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Venture to the Last Frontier of the Mobile Phone Revolution

Imagine what your life would be like if you never had the chance to go to school, had never learned to read.

You wouldn’t own books or a computer. You would see people walking around – people with more education, more resources – staring at glowing devices they call ‘smart’ and realize that they live in a world closed to you.

Now imagine that you lived in a place with no electricity and no running water. The ability to complete household chores, like washing up, would depend on the rising and setting of the sun, and a drink to quench your thirst could lead to diarrhoea or fever. Words like Wi-Fi and internet would be outside your vocabulary. And imagine that all your meagre savings were kept as a few pieces of metal that you wore on your body. Think of your anguish if you had to sell a piece to feed your children or pay their school fees.

Despite progress in recent decades, what I’ve described is the daily reality of hundreds of millions of the global poor in sub-Saharan Africa and India.

For the past 17 years, I have been drawn to these places and led teams trying to bring solutions to these complex problems.

As implausible as it may seem, I went there not to install solar panels or work on childhood nutrition, but to introduce state-of-the-art technologies, to further the adoption of the mobile cell phone.

In my book, Strong Connections: Stories of Resilience from the Far Reaches of the Mobile Phone Revolution I take readers to this last frontier of the mobile/digital revolution.

While much has been written about breakthrough technologies and early adopters who live where roads are good and smart phones are affordable, this book explores the largely undocumented journey of how digital technologies are entering the lives of those in extreme poverty — people, often women, often illiterate — who live without electricity or running water.

about rosa

Rosa Wang is an author, strategist, and public communicator on transformative technologies.

As Global Director for Digital Financial Services for Opportunity International, a global network dedicated to microfinance, she led programs that subsequently opened over 6 million digital bank accounts for very low-income individuals around the world.

The program also gained widespread recognition for providing services for persons of low literacy and for innovations in closing the digital gender gap. Prior to her work with OI, Rosa incubated social entrepreneurs in technology and social investment through the organization Ashoka.

A life-long learner and explorer of big ideas, Rosa leverages a background in investment banking, portfolio management, and public policy to focus on ways that technology can be harnessed for humanity.

Her first book, Strong Connections: Stories of Resilience from the Far Reaches of the Mobile Phone will be published by River Grove Press in February 2022. After living on three continents, she currently resides in Oxford, England.

For the past 17 years, she has worked at the forefront of spreading digital and mobile technologies to those excluded from the digital revolution.

When mobile services were in their infancy, she worked for Ashoka, the pioneering organization for social entrepreneurs, identifying and supporting the most successful entrepreneurs addressing issues like maternal health, environmental conservation and clean water. It was visiting these social entrepreneurs that she saw first-hand the power of digital technologies for the poor.

In 2012, Rosa was appointed Global Director of Mobile Money and Digital Financial Services (DFS) for Opportunity International, an organization that focuses on alleviating poverty through financial services and training.

Rosa’s work encompasses the efforts to bring the mobile-digital revolution and all of its associated benefits to the millions of poor village women that have been digitally excluded. In addition, she has served as Leader of the DFS peer group, where member organizations offer services to 60 million persons worldwide. Her fieldwork has taken her to many parts of the world where extreme poverty still persists, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Rosa is a frequent public communicator on digital services for the poor. She speaks at industry and investor conferences and has been featured in publications such as The Financial Times. Her passionate empathy for those living in extreme poverty, subject-matter expertise and self-reflections serve as the source material for her forthcoming debut book, Strong Connections: Stories of Resilience from the Far Reaches of the Mobile Phone.

Upcoming
Appearances

Now scheduling podcasts and book group appearances.

To receive a reader’s guide for book groups or to invite Rosa to join your book group by zoom, please email: [email protected]

Past
Appearances

Sep 2, 2021

Open Q&A session with Writers Unite!

May 12, 2021

“Digital Healthcare for All,” Discussion with Emerging Leaders Cohort of the Institute of Nephrology. Zoom discussion with Q&A.

April 9, 2021

“Digital Financial Services and Coping with Fraud” Webinar.

Feb 23, 2021

“Gender Data Bias and How to Correct,” Webinar

Sep 2019

Panelist at 2030 Women and Girls Empowerment convening at the United Nations in New York, along with Asahi Pompey, Partner, Goldman Sachs, Eduardo Martinez, CEO UPS, and Atul Tandon, CEO Opportunity International.

May 12, 2021

“Digital Healthcare for All,” Discussion with Emerging Leaders Cohort of the Institute of Nephrology. Zoom discussion with Q&A.

April 9, 2021

“Digital Financial Services and Coping with Fraud” Webinar

Feb 23, 2021

“Gender Data Bias and How to Correct,” Webinar

Sep 2019

Panelist at 2030 Women and Girls Empowerment convening at the United Nations in New York, along with Asahi Pompey, Partner, Goldman Sachs, Eduardo Martinez, CEO UPS, and Atul Tandon, CEO Opportunity International

Jun 2019

“How Developing Nations Use Tech to Reach the Underbanked” in the Financial Times

Aug 2019

Athens, Greece. Power-talk at Idea-gen Europe Summit, attended by corporate CEOs, leading diplomats and international officials.

– Rosa Wang