How the Internet of Things (IoT) is connecting rural farmers to the world

[Kathleen Martin]

The world is ever-changing and, so is the sector your business operates in. You don’t just need data to keep track of trends that are shaping the economy – you need the expertise to turn that data into valuable insights and sustainable growth opportunities that will unlock your business’ potential.
In the Absa Insights podcast series, The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield engages in conversation with the bank's sector experts about investment possibilities in Agriculture, Consumer Goods and Services, Enterprise Supply Development and Telecommunications, Public Sector and, Natural Resources and Energy.
Telecommunication companies are making a huge impact on agriculture and healthcare in Africa.
One of those companies is Mezzanine – which started its journey in the healthcare industry back in 2004 focusing on medical and healthcare opportunities until it was acquired by Vodacom in 2012 as a subsidiary of the Group with a mandate to support markets with the design and development of digital solutions customers in the agricultural and healthcare spaces across Africa.
Envisioning the era of IoT
From leveraging the basic services of feature phones such as SMS, USSD and voice services, the company has evolved into a digital technology market leader that co-creates digital solutions that enable productive societies.

As engineers, we always dream of the impossible. So, we have these cases in mind but what was overwhelming in a positive way was the reach of making these benefits available to resource-limited settings. So naturally, you would think that these very rich digital experiences will be available to the upper end of the market, but the benefit of mobile is really taking these services to the African continent. Jacques de Vos, Chief Executive Officer – Mezzanine

Free, perfect, and instant delivery of services
For de Vos, the opportunity in leveraging the digital attributes of delivering free, perfect, and instant services to citizens on the content is exponential.
So, how do we leverage these digital attributes to create new value or business models and use these attributes to effectively deliver value and capture value to supporting governments and private enterprises?

The question we’ve asked is, how do we use mobile in combination with digital in bringing that benefits to the last mile. The definition of the last mile in Africa – it’s in the classroom, it’s on the farm, it’s in the clinic, it’s at the workplace. Jacques de Vos, Chief Executive Officer – Mezzanine

Mobile has really brought these digital attributes to the broader subscriber base across the continent, says de Vos.
"So, how is this technology helping somebody sitting in rural Tanzania who can’t get to town for medical care,” asks The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield.
In the case of healthcare, Mezzanine has seen digital, and mobile improves the access to health services, the quality of health services and the affordability of accessing those services.
Read more and listen to the podcast: http://www.702.co.za/articles/424621/how-the-internet-of-things-iot-is-connecting-rural-farmers-to-the-world