BuffaloGrid

Almost half the population of the world has never experienced the Internet.

In 2020, the consequences of the digital divide were starkly revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as people without connectivity were unable to work from home, attend school lessons or access healthcare services. 

Our Solution is the BuffaloGrid Hub, a solar-powered device that can charge 10 portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, simultaneously.

The Hubs connect with the BuffaloGrid Cloud, a software platform accessible from anywhere, and, for free, users can access entertainment, sports, educational and health content via Wi-Fi.

We are a platform free of fake news and rich in valuable content that will improve the lives of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid, by addressing the key problems of lack of relevant content, affordability, market readiness and lack of digital skills. 

4 Billion people or half the population of the planet have never experienced the internet, but  3.6 Billion live in places where there is 3G or 4G available. Connecting the unconnected has nