A world forgotten by PayPal

'Give us the payment option or withdraw!' Olufemi Olaleye is one among 350 Nigerians who signed for in the online petition on PayPal. Amongst other countless online petitions in Change.org, 2285 Ghanians signed a similar petition called 'Enable PayPal in Ghana'. A Sri Lankan petition from the 'PayPal for Sri Lanka' movement has recently passed the mark 6200.

Why?

Millions of small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) worldwide engage in e-commerce activities. Online payment gateways are a fundamental component of their business. Convenience, cost effectiveness, security and flexibility has made PayPal a well-known online payment gateway. With 152 million active registered accounts in over 200 international markets, PayPal reports processing 9.3 million payments per day in 2014.

PayPal is not available for any kind of eCommerce activity in twenty UN member countries including countries such as Bangladesh, Ghana, Pakistan as well as the six countries that are under United States trade embargo (Cuba, D.P.R of Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan and Syrian Arab Republic).

The barriers for SMEs using PayPal

Even among other 173 UN member countries, there are numerous barriers to using PayPal. To understand those barriers one has to look at the way PayPal bundles its key services of:

1. Sending and receiving money
2. Paying with a PayPal account, Bank Account or Credit or Debit card account
3. Shopping online.

These services are packaged into three different account types: ‘Personal Account’, ‘Premier Account’ and ‘Business Account’. Among them the Business Account is the most appropriate for on-line merchants. PayPal’s’ business account facility is open to only 73 UN member States. (i.e. this facility is not available for 120 UN member State countries).

With a Premier Account, it is possible to receive money from online transactions (Credit card / Debit card) by selling on-line. This is designed for individuals who are not in full-time business operations. This service is available only in 90 UN member States. In other words, this PayPal service is not available for 103 UN member state countries. 

The most widely available account is the ‘Personal Account’. It enables the sending of money online and buying online, and is available to 173 UN member States. Hence the majority of developing countries can only use PayPal to send money or buy online. 

Millions of small entrepreneurs around the world are left helpless in their efforts to sell online.

Note: This issue is broadly discussed and documented in the Information Economy Report, (IER) 2015, published by UNCTAD. eNovation4D  was responsible for initially bringing this issue to the attention of UNCTAD and subsequently contributed to IER 2015. Download the free Research paper titled 'Forgotten Nations by eCommerce Giants'. 

References:

[1] It should be noted that PayPal’s list of ‘countries’ includes many non-UN member States, such as Vatican City, British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong (China) and Taiwan (China).

[2] PayPal account types, by PayPal. 18th Sept, 2014. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/helpcenter/helphub/article/?solutionId=FAQ2347

[3] PayPal: Welcome to the Press Centre; 8th Sept, 2014. https://www.paypal-media.com/about

Jobs via SMS to post-war communities in Sri Lanka

(Photo Credit to Udara Madushanka)

'I have received 50 SMS messages. Each SMS gives me a new hope every day! I am sure now I have a bigger chance to have a better job!' - Yogeswaran was already employed in a local NGO. But he wants to find a better job with higher payment and closer to his home.

Post-war community

Yogeswaran is one of 1050 job seekers registered to the JobHub, the ICT based job service explicitly serving a unique population of young unemployed (& under-employed) in Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Unique because these youth were the victims of a 30 year long ethnic conflict; they were born in a war environment, grew through refugee camps and battle grounds, some of them were ex-combatants still going through rehabilitation programmes. Under the post-war reconstruction efforts, since 2009, they are being given vocational skills and educational opportunities by the state and the development actors such as CARE International.

'None of them like commuting to distant places for job opportunities, leaving their families behind'. Career Guidance Officer (S. Veerasuthakaran) at Zonal Education Office (Kilinochchi), explained about insecurity and mental scars of the ethnic conflict that are still occupied in their small minds.

SMS & Mobile phone - the magic

Nevertheless, every body has a mobile phone. Apart from communication, for many it is a means of entertainment; listening to music, learning about news and gossip. Given they are very basic hand sets, SMS is the best technology to work with. Though weak mobile signals fade away when they reach remote villages, some times 20 km away from the town, sooner they reach a signal zone, phone reconnects, message lands in the phone.

New interviews - more jobs

Using 'Frontline SMS' as the platform, Sarvodaya-Fusion has launched the project as a pilot trial only 4 months ago (April, 2014) with the support of CARE International Sri Lanka. Since then project has gained an unexpected traction. Over 7000 text messages generated 100 new interviews to the local youth. 'I have applied to the job when I saw the SMS text in my friends phone, and it is amazing that now I am employed'. Kadiragamar Kaleimagan is one of the 20 employed youth who have received SMS messages just from their friends in the local village. (See the trends in the illustration).

Employers are excited

'If I post the vacancy in a local newspaper, I will get about 100 applications. Have to wait about 2 - 3 weeks, and then short listing, calling and too much trouble to find the right individual. But with JobHub I got four applicants within days after posting the job and I have recruited one. It is very convenient for me' - Thamil was the founder and manager of the leading guest house (Solaivanam) in the area. Many SME owners like Thamil has contributed to the 240 job vacancies posted over last three months. In a battered area which is just emerging from rubble to experience early life of modern market-economics, 240 jobs is a big number.

JobHub is implemented by Sarvodaya-Fusion with the sponsorship of CARE International in Sri Lanka.

Doing business with Apps at BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid)

Apps are magical even at BOP

'Huh - Google Map is magical', 'I found a new route to the market', the BOP users took only hours to master the Apps, when low cost Huawei Andriod Tabs were introduced as a shared device, at Android Hubs bySarvodaya-Fusion. More importantly it was their house wives who has mastered the Apps first.

Local language Apps

'Bhasha Puwath'; the local language news app created by then university student, (who has subsequently set up a startup company Bhasha Lanka Pvt Ltd), has been more popular than Facebook, among the 10 Android Hubs. The promise of local app developers becoming local App market champions seems plausible.

Local eco-system approach

All these were enabled by the eco-system centric approach made by Etisalat (third biggest telco) in Sri Lanka. In a context where global app markets (Google Play) and online payment gateways (PayPal) are malfunctional in Sri Lanka, Etisalat as a third party created an exclusive platform for the 21mn population of emerging economy at US$ 5000 GDP per capita.

Sarvodaya Fusion executed Android Hubs under the sponsorship of Etisalat, where the focus was to engage rural BOP market with digital technologies. Over 11,000 people from 10 rural communities have been Educated and Engaged to Interact with Digital technologies, fulfilling the mission of e-Empowerment!