Africa's mobile-phone connector: using simple SMS to network a continent

This article was taken from the July 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

Gustav Praekelt believes SMS can change Africa. "Often, people try to build complicated solutions to big problems," says the founder of the South Africa-based non-profit Praekelt Foundation. "We build simple solutions." Praekelt's company creates mobile platforms to deliver free messages that bring a social benefit.

Out of a billion Africans, 650 million have active mobile connections. Tap into all these, says Praekelt, and you have your finger on the pulse of the continent. His first product, TxtAlert, launched in 2006, sends texts to 50,000 HIV patients in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania telling them to take their medication and go to their doctors' appointments. The rate of appointment no-shows fell from 29 percent to four percent over three years. It also allows people to send a "please call me" message free of charge.

Next up: providing access to Wikipedia -- without the internet. "In Africa, only one percent have smartphones," he says. Taking advantage of the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) protocol, Praekelt is working with network providers to let users search Wikipedia offline. "You can do this with a Nokia 1110," he explains, "and it's free." Good call.

Praekelt's ideas
MAMA: parenting information via text for expectant mothers
YoungAfrica Live: a social platform for young people to hold discussions
Ummeli: an African LinkedIn for the young and unemployed

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