Mobile Applications Laboratories Business Plan

Mobile Applications Laboratories Business Plan

March, 2011

Foreword

It is my pleasure to present the newly completed toolkit for regional mobile application laboratories (mLabs), which was funded by the Government of Finland. infoDev's efforts to drive mobile innovation in emerging markets are aligned with our broader agenda of creating sustainable, inclusive growth by fostering competitiveness and promoting employment.

This activity has been carried out as part of a joint Finland / infoDev / Nokia program on Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy (see CSB). Initially, the primary users of the toolkit will be the first five mLabs, located in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. However, the great interest in and demand for mLabs and similar initiatives from throughout the developing world imply that this toolkit will be beneficial to all those seeking to support innovation and entrepreneurship, in the ICT sector.

There is no substitute for understanding local markets and designing feasible business models to meet the needs of local clients and stakeholders. Business Plans have to be tailored to local needs and no two mLabs will follow the same template. Nevertheless, this toolkit provides a useful baseline that can accelerate the planning and establishment of successful and sustainable mLabs and is an analytical tool for those in the early stages of mLab planning. For example, the financial workbook provides methods for necessary growth figure analysis using case study examples as a guide to achieve sustainability.

infoDev is pleased to make available the mLab Business Plan, both as a resource and as a starting point for future collaboration. I look forward to the wide range of locally grown mobile applications and business synergies that will result from the establishment and continued sustainability of our mLabs.

Valerie D'Costa Program Manager, infoDev

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Acknowledgements

The Mobile Application Laboratories Business Plan report was authored by Vital Wave Consulting between September 3, 2010 and December 13, 2010 under the supervision of infoDev with support from The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and in partnership with Nokia.

infoDev, The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Nokia and Vital Wave Consulting would like to thank everyone who has generously shared their insights and knowledge to inform this report. From the partner organizations, we thank the following individuals: The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland: Lindy Ilari; infoDev: Dr. Tim Kelly, Toni Eliasz, Maja Andjelkovik, Kevin Donovan and Oltac Unsal; Nokia: Jussi Hinkkanen, Jussi Impi?, King'ori Gitahi and Teemu Kiij?rvi.

Vital Wave Consulting conducted 35 in-depth interviews with subject-matter experts, incubation labs, entrepreneurs who have used incubation services and potential lab partners including NGOs, universities and multinational corporations.We are especially grateful to the following individuals for their substantive contributions to the report: Annelee Le Grange, Bagrat Yengibaryan, Ben Zaaiman, Bill Zimmerman, Daniel Stern, Daniel Thalhammer, Eric Cantor, Jessica Colaco, Nathan Eagle, Neal Lesh, Sean Murphy, Sebastian Melin, Su Kuhumba and Wayan Vota.

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Table of Contents

List of Figures.....................................................................................................................................................4 Executive Summary...........................................................................................................................................5 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 Part 1: Landscape Analysis .............................................................................................................................11 Part 2: Segmentation Analysis ........................................................................................................................19 Part 3: Offerings and Promotional Strategies ..............................................................................................28 Part 4: Business Model and Pricing Strategies.............................................................................................42 Part 5: Operating Model .................................................................................................................................50 Part 6: Customer and Partner Profiles ..........................................................................................................53 Appendix A - Service Level Value Chains ...................................................................................................60 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................................... 65

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Table of mLabs Stakeholders ........................................................................................................10 Figure 2. Distribution of Technology Incubation Programs.....................................................................12 Figure 3. Matrix of Services............................................................................................................................18 Figure 4. Lab Segmentation............................................................................................................................20 Figure 5. Segment Profiles..............................................................................................................................22 Figure 6. Membership Categories..................................................................................................................29 Figure 7. The mLab Value Chain ..................................................................................................................31 Figure 8. Example Scenario: mLab Service Offerings by Membership Category ..................................32 Figure 9. Overview of Content and Services Offered by mLabsWorld ..................................................41 Figure 10. Framework to Evaluate Priority of Service Offerings............................................................43 Figure 11. Business Model Workbook Tool Overview..............................................................................45 Figure 12. Fundamental mLab Resource Requirements ............................................................................50 Figure 13. Key Players and areas of competence ........................................................................................51 Figure 14. The mLab position in the mServices Value Chain...................................................................53 Figure 15. The Development and Distribution Process ............................................................................54 Figure 16. Venture Funding Service Value Chain.......................................................................................60 Figure 17. Business Training Service Value Chain......................................................................................60 Figure 18. Mentoring Service Value Chain ..................................................................................................61 Figure 19. Technical Training Service Value Chain....................................................................................61 Figure 20. Testing and Certification Service Value Chain .........................................................................62 Figure 21. Market Intelligence Service Value Chain ...................................................................................62 Figure 22. Physical Space Service Value Chain ...........................................................................................63 Figure 23. Content and Distribution Service Value Chain ........................................................................63 Figure 24. Professional Services Service Value Chain ................................................................................64

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