Television Station in Uganda with a Promising Media Business Model

By Esther Nakkazi

A Television Station in Uganda that broadcasts in only a local language is a successful media business, with a model that has not been replicated anywhere in Africa as far as we know.

The Bukedde TV, of the New Vision Group in Uganda is targeted at house helps who make purchasing decisions on behalf of their bosses, hence the target for this only local dialect, Luganda TV, says Robert Kabushenga, the CEO, New Vision Group, Uganda.

So, I am attending a media owners conference organised by the African Media Initiative or AMI in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, Uganda’s National Association of Broadcasters and Panos Eastern Africa.

The workshop under the theme, Promoting Effective Media Management: The Place of AMI’s Leadership Guiding Principles for African Media Leaders and Managers (LGP), is happening now 21-22 in Kampala, Uganda.

Am I a media owner? It is a dream yet to happen. But I am an Executive Editor, of a periodical, The Health Digest, and the founder, of the Health Journalists Network in Uganda www.hejnu.ug. I am also a freelance science journalist mainly corresponding for SciDev.net.

Even if the forum is targeted at media owners just a few few, only three, are present. And during the discussions I understand it is the trend. Media business owners do not have time to sit in such forums, it is a waste of their time.

Lynn Najjemba of PANOS East Africa says they have invited them on several occasions but it is always a no show. Najjemba believes it is only the Uganda Communications Commission, the regulator in Uganda, that can get to them.

Kabushenga suggests that the only way they can get them around is to massage their egos, they do have super large egos, give them incentives with the invitations to the forum.

Kabushenga, is a speaker on the panel discussing media business models and he cites Bukedde TV, as a success and a news programme, 'Agataliko Nfuufu', which he said is a true example of knowing your audience.

I have been trying to have a conversation on 'Agataliko Nfuufu', that airs in Luganda, a local dialect, and is very popular among the population. It is mostly done by citizen journalists and largely, as Stephen Ouma of the Ugandan Journalists Union (UJU) described it, the script runs the same, like a movie and always ends with a police comment.

I have watched two interesting news items here that I can remember. The first one, was a 'withered' tree, the leaves had dried up and fallen off, the trunk turned colour, there was no fruit. The news story, was that the villagers were accusing someone in their community for bewitching the tree. The reporter interviewed many people in the community as well as the accused, who obviously denied it. There was no scientific perspective to the cause in the story.

But the accusations and counter accusations were hilarious, maybe, the reason that some people describe this news as a stress reliever. Doctors sometime may with time prescribe it to relieve stress as well. It is full of scandals, fights, accusations.

And Bukedde TV also has video jockeys who translate english movies into Luganda, which Kabushenga says many rich but uneducated people have thanked him for, an innovation that lets them watch movies without their educated wives labouring to interpret for them from English to Luganda.

The second news item and most recent was about rivalling co-wives who had a fight and one bit off the lip of another and spit it. The community gathered, remember all this is on tape, the lower lip was put in a polythene bag, and taken to police. I guess, its the reason that Ouma thinks these stories are always mini-movies.

My question to Kabushenga was, I find that the stories in this news programme are not balanced and do not hold up to the journalism standards, is this business model sustainable anyway? His answer, was well, it had run for 4 years and is still very popular.

He said people like me who have studied journalism think we have a monopoly over story telling but it should not be rocket science.

According to Kabushenga, 'Agataliko Nfuufu' and the TV station was designed for house helps and it meets its targeted market very well. If people like me, 'middle class' watch 'Agataliko Nfuufu', we are impostors getting into a space not meant for us.

"We give the global community a package. This was one way to get into the market. I have received many calls and complaints about this news program. I ignore them," said Kabushenga.

Here is how this media business model works; The house helps, most of of whom are comfortable speaking the local languages, and not English, do the home shopping, and they pick the brands they want for the household. Even those who do not do the shopping advise their bosses.

For instance, when you are the boss and buy a certain brand of washing powder, the house help will advise, that it burns their hands and prefer the other one. So any businesses that sell household items have no choice but to advertise on  Bukedde TV and the business model is working, says Kabushenga.  I wonder how far true this is but then I have no house help in my house. My daughter does not fuss over brands of household items! I make the decisions.

