CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

9 days. Thus the application of ICT-based tools and services to customs procedures resulted in
significant economy-wide efficiency gains.
As a result, GAINDE 2000 has received a variety of awards, including the prestigious UN Public
Service Award in 2012 for excellence in public service. The ICT solutions developed by GAINDE
2000 are now deployed in Kenya, Togo, and Burkina Faso, and GAINDE 2000 went on to initiate the
African Alliance for E-Commerce, which aims to promote one-stop customs clearance in member
countries. 26
Another area where the proliferation of BPO and ICT services has important spillover effects on the
economy is value-added telecommunications services resulting from the increased supply of mobile
telephony and bandwidth. A 2012 study by Katz and Koutroumpis suggests that during the 2004–
2011 period, every 10% increase in mobile penetration resulted in an increase in GDP by 0.44%. 27 As
the supply of broadband services grew in Senegal, these services have also had a positive and
increasingly important impact on people’s lifestyles and wellbeing. 28
To illustrate the positive impact of such ICT services on the Senegalese economy (and the lifestyle
and wellbeing of society), one can cite the strong demand for electronic payment and money
transfer services, as well as services to facilitate farmers’ real-time access to the prices of agricultural
products in wholesale markets. Chaka Computers for example, developed a money transfer system
that competes with Western Union in Africa and wherever there is an African diaspora (in
particular Europe and North America). Paybox Africa and Ferlo have also implemented electronic
payment systems with the banks and the national treasury, thus allowing users to pay phone bills,
electricity bills, and even customs duties online.
Manobi, a Senegalese company, was the first in Africa to set up a real-time database for wholesale
agricultural markets accessible by mobile phone (i.e., based on mobile SMS services as opposed to
the Internet). The simplicity of the system allowed many farmers to access daily information on
wholesale markets for their products by paying a small fee. On this basis, they were able to
determine the best time to get their products to market. Manobi installed the same system in South
Africa and Burkina Faso, and other countries have since followed the same path.
Building on its success in providing market information for agricultural products (mShop), Manobi
developed a series of additional mobile phone-based applications, as shown in the text box on the
following page.
26
Members include Benin, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar,
Mauritius, Mozambique, and Senegal. Observers include Burkina Faso and WAEMU/UEMOA, with Associate Members
Egypt and Mali.
27
Penetration of mobile telephony increased from 10% at the beginning of 2005 to 94% in the third quarter of 2013.
28
The impact of bandwidth availability was not seen to have a similar impact on economic growth, however this can
occur when Internet penetration rates are low and access is prohibitively costly, combined with low demand stemming
from, inter alia, the absence of e-government services and related applications.
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