Cell-Phone-Enabled Empowerment of Woman Earning Less than $1/Day

Cell phones are the fastest spreading information technology (IT) in the developing world, with a penetration rate of over 61%. Hence, there is a growing interest among governments, investors, banking industries, and retail giants like Wal-Mart to exploit this emerging channel of communication for offering services and expanding businesses to more than 3 billion poor consumers earning less than $2 per day. In response, a number of micro (individual), meso (community), and macro (regional/ national)-level research inquiries and consumer surveys have investigated what makes cell phones a desirable and affordable technology for people earning less than $2 per day. These multidisciplinary studies and market surveys have revealed links between access to cell phones and socio-economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations from developing nations