President's Visit to My Home Street;

By Esther Nakkazi

Today, the President visited Firidina Road in Kiwatule, my home street. It’s not necessarily the cleanest street, with goats and chickens roaming freely and a vacant plot where some residents, unwilling to pay for rubbish collection, dump their trash at night.

The plot’s caretaker, an elderly woman, occasionally burns the accumulated rubbish, loudly complaining as she does so. The resulting smoke often engulfs us if we are home. Children play on the roadside and sometimes in the road, enjoying games like dodgeball and skipping.

Half of Firidina Road is tarmacked while the other half is murram. Boda boda mechanics and ironworks artisans also work here, primarily on the upper side of the road. The street is about a kilometer and a half long.

The President visited to honor my neighbor, the late Joan Kagezi. During her memorial service yesterday, a member of the clergy suggested renaming the street after her. His visit was covered by the media: Museveni Visits Kagezi’s Family.

Joan Kagezi lived just a few gates away from my home. Though I’ve lived here for the past six years and occasionally bumped into her, we never exchanged greetings. I had no idea she was the Senior State Prosecutor; she was always a humble neighbor, never displaying any airs despite her position.

During my exercise runs, I used to pass her two-story house and continue along the half-dusty street. There was nothing to indicate her presence. When she passed away, we, as neighbors, went to console her family and were met with heavy police deployment.

Yesterday evening, while listening to the news, I heard the clergy's request to rename Firidina Road to Kagezi Road. I wondered why not rename one of Kampala’s streets after her instead. Is this the best way to show appreciation? Firidina Road is quite shabby.

Joan Kagezi lived a humble life and worked hard for this government and its people. While her home may be here, this half-tarmacked road does not deserve her name. She deserves better. 

Unless, of course, they fully tarmac it, install street lights, and beautify it. That might show a fitting tribute for a fallen hero. Farewell, my humble neighbor Joan Kagezi.

Firindina Road, Kiwatule

African Seed Access Index Launched

The first ever African seed index of four countries, found to be most moving away from state-run monopolies has been launched in Nairobi, Kenya, 12.03.2015, to encourage smallholder farmers to be served better.

A Press Release from TASAI says a new analysis of African efforts to put more productive crop varieties into the hands of smallholder farmers finds progress but also significant challenges in a region still shaking off decades of complacent government seed monopolies.

The African Seed Access Index (TASAI)—the first ever initiative dedicated solely to monitoring the state of Africa’s rapidly evolving seed sector—issued detailed scorecards on seed development and distribution in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe, with a focus on increasing choices for smallholder farmers.

“We’ve known for a long time that a key reason yields on African farms lag far behind even those in other developing countries is that African farmers often lack access to improved varieties of staple crops such as maize, cowpea and sorghum,” said Ed Mabaya, assistant director of Cornell University’s International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) and head of the TASAI project.

“We think that by tracking indicators along the seed delivery chain—like the number of crop breeders, varieties released, industry competitiveness, availability of seed in small packages, and quality of the seed policy framework—investors and policymakers can target choke points that are impeding the flow of seeds to smallholder farmers.”

For example, TASAI’s analysis rates Kenya as poor in a key measure of industry competiveness: government-controlled companies still account for the lion’s share of seed sales, which can discourage new start-ups from entering the market.

But South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe were rated excellent in this category as their governments have largely gotten out of the seed business. In South Africa, seed production appears to be thriving, but it scores poorly when it comes to making seeds accessible to smallholder farmers. Overall, Uganda’s seed sector is noted to be growing, but potentially burdened with weak seed policies and regulations. And Zimbabwe’s once vital seed sector is showing signs of decline.

“In Uganda, there is strong demand from farmers for our seeds, but we still face constraints that limit how much seed we can sell,” said Ms. Josephine Okot, CEO of Kampala-based Victoria Seeds Ltd. “We need access to more and better quality foundation seed developed by government-funded crop breeding programs and less stringent trade policies that would make it easier to import and export seeds.”

TASAI was developed by CIIFAD in collaboration with Market Matters Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to small- and medium-size enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa, among them a growing number of African-owned seed businesses.

Mabaya said TASAI was inspired by the fact that money—from governments, private sector players and donors—is swiftly flowing to agriculture projects across Africa, but information available to guide investments is often anecdotal.

