareness-raising around a new topic, as well as partnership and capacity-building for implementation partners. This report summarizes the approach, which is based on four steps: 1) the identification of a novel topic with market potential and high potential for international development; 2) the implementation of a broad based collaborative, open innovation competition; 3) the implementation of an activity that forges minimum viable products through face-to-face support at sites across the globe; and 4) the follow-up with a program of incubation and acceleration for the best and most committed innovators.Publication Mobile Usage at the Base of the Pyramid in South Africa(Washington, DC, 2012-12)Mobile phones are the primary means of accessing information or communicating for those who live at the base of the pyramid (BoP). It is likely that the mobile phone will therefore also be the preferred medium to provide value-added services to those at the BoP, whether they are private users or informal businesses, for the foreseeable future. Although the prepaid mobile model has brought voice and text services to this group, sustainable, replicable models for enhanced services, products and applications are far more limited. The purpose of the study is to investigate the demand for mobile applications, services and products, with a view to increasing economic opportunities and improving well-being for users at the BoP. The key objectives of the study are the following: i) to increase understanding of the actual usage of mobile services, products and applications at the BoP, and to understand their potential for economic and social empowerment; ii) to identify scalable examples of services, products and applications at the concept, prototype, or early product-development stages; iii) to develop tools and instruments to map viable operation models and objects of various segments of the BoP markets and to identify user needs; and iv) to formulate recommendations for business planning and policy development that can support this potential.Publication Central America : Big Data in Action for Development(Washington, DC, 2014)This report stemmed from a World Bank pilot activity to explore the potential of big data to address development challenges in Central American countries. As part of this activity we collected and analyzed a number of examples of leveraging big data for development. Because of the growing interest in this topic this report makes available to a broader audience those examples as well as the underlying conceptual framework to think about big data for development. To make effective use of big data, many practitioners emphasize the importance of beginning with a question instead of the data itself. A question clarifies the purpose of utilizing big data, whether it is for awareness, understanding, and/or forecasting. In addition, a question suggests the kinds of real-world behaviors or conditions that are of interest. These behaviors are encoded into data through some generating process which includes the media through which behavior is captured. Then various data sources are accessed, prepared, consolidated and analyzed. This ultimately gives rise to insights into the question of interest, which are implemented to effect changes in the relevant behaviors. Utilizing big data for any given endeavor requires a host of capabilities. Hardware and software capabilities are needed for interaction of data from a variety of sources in a way which is efficient and scalable. Human capabilities are needed not only to make sense of data but to ensure a question-centered approach, so that insights are actionable and relevant. To this end, cooperation between development experts as well as social scientists and computer scientists is extremely important.Publication Transforming East African ICT Sector by Creating a Business Engine for SMEs(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011)For the purposes of this project, the East African countries included in the study were Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The focus for this project was Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as for-profit or nonprofit organizations with less than 50 employees and not exceeding USD 1,000,000 in annual revenues/turnover. The main output of this project was a proposed program of interventions to drive transformational change. To succeed in this ambitious endeavor, the project articulated clear objectives and designed a blueprint for implementation including levels of resourcing, budget and monitoring metrics. Over the course of the project the team conducted brief surveys with over 90 entrepreneurs, over 50 percent of who had 3-10 years of experience in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and primarily worked at companies with 5 employees or less.Publication Mobile Usage at the Base of the Pyramid : Research Findings from Kenya and South Africa(Washington, DC, 2013-05)While the growth of mobile communications in developing countries has been phenomenal, using mobile phones and applications to meet human and economic development goals is not widespread, for they have not proven acceptable or desirable to the locality into which they are introduced. Therefore, it is deduced that technical know-how and entrepreneurial acumen must be complemented by sociocultural understanding. InfoDev's Mobile Use at the Base of the Pyramid program seeks to contribute to this agenda through on-the-ground studies in developing markets. The first phase of this program supported both qualitative and quantitative research on mobile usage by low-income populations in Kenya and South Africa. This report documents the findings of this program.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.