How Can IT Reach The Poor?

"Can information technologies really benefit the poor countries and their people? I think, if we leave it to the forces of the free market, it is very likely that IT will eventually get to the poor countries. Whether it will be sooner or later, will depend largely on the actions of the governments in those countries. My feeling is that governments in poor countries will generally resist the entry and spread of IT. Except for such resistance by the politicians and the bureaucracy, I see no reason why IT cannot come to a poor country; however, I suspect the market mechanism alone cannot ensure fast spread of IT. I feel that new international organizations are needed with a mandate to bring these technologies to the poor countries. I have advocated the creation of an international center for information technologies to end global poverty. NGOs, businesses, academic institutions, UN agencies, foundations and civic societies can all be linked to each other to find ways and means to bring IT to the poor countries.

I have no doubt that IT can reach the poor. but this will happen only by creating a new mode of business, one that will help the poor engage in entrepreneurship. I have called this type of business social consciousness driven enterprises that may or may not be for profit but, must have clearly defined social goals.

Many of the Grameen enterprises i.e. Grameen Bank, Grameen Telecom, Grameen Phone, Grameen Communications, Grameen Software Ltd., Grameen IT Park, Grameen Securities and Management Company, Grameen Shakti (Renewable Energy), Grameen Uddog (Enterprise), Grameen Fund (venture capital fund), Grameen Agriculture, Grameen Fisheries, Grameen Kalyan, and Grameen Education, fall into this category of business organizations. Conventional economic theory ignored the poor because it conceptualized the private economy as a wage employment-based economy. If you are not looking for a job, you are not in the market. The idea of self employment never crossed the mind of labor economists. If we bring in self-employment as an option, the market immediately recognizes the importance of the poor. Information technology is the greatest technology the world has ever known that can promote self-employment. Infact, generating more self-employment by itself is a good season for bringing information technologies to the poor."

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Muhammad Yunus in Information Technology Can Be Bangladesh's Superhighway to Prosperity, printed in the Journal of Bangladesh Studies, Vol 2, No 2, 2000.