“There are enormous opportunities to develop sustainable seed production capacity in Africa,” he said. “But investments—whether in the form of private capital or development aid—are often constrained by a poor understanding of what each country needs.”

TASAI seeks to fill that void by systematically tracking 16 indicators across five categories that assess the vibrancy and competitiveness of the national seed sector by measuring the health of such things as research and development, service to smallholder farmers and industry competitiveness.

(See table for complete list of indicators and their effect on seed access.)

TASAI INDICATORS Positive or Negative Impact on Seed Access*

Positive effect (+) means that the higher the indicator, the higher the grade on seed access.
Negative effect (-) means that the higher the indicator, the lower the grade on seed access.

A. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
1 Number of active breeders +
2 Varieties released in last 3 years +
3 Availability of foundation seed +
B. INDUSTRY COMPETITIVENESS
4 Number of active crop seed companies +
5 Time it takes to import seed from neighboring countries -
6 Market share of top 1,2,3,4 companies -
7 Market share of current or past government parastatal -
C. SERVICE TO SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
8 Concentration of rural agro-dealer network +
9 Availability of seed in small packages +
D. SEED POLICY AND REGULATIONS
10 Length of variety release process -
11 Quality of seed policy framework +
12 Quality of regulatory and enforcement system +
13 Adequacy of seed inspectors +
14 Efforts to stamp out fake seed +
E. INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
15 Availability of extension services for smallholder farmers +
16 Quality of national seed trade association +

Uneven Progress as Countries Confront Myriad Challenges

TASAI assessments released today focus on seed sectors in four pilot countries—Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They reveal uneven—though in many places promising—progress towards competitive seed sectors that can supply famers with a wider menu of seed options.

For example, Kenya gets relatively good marks for its seed policies but scores poorly on efforts to purge fake seeds from the market, a problem that is unfortunately growing in many countries. South Africa gets strong marks for having a competitive seed sector and for shepherding new varieties from breeders to farmers relatively quickly. It takes an average of 12 months to release a new variety in South Africa, compared to three years in Kenya and Uganda, and almost two years in Zimbabwe.

But while South Africa stands out for having developed a large, mature and diverse commercial seed sector, it scores poorly compared to the other countries when it comes to making seeds available to farmers in small packages (less than five kilos).

Kenyan seed companies, on the other hand, “outshine all other countries” in this category, according to TASAI’s analysis. Agriculture experts say that’s important because in Kenya, as in most other countries in the region, smallholder farmers account for the majority of crop production, and they want seeds in relatively small packages.

“It’s crucial that smallholder farmers in Africa have access to a wide range of crop varieties, because small farms are the mainstay of food production in the region,” said Joe Devries, the director of the Program for African Seed Systems at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

“Seeds may not be a cure-all, but without a healthy seed sector, it’s hard to see how African farmers can satisfy the food demands of a population growing faster than any on earth and adapt to the effects of climate change that are rapidly altering farming conditions.”

When it comes to the sheer number of crop varieties released, the data offer a clear indication that South Africa’s seed sector is, in most respects, far more advanced than others in the region. For example, over the last three years, South Africa released 221 varieties of maize, while Kenya released 35, Uganda 12, and Zimbabwe 28.

South Africa and Uganda get high marks for the quality of the national seed trade association—a critical link between the governments and private sector companies—while in Zimbabwe and Kenya, companies rate their association as only fair, indicating a potential need to intensify advocacy and support efforts.

TASAI’s analysis currently is focused on the four most important crops in each country in terms of area planted. Maize is the most widely cultivated crop in all four countries, but the overall mix varied. Kenya’s other top crops are sorghum, beans and cowpeas; in South Africa, it’s soybean, sunflower and wheat; in Uganda, beans, millet and sorghum; and in Zimbabwe, rounding out their top four are cotton, soybean and sorghum.

TASAI scorecards are based on extensive research in each country by local experts and will be updated annually. Mabaya said TASAI is preparing to release assessments of seed sector performance in four additional countries that should be available by mid-2015. He hopes that within two years, the database will include reports on more than 20 countries.

“Our goal is a simple, transparent, accurate and up-to-date index that keeps a running scorecard on seed sector development in Africa, particularly as governments and development agencies are placing bigger bets on agriculture to be the engine that pulls Africans out of poverty,” Mabaya said.

