| Jigar Bhatt |
Combating Dehydration Inc. |
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Master in City Planning Candidate
Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
International Development Group
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"Combating Dehydration Inc. will offer home production kits for electrolyte solutions & oral rehydration salts. These two products have been known to save children’s' lives from easily treatable afflictions. A simple home kit will allow caretakers to have immediate access without having to rely on aid agencies or local store supplies/hours of operation and reduce costs by eliminating packaging and production labor" | |||
| Jose H. Espinosa | ||||
| jhe@media.mit.edu |
In Mexican rural areas one of the main problems is the lack of basic road
infrastructure. There are numerous towns where there is no road closer than
an eight-hour walk; they are the poorest people of the country. Their
activities are mainly agriculture but they cannot sell anything but corn and
beans because they cannot reach others markets. By creating a transportation / networking environment, this people could reach other markets abroad. This will allow them to cultivate more profitable products and improve their quality of life. |
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| Mariano Henin | BROADBAND MOBILE SERVICE FOR REMOTE AREAS | |||
| mhenin@mit.edu |
Broadband products and services for use in remote areas, where there are no terrestrial networks available. The product consists of a handheld IP terminal which is capable to provide real time access to voice communications, email and Internet access. The terminal may be connected to any PC or PDA and it communicates with a Wi-Fi node, which provides broadband services and IP telephony. This base station is coupled to a satellite VSAT antenna which provides the connectivity services via a satellite link. Terminal unit price aimed between $135 to $200, Wi-Fi node around $160 and VSAT node around at $2,700 per month.
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| Group 2 | Mina Hsiang and Nancy Sun | |||
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mina@mit.edu |
pitches: Mina: The skills and services marketplace gives people opportunities to exchange their time and skills, instead of using money for transactions. Many people lack monetary assets, but have "labor assets" which they can use to purchase things instead. In large urban communities, people are frequently hesitant to help strangers because there is no incentive for them. By formalizing the marketplace and instituting a form of virtual currency, people will be more willing to do "favors" for others because they know eventually they will be paid back- although not necessarily by the same person. This could be implemented on the internet, similarly to ebay. (i know theres some online children's market place that operates on "fake money" but i can't find it at the moment- it must not be that big) ----- (Mina and Nancy Sun) In many developing areas, bicycles are prized possessions- used for transporting goods instead of people. However, the bicycle as a market cart is sub-optimal, and bike trailers are almost as expensive as the bikes themselves. By offering plans and critical pieces for reversibly assembling two bikes into a cart, it allows local shops/manufacturers to create a business making the mechanism in the way that is most efficient given local resources. This gives people a way to bring larger quantities of goods from place to place, with resources they already possess, and gives others a business opportunity. ----- Providing internet connectivity requires continuous (or semi-continuous) connection to a node with true internet infrastructure. Independent networks allow small villages to expand their community to contain several neighboring villages, without the need to relay messages from the global internet. Included software will allow for message posting between villages based on distance and time, and for expanded markets and trading capabilities between villages. It will also greatly improve joint usage of shared resources, such as healthcare sytems , providers, and educators. By using standard interfaces, the infrastructure will be in place when more regular global internet services are available, and such services can easily be incorporated. Nancy Sun: Biomass is the major energy source for cooking in rural areas. However, biomass fueled stoves are inefficient and produce smoke that is hazardous to the health of the user. An ethanol fueled cooking stove can be made to be more efficient and more safe then it's biomass counterpart. Such a stove would also alleviate the need for households to spend hours each day gathering fuel to cook dinner, heat water, heat a room, etc. Technology already exists in many developing countries to produce ethanol that can be sold for a cheaper price then kerosene. The stove can be made inexpensively with recycled materials/cans.
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| Jaime L. Florez |
Bio - Diesel |
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The project is addressed to provide a supportive system and a net links to provide to new palm oil producers the next services:
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Johanna Klein |
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I don't have an exact idea yet. However, the direction I've
been looking into has to do with how SmartCards are being used in Africa to
leapfrog stages of financial sector development because they reduce costs
for financial infrastructure, credit history checking, etc. Owners of the cards can transfer value between them and conduct offline transactions, and financial institutions can reduce cash handling costs. SmartCard technologies allow countries to move rapidly from having almost no e-banking to having almost full e-cash capabilities. In South Africa, for example, this type of technology is being rolled out through the country's post offices. Smart cards will enable people to set up pseudo bank accounts, with biometrics technology providing reliable identification. The e-accounts can be used to make payments and to set up savings accounts. The post offices also offer retail payment services, including accounts with phone companies, municipalities, mail order houses, financial institutions, and credit cards. More info at: http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/banking/finsecpolicy/financeforum2002/pdf/claessens-efinance.pdf
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| Ron Marrocco |
Bridging the Healthcare Gap |
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ron_marrocco@ksg05.harvard.edu |
Access to healthcare, coupled with escalating healthcare costs (relative
to GDP) is a growing international concern. It's not that the resources
don't exist to treat those who need it most, the problem seems to relate
to finding an equitable process for managing the excess, ensuring honest
distribution and serving the needy at the local level.
