WEBVTT

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- It\'s a mobile world.

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With calls, texts, and apps to
help make our lives easier.

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But not everyone\'s benefiting...

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yet.

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Can mobile phone apps
be designed to help

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make a better world?

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This series challenges app
developers from around the

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world to visit communities
who are missing out.

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And then come up with an
app that could help...

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a Life App.

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- Yes, yes, yes, yes!

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- This week Life Apps is in
Kenya, the hub of Africa\'s

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high tech boom, but also a
country where 4 out of 10

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people live on less
than $2 a day.

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

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- Kenya, like most of the world,
relies on small scale

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farmers for food.

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Farmers, like William
Ojwang in Ugenya, in

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Kenya\'s fertile West.

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A former city dweller, farming
is now his life.

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Maybe William can find the help
he needs among the bright

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lights of Kenya\'s capital city.

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- Nairobi.

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It\'s full of life.

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It\'s the New York of Africa.

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And you have to quote
me on that one.

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- Meet one of Kenya\'s new
breed of young software

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developers.

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- I\'m Muniu Kariuki I\'m an
applications developer, living

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in Nairobi.

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I have a small start
up with my friends

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called Bityarn Consult.

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We create tools even I
will go on to use.

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- Muniu\'s challenge is to design
a mobile phone app to

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help William and millions
of other small

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scale Kenyan farmers.

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- Mobile is cool.

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It\'s not a craze in
Nairobi, as such.

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It\'s just that most people
can get a mobile.

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This is my favorite joint.

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One reason is that
it has the best

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jazz in town on Thursdays.

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And number two, they have
the best beer in town.

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The road we are on
is Ngong Road.

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Ngong Road is like the
tech road of Nairobi.

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So all the techies
hang out here.

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It\'s a good time to be
living in Nairobi,

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and also doing tech.

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And mobile is exciting.

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- Kenya\'s tech entrepreneurs
like Muniu Kariuki launch as

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many as five mobile
phone apps a day.

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- It\'s a good time to be
living in Nairobi.

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Right now it\'s Silicon Savannah.

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- Muniu\'s always believed that
mobile phone apps can help

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people in the rural areas,
just as much as

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those in the city.

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- Most people don\'t have access

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to information services.

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But mobiles provide that
platform where it\'s

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accessible, it\'s convenient,
it can fit in your pocket.

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Then I don\'t see a reason why it
shouldn\'t be accessible to

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the guys in the rural areas.

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- Muniu\'s startup company,
Bityarn, has been going for

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just a couple of years.

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The team has just had
some good news on

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one of their projects.

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- Today\'s an exciting day
because we\'ve secured some

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funds to roll out the
pilot for one of

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the apps we\'re doing.

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Development is fun.

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And it gives you the chance to
create something, and you see

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people use it.

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The satisfaction that you derive
from there, you can\'t

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compare it to anything.

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People need information
wherever they are.

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And now mobile phones are very
cheap and affordable.

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...

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coverage more than
anything else.

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An app alone will not
change the world.

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It\'s not a standalone feature.

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It\'s part of a larger ecosystem,
which is the

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information services.

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What apps do they make
information services more

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accessible to those guys who
are in remote places.

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- Back in Ugenya it\'s the
start of the long rains.

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For William, it\'s time to plant.

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So can Muniu help William
become the

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farmer he wants to be?

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Filmmaker Toni, who helped come
up with the Life Apps

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idea, sets Muniu a challenge
that he can\'t refuse.

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His task?

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To create a mobile application
that can help

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farmers like William.

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Muniu\'s agreed to take seven
days out of his busy schedule

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to crack it.

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- So if you can just talk to
him to just figure out what

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his problems are...

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- Mm hmm.

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- and see if you can develop
a solution for him.

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- OK.

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- So, I\'ve dialed his number.

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You can just call him.

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- OK.

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- Hello.

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- Hello.

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Mr. William?

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OK.

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- So we\'re good?

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- We\'re good for the challenge.

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- OK!

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

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- Muniu always researches
customers needs...

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normally, in Nairobi.

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William\'s Ugenya is
eight hours west.

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- Going to the field, is part
of the normal practice.

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But since we started we
haven\'t been this far.

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So it\'s a big challenge
for us as well.

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I\'m expecting to learn
when I go there.

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I mean, it\'s a whole learning
experience.

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Find out what they go
through everyday.

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What they are doing.

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And then see what we
can do for them.

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

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- Muniu has to work out what
stopping William making better

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use of his two acres.

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Then he can design
an app to help.

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William suffers from the same
problems as small-scale

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farmers globally.

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He has no modern water pumps.

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He can\'t afford fertilizers.

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And without proper
transport, he can

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only sell crops locally.

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So, William\'s joined a farmers\'
group to try and pull

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knowledge and resources.

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- The fact that William is
already in a group, and it\'s

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barely two months old, it\'s a
starting point because it\'s

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already brought people together.

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So even if you are developing
a solution to that end,

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there\'s already a platform.

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You can use them as well,
as a test group.

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Or a focus group, rather.

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I\'ll also start from hearing
problems from

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other farmers as well.

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Now we\'ve heard about William.

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Maybe another farmer is facing
a slightly different problem.

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- City boy Muniu is about taste
some Kenyan country

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cooking, with William\'s special
niche crop, his

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indigenous Kenyan vegetables.

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- We want to thank the food
before we take it, in the name

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of Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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- Next on Muniu\'s research
trip is a visit

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to Ugenya town center.