###
The African Seed Access Index (TASAI) is a collaborative initiative between Market Matters Inc., Cornell International Institute for Food and Agricultural Development and the Emerging Markets Program. Through this partnership, TASAI brings together research expertise from Cornell University with hands-on private sector development work from Market Matters Inc. More at http://tasai.org/about/.

Uganda to Fight Moral Decadence Among Women

By Esther Nakkazi

The Uganda government has a package for women on Women's Day; all those found in the act of prostitution and pornography will be arrested.

In a press conference held today in Kampala, Rev. Fr. Simon Lokodo, the minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, said the Uganda government has made strides in efforts to curb this 'evil'.

Prostitution is defined as the practice of engaging in sexual relations in exchange for payment or some other benefit. It is sometimes described as commercial sex. People who are engaged in this field are called prostitutes.

The Uganda’s Penal Code Act 1950 (138 & 139) defines a “prostitute” as a person who, in public or elsewhere, regularly or habitually holds himself or herself out as available for sexual intercourse or other sexual gratification for monetary or other material gain, and “prostitution” shall be construed accordingly.

Prostitution has also been a key topic in the Uganda parliament. For instance it was discussed by the 7th parliament as a controversial matter and prostitutes were referred to as sex workers. However, it was agreed that there is no such term as “sex work” under Uganda's law. 

Fr. Lokodo says this clearly means that prostitution is not considered as work in Uganda. They have also observed that this practice is not only limited to the streets but can also be observed in bars and restaurants and private contacts are accessible. 

So in an effort to curb prostitution, legislation and policies have been formulated under the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity, which include the National Ethical Values Policy, which responds to escalating moral decadence in Uganda exhibited in a number of activities and practices such as Prostitution, pornography, defilement and rape

Fr. Lokodo says to operationalize the above policy, the following laws have been enacted. The Penal Code Act, which deals with criminal law. It provides under 139 that any person who practice or engages in prostitution commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

The Anti-Pornography Act, 2014, which defines and creates the offence of pornography; to provide for the prohibition of pornography; to establish the Pornography Control Committee and prescribe its functions; and for other related matters.

"It is on the premise of the above laws that the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity working closely with the Police has undertaken measures to bring to book persons found in the act of pornography and prostitution," said Fr. Lokodo.

The latest incidence is the arrest of men and women in a Brothel in Bakuli, a Kampala Surburb yesterday Thursday 5th March 2015. The culprits are under custody at the Central Police Station Kampala for further interrogation and charge by the Police and other responsible institutions.

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Uganda Exporting Health Workers to Trinidad and Tobago in UN Context

By Esther Nakkazi

The Uganda government has defended its move to 'export' 263 health workers saying it is part of the bilateral arrangement under the south-south Cooperation and within the context of the G7 and the United Nations, also known as the Technical Cooperation for Developing Countries (TCDC).

According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago are undertaking the exercise of recruitment for employment of medical workers from Uganda with the objective to establish a framework for the development of scientific, technical and economic cooperation.

"Therefore, both countries undertake to “Increase the exchange of knowledge, information, experiences and achievements in the priority fields of cooperation”, says a statement from the government.

A non-government organisation, the Institute of Public Policy and Research (IPPR) sued the government of Uganda for 'brain drain' by exporting so many health workers yet the doctor to patient ratio is so low 1:24,725.

Donors like Belgium are withholding 11 million Euro in aid money for Uganda's health sector over its plan to export these health workers. More donors might be planning to take action.

In a press conference held today at the Media Centre, the government has said 'exporting the health workers is in their mandate to “Promote and Protect Uganda’s interest Abroad". As such their mandate requires that the Uganda embassies abroad source for employment to allow for transfer skills, technology and foreign exchange earnings amongst other benefits.

Currently, Uganda is recruiting for employment 263 health professionals to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The MOU between the two governments allows for 2 year contracts, subsequently allowing more Ugandans to take advantage of the opportunities.

Available data indicates that there were 59,000 registered health professionals in the country for all categories by end of 2014. In total, there were 57,050 approved vacant posts in government structure, of which 35,903 were filled, leaving 21,152 posts (UBOS Statistical Abstract 2014). The reason for not filling these vacancies varied including; budgetary constraints.

