Article
From his office in Seattle, Peter Bladin has set his philanthropic sights on Africa – much like his former boss, Bill Gates. But Bladin is not aiming to distribute vaccines and bed nets. He has a much different weapon for the war on poverty. A mobile phone. The idea: Lend an African entrepreneur $200 to buy a cellphone. The entrepreneur then “rents” the phone to others in the village for pennies a call. The entrepreneur pays off her loan and begins to climb out of poverty. And the villagers have a way to find out the price of corn in the next town or warn neighbors of approaching rebel raids. This article, about the Village Phone program, is based on an interview with Peter Bladin from the Grameen Technology Centre.