This project will investigate a multi-disciplinary model to bridge
the gap that exists in world health today by integrating available
provider networks, information technology and exchange systems and policy
development between individuals, providers, industry and government.
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C. Colin McNab |
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Pardner Int'l will utilize IT to facilitate "peer-to-peer savings and loans"
- i.e., informal savings and loans among groups of individuals via Web or
telephone. Traditional models of group savings plans involve family-run
pools, in which members benefit from lump-sum disbursements with no interest
payments (e.g. West Indian susus, African ekoubs, Asian geas, Indian chit
funds, and Mexican tandas). However, a pool usually is limited to 10-20
people so that one person - called the banker - is capable of managing it.
Such models lack scalability and are prone to human error and mishandling.
Pardner addresses these problems by utilizing IT to automate the management
of group savings plans. This allows for infinitely larger pools with greater
security and reduced risk, all for 1/10th of the usual banker's fee!
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| Randi Wade Purchia | |||
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Commonwealth International 10 Ware Rd. Winchester, MA 01890 781.729.5042 Cell: 781.7041258 |
The solar Lumioso lantern is the Toyota of electricity. It is sturdy, inexpensive and reliable. It works anywhere, under nearly any conditions. It has been designed especially for the needs of the developing world. It can be brought to the fields when harvest time requires extra hours of light, or into a clinic to provide illumination when a baby is born. Distributed through farmer cooperatives it can be purchased on credit at a low cost.
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Hillmer Reyes |
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Hillmer_Reyes@ksg05.harvard.edu |
Pitch 1 - Leveraging Diasporas: Most developing countries have nationals or descendants of nationals living in developed countries. Most of these will not return, but have a desire to help their country in one way or another (emotional ties). A great opportunity exists to translate business propositions: - Develop content based on ex-patriots’ expertise to be used in schools, universities, businesses, etc especially in rural areas. This can be accomplished using low cost delivery mechanisms (internet) and digital rights management mechanisms. - Distance learning from experts in various subject areas, which can reach even the most remote areas (lecture and q&a – everything else like grading done locally). Again, leverage low cost communications networks or facilitate short term consultancies or volunteer work from experts who know a particular industry and/or are from a particular area in a country (emphasis on rural areas) and many other applications. Pitch 2 - Optimizing Bandwidth Usage and Security: Most rural internet cafes do no pay close attention to how their precious limited bandwidth is used and whether it is properly configured for security. Various segmented solutions are available, but they are generally too expensive (e.g. corporate solutions) or not geared toward the needs of cafes in developing countries. A low-cost software package can de developed to perform packet scheduling, virtual private network setup, packet prioritization, trusted network certificates, etc. This should be highly configurable (as a wizard or as a configuration page) since new applications (e.g. VoIP, multimedia, etc) will continue to be developed. Additionally, it needs to be highly localized (languages) and usable by individuals with little education. This can be marketed as a stand alone product, and/or in partnership with hardware vendors. Pitch 3 - Banking and Sending Money to Rural Areas: People living in rural areas are underserved by financial services organizations. An organization is needed to provide services using non-traditional, low-cost branch models (partnering with local establishments). They will also serve as a conduit to receive money from relatives from a big city or another country, and to access microfinance loans from third parties. The banking network shall be established over secured internet connections or through encrypted store and forward mechanisms such as FirstMileSolution, as opposed to high-cost dedicated lines. The idea is to take Prodem’s low-cost ATMs in Bolivia to a new level and to rural areas where density of population does not warrant such investment in ATMs. The emphasis will be on electronic transactions to minimize the movement of cash for security reasons. The project can be done in partnership with an existing financial institution. |
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| Group 1: | Brian Roughan and Justin Cook | ||
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Brian Roughan MIT Sloan School of Management – MBA 2005 (617) 645-0536 brian.roughan@sloan.mit.edu
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We are committed to working together on some type of expansion of the First Mile Solution, and would welcome all team members, but those with experience in a particular geographical area would be a big help! Building on a successful model of expanding communication to villages by First Mile, our team plans to explore the possibility of a wireless network in more populous environments that have many urban poor. We would appreciate input from prospective team members or classmates who have experience in particular geographic areas to help choose a specific location. Using a more robust public transportation system, we intend to build a "Delayed-broadband network" where data can be updated every 20-30 minutes. With a higher population base to service, we expect there to be many opportunities for a sustainable revenue generating business model.
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| Hiram Samel |
LitPad |
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| hsamel@mit.edu |
LitPad aims to encourage literacy and learning through inexpensive cartridge-driven, rechargeable electronic pads that are rented through local franchisees. This inexpensive ($0.25 per 90 min. lesson) educational method will help individuals to learn through interactive voice-driven lessons in their homes away from the cultural embarrassment brought on by different learning styles in group settings. Literacy and learning efforts, especially with adults, fail many times in a group context because of this embarrassment. The lessons and pads will be rented out by a franchisee that will be equipped with a solar powered recharger to help in areas off the grid.