From the above figures, it implies that 63% of the health professionals are employed in the public sector, while 37% is either employed in the private sector, unemployed or left the country for greener pastures. Therefore, the absorptive capacity of the public service is limited, and this is the gap that the framework is trying to bridge, says a press release from the government of Uganda.

Further, the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council records 2014 indicate that, in the last 10 years, over 55 health training institutions have opened across the country. These are Government, faith based and the Private Sector institutions. This implies that graduate output levels of health workers has steadily increased, leading to high numbers of health workers in the job market, which cannot be solely absorbed by government and the private sector.

Agriculture Expansion in Tanzania May Greatly Increase Risks of Plague in Humans

Press Release
Maize cultivation sparks surge in plague-carrying rodents; experts fear acceleration of agriculture production across Africa may carry same risks beyond Tanzania

Deerfield, Ill. (February 23, 2015) —The push to boost food production in East Africa that is accelerating the conversion of natural lands into croplands may be significantly increasing the risk of plague according to a new study published online today in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH).

Researchers studied rodents in northern Tanzania, where over the last few decades croplands have expanded by 70 percent. They found that in areas where maize production has been introduced, the number of rodents infested with plague-carrying fleas that can cause human infections nearly doubled compared to numbers in neighboring wilderness areas.

Scientists also linked the maize fields to a 20-fold increase in the population of the African rat (Mastomys natalensis) that is a major conduit for plague and a number of other diseases, including deadly Lassa fever—an affliction often mistaken for Ebola—that has become a growing concern in West Africa.

“We found that introducing maize production in natural areas appears to create a perfect storm for plague transmission,” said Hillary Young, PhD, a community ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and one of the lead authors of the study. “The presence of the crop as a food source caused a surge in the population of a rat species known to carry plague. Local farmers often then store this harvested corn next to or inside their homes—baiting in the hungry field rats and increasing opportunities for human infection.”

“These kinds of conditions are what breed outbreaks,” Young said.

Plague is an ancient disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that continues to sicken and kill people even in the 21st century. Since 2000, most of the outbreaks of plague have occurred in Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar, an island nation off the coast of Mozambique [In 2013, ASTMH published a series of infographics about plague in the first decade of the 21stcentury.] Just since last September, an outbreak in Madagascar led to 263 infections and 71 deaths. Plague also occurs in the USA, with a small number of cases reported annually in western states.

Plague has long been a threat in Tanzania and continues to emerge in sporadic outbreaks. From 1980 to 2011, for example, there were about 8490 cases and 675 deaths reported in the country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), plague is treatable with antibiotics and supportive therapy but, left untreated, it is fatal 30 to 60 percent of the time.

Rats and Expansion of Agriculture
In June and July of 2011, shortly after the typical annual peak in human plague cases, investigators studied three areas in northern Tanzania. In these areas, plague outbreaks have been documented in the past, and maize production has expanded and now abuts the boundaries of protected lands.

Young said the area of Tanzania where the study was conducted is a historic hotspot for plague, though so far there has not been an uptick in infections documented in the farming communities studied.

But the researchers, which included investigators from Stanford University, Colorado State University, the Smithsonian Institution, and Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture, believe all of the factors that could cause an outbreak are now in place: a population surge in rodents carrying plague and fleas capable of transmitting plague to humans, coupled with crop storage practices and rat behaviors that could increase contact with humans.

“People in these communities tend to store their maize in their houses, to protect it, but that also has the effect of attracting these rats,” Young said. “The rats that persist in human areas are also particularly competent hosts for plague, as well as likely to interact with humans. Together, these changes increase the opportunities for humans to be bitten by plague-infected fleas.”

Curious Findings
One curious finding from the study was that the African rats living in the agriculture areas played host to a larger number of plague-carrying fleas than their relatives in the forest and even carried a species of plague-infected flea that is completely absent in forest rats.

The researchers also noted that the African rat, with its capacity to support large litters—the female of the species can nurse up to 14 pups at a time—is well suited to take advantage of a crop production cycle that offers opportunities for rodent populations to surge as crops mature.

“Lessons learned from this case are also broadly important for understanding the dynamics of other zoonotic diseases in this era of rapid landscape change,” the authors state.

Indeed, across sub-Saharan Africa, which possesses 60 percent of the world’s arable and significant food security challenges, efforts are underway to rapidly and widely increase agriculture production as a way to address both economic and food security concerns. Among the more ambitious projects is one underway in Kenya that aims to convert one million acres (about 400,000 hectares) into irrigated farmlands.

“This result gives us another example—as if we need another example after Ebola—of the connected world we live in. Although it’s not as infectious as the Ebola virus, plague can be transmitted through human contact as well as flea bites, and we had this kind of transmission in the United States in the last century.

Researching the impact of land use on both animals and humans is important for preventing and dealing with outbreaks of transmissible diseases like plague,” said ASTMH President Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH. “In Africa in particular, food production is a critical issue. This is an opportunity for agriculture and tropical medicine to work together with local communities to benefit us all.”

DUTCH FUND INVESTS EURO 1 MILLION IN UGANDA MOBILE TECH COMPANY

Press Release
January 29th, 2015
A Uganda-Dutch company that uses mobile technology, to rapidly exchange information with specific target audiences has received an impact investment of Euros 1million from the Netherlands - ABN AMRO Social Impact Fund.

The ABN AMRO Social Impact Fund invests via direct participation in social enterprises that aim to achieve both social/sustainable and financial results. The fund is particularly interested in enterprises whose innovative business model can help revolutionise the market. Development of the fund fits in with the bank’s aim to strengthen its position as a leading socially responsible company

The TTC Mobile CEO and co-founder, Bas Hoefman says ; “The funds will be used to expand the company's activities, hire more local and international staff and spread our projects all over the world, effectively turning the company into a leading global social enterprise.”

Eunice Namirembe, the TTC Mobile Uganda country director, has said that this investment will facilitate more social projects and possible expansion of some of the existing ones.

This funding comes at a time when according to research statistics; Africa is experiencing the highest growth rates in mobile phones uptake. Hoefman further says, “For the predominant part of our projects in the developing world we use SMS because internet connectivity is still low.

However this is improving and has resulted in a massive increase of broadband subscriptions and according to TTC Mobile founder Bas Hoefman it is expected that by 2017, 40% of people in Africa will own a smart phone. This opens an opportunity to a whole range of new business models customized to Africa.

TTC Mobile currently reaches millions of people across Africa, Asia and Latin America through several projects in the areas of healthcare, agriculture and education. The company is now active in 23 countries of which 18 are from Africa, partnering with organizations such as UNICEF, The World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) in addition to government institutions, NGOs and businesses.

TTC Mobile was registered in 2007 in Uganda and in the Netherlands originally as Text to Change (TTC) and according to Hoefman it all began in Uganda when TTC launched an interactive Short Messaging (SMS) large-scale mHealth campaign that reached 15,000 people aimed at creating awareness around HIV/AIDS and to stimulate people to get tested for the deadly disease. We owe a lot to this country. This program was the first large scale interactive mHealth campaign in Africa.

With the success of its original mHealth campaign in Uganda, TTC Mobile has now expanded its projects to include a global mobile messaging platform with a private sector focus in emerging
markets, market research and social marketing.

According to Eric Buckens, the Manager of ABN AMRO Social Impact Fund, “TTC mobile reaches diverse groups of people at a large scale in developing countries. The goal is to support them in their daily lives and truly bring about improvements in matters that directly concern them, such as healthcare. The enterprise fits the aims of the ABN AMRO Social Impact Fund completely.”

Among the most successful projects currently being run by the company is one in Tanzania where TTC Mobile's unique partnerships have enabled them to use their mobile services to reach over 500,000 pregnant women, mothers and communities with valuable information on healthy pregnancy and safe motherhood, in addition to reminders to regularly seek care at a clinic.

TTC is also actively involved in the fight against Ebola in western Africa. "We have managed to reach people in hard-to-reach places with vital messages. And this has later impacted behavioral change. It is TTC’s mission to enable organizations engage and interact with people that are in emerging markets. The fastest and most efficient way to do this is through mobile “Bas Hoefman notes.

TTC Mobile's social marketing business is conducted by the use of mobile technology tools through the use of text messaging (SMS), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), a Call centre, and face-to-face surveys using tablets and smart phones and online surveys.

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