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He\'s going to meet William\'s
group of local farmers.

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Muniu wants to know if other
farmers have the same problems

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as William.

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And how he can design a mobile
phone app to help.

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- The meeting was good, and
after listening to William and

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his problems or the challenges
he faces when he\'s doing his

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farming, they\'re not
unique to him.

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Other guys in the community are
also facing more or less

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the same problems.

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- Muniu wants to research how
much the crops William grows

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could fetch.

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So he heads to one of the
largest markets in the area.

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It\'s only 40 kilometers from
William\'s home, but he\'s never

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even been here.

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A return journey using public
transport would cost him $5,

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almost a week\'s income.

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So it\'s William\'s first chance
to find out how much the

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indigenous vegetables he grows
would sell for in the big

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local markets.

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Pooling resources with a group
could mean lower costs, and

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higher returns for
their produce.

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Muniu realizes this is how a
mobile phone app could help.

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- Looking from the farmers to
the group, and then know at

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the marketplace, there are a
lot of ideas to be explored

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within the same area.

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And most of the problems,
they can be solved

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from a group level.

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As a group you want to know what
source is producing, how

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much of this particular item
they\'re producing.

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With that kind of intelligence
the coordinators will also be

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able to sell this produce.

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And also to coordinate who to
pay and how much to pay them.

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- It\'s a quick goodbye to
William, as Muniu\'s off back

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to Nairobi.

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His challenge is to design an
app that can help William make

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a better life from farming.

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- It is a sad story,
unfortunately.

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And one sees that food
prices in Nairobi are

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ridiculously high.

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And these guys can\'t sell
there produce out here.

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For instance, he gave me an
example, he went to the market

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with 500 shillings worth
of farm produce.

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He only sold 100 shillings.

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So the rest ended up rotting
and becoming compost.

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- It\'s time for Muniu
to brief his team.

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- I met a farmer, William, and
he raised a few challenges

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that he is facing as an
indigenous crop farmer.

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I also had a chance of meeting
the group that he belongs to.

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These farmers need to
push information.

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So we are looking at where
technology can come in and

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bridge this gap.

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And also support them to
get to the next level.

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- So maybe there\'s information
about planting

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season, maybe a date.

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And then how much they are
earning from the farm.

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- Financial.

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- Financial planning.

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- So the information we need
to bridge that gap.

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- The team decides to go with
a simple text based app.

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- Why are you looking at the
most basic of features?

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- The kind of phones these
people use, they don\'t have

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smart phones.

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- This is developed technology.

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You develop solutions for
technology people have.

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- You just want the information
to move from the

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farmer to the market.

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And from the market
to the farmer.

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And the only way you can do this
is through their groups.

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- They are almost ready to go
back to William with their

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idea for an app.

00:19:36.330 --> 00:19:44.330
(MUSIC PLAYING)

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The prototype of their
Life App is ready to

00:20:02.840 --> 00:20:05.969
show William in person.

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- Hello?

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- Hello, Mr. William?

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- On the road back to William,
and this time Muniu is joined

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by Geoffrey, one of Bityarn\'s
best trainers.

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The software city boys are about
to be reminded why out

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here communication is a problem.

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The first step is showing
the group how the

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prototype app works.

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- The app is called Rotuba.

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It\'s a Swahili word meaning
\"fertility\".

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It\'s supposed to be a platform
to exchange information.

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Whether it\'s market information,
whether it\'s pest

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and disease information,
record keeping...

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all that in one.

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- So how exactly does
Rotuba work?

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Step one: Register the group,
farmer name and produce.

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Step two: Send the details
to Rotuba\'s database.

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Step three: Send reports to
Rotuba via text message, such

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as which crops and the quantity
they\'re selling.

00:22:31.010 --> 00:22:34.699
Step four: On market day, Rotuba
will then text all the

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farmers in the group to
share the information.

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Then they can agree on prices
and share transport costs.

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- Most of the interaction with
the system will be through

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SMS, and that\'s with the farmer.

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SMS\'ing the system, and the
system getting the data back

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to the farmer.

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It can be tailored to
be anything the

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farmer wants it to be.

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For instance, if the group owns
a farm implement like a

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pump, if a farmer wants to use
the pump they request for the

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pump via SMS.

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- The app would allow William\'s
friends to collect

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and distribute the information
they need to work together.

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- I\'m excited.

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They like the product.

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They see the value in it.

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So I think it went pretty well.

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- You should have seen the
smiles on those guys\' faces.

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The smile on the other end is
what gives you the drive.

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This has been...

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you can call it mind-blowing,
or...

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I\'ve experienced something new.

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And it\'s all a learning
experience for me.

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- Muniu is currently seeking
investment funding to develop

00:25:13.370 --> 00:25:16.989
Rotuba as a fully functioning
technology.

00:25:16.990 --> 00:25:20.229
He\'s convinced that mobile phone
apps like Rotuba can

00:25:20.230 --> 00:25:23.949
help Kenya\'s millions of
small-scale farmers to work

00:25:23.950 --> 00:25:27.259
more efficiently, find
new markets, and

00:25:27.260 --> 00:25:29.179
have a better life.

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- I\'m putting information
in people\'s hands.

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I think the farmer out there
should have access to more

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information than I. Because they
are the ones providing me

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with food, and they are feeding
the nation and growing

00:25:40.060 --> 00:25:42.019
the nation.

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What I\'m envisioning personally
is it\'s a project

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that can scale even nationally.

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And it has room for growth.

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This is just the beginning.