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| Group 3 | Claudine Sigam and Ahmad | ||
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csigam@MIT.EDU
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"Develop portable storage of natural gas (propane/butane) and flexible polymer piping to supply population in rural areas in Sahelien countries and the Middle East. By improving the distribution systems in a very flexible means, we will not only address deforestation in very needed zones, but we will also reduce women health problem (who spend hours to collect firewood more and more far from home) and girls enrolment to primary education. Presently the primary fuel is scarce firewood, and the idea is to replace with natural gas with a low cost distribution system, possibly combined with community biomass methane reactors. This will be done through centralized purchasing in village which will tremendously reduce the costs of energy currently paid by these populations."
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| Samir Somaiya | |||
| Kennedy School of Government Samir_Somaiya@ksg05.harvard.edu |
My experience in rural India still shows that internet access is largely not
available to the rural people. Further, even when available, there is no
reliable power. I would try to provide: broadband access to the villages using wireless technology. for energy, i would use distrubuted power generation. This could be solar, or could simply be a generator. I would want this to come together in the form of a 'social space' where people of the village come together. This means that, we will have to design a space, and ensure that to deliver energy and internet, no wires are needed. Why should this work? for one, we are delivering an internet experience that is either not available at all, or if available, it is slow, and even when slow, not reliable. how would this be distributed? we could either create a franchise model, or work with the village elders or both. these problems exist in many parts of the developing world, and would find wide application. i would need to study what is available, at what price, and understand how the population could pay for the startup cost, and then the running costs. i can add value because i have worked with 200-300 Indian villages in the lasty 12 years, and have some idea of how they work. This is just an idea, and open to change |
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| Manu Sondhi | |||
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msondhi@mit.edu |
Individual pitch DeReu – (Device Reuse Inc.) will offer medical devices at 1/5 to 1/10 the cost of new ones. DeReu will buy medical device waste from hospitals in the first world for cheap and follow protocols to decontaminate and clean and would provide to organizations that help in the developing world. The financing will be through NGOs, government agencies, and donations. This addresses the problem of providing inexpensive medical devices for better care in poor countries. Group pitch MIG – Medical Informatics Group will use medical informatics tool to provide better access to healthcare by developing channels of information between groups of patients and the industry through their healthcare provider. Funding will be obtained from industry affiliation and government sources as MIG will provide an additional channel to the population, previously untapped or has been expensive to reach for a government, due to lack of infrastructure. MIG will try to use the infrastructure of another agency that has distribution channels for dispersing latest medical knowledge to practitioners. |
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| Humphrey Wong | |||
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MC / MPA KSG humphrey910(a)mac.com |
Well, here are some hair-brained ideas... Bio-quettes offers local entrepreneurs the opportunity to manufacture, sell, and distribute low cost biomass briquettes using agricultural and forest wasteproducts (e.g., begasse, leaves, sawdust, etc.) that would normally be thrown away. Bio-quettes offers the service of linking with local flexible transportation networks (e.g., taxis or shuttles, or fishing boats) to a) deliver biomass to the manufacturing site where easily constructed screw presses are used to create the briquettes, and b) deliver the briquettes to street vendors on a regular basis. Sol-Agua offers a product that combines two functions in a single solar panel: Using transparent solar cells to allow light to enter into a chamber containing water, the panel is cooled by evaporation (enhancing efficiency), and condensation of the vapor results in the production of clean water. Flying-Logs offers the possibility of storing the energy from a falling tree in the form of a flywheel, whose mechanical energy can then be retrieved and used by the company to generate energy for the further felling of logs or the generation of useful wood byproducts. |
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| Joe Zeff |
“Push-To-Talk” |
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MBA Class of 2005 MIT Sloan School of Management 617.872.8210 joezeff@mit.edu
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Will offer a “Push-To-Talk”-only handset, which will function like a long-distance walkie-talkie, providing two-way radio voice services at low cost. These PTT handsets would cost a fraction of the price of a regular handset, use minimal network resources, and do not require as high a quality of service level, making this model attractive to consumers and carriers alike. (Note: In India, Tata Indicom has been building out its CDMA-based network, although it currently only offers PTT service as an add-on service to regular voice services.) | ||
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Gonzalo Zubieta |
DevHouse |
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Gonzalo_zubieta@ksg05.harvard.edu MPA 2005 KSG - Harvard University |
Today there are more than a billion people living in houses that are not
safe and are made out of mud. The idea is to design materials and houses
that are efficient and have a low cost. In south America it would mean to
replace the most expensive components of a home which traditionally are
brick and concrete with sheetrock and hey and use roof shingle from recycled
aluminum cans. My initial calculations of building a house with this technology would reduce the price to 1/4 of the regular price and also the construction time would be cut to one month or two instead of 8 months to a year. Initial analysis was done by comparing the cost of square footage of construction in Bolivia and United States using only sheetrock without hey (which further reduces the price and increases insulation). The initial undertaking would be done by establishing a simple manufacturing facility that creates the wall sections. Then create the roof shingles from recycle cans. The technology would be to put together the right combination of gypsum, paper and hey to create this wall section. And to create the roof shingles we would use a local press to press and shape each can to have a consistent shape to use them as a roof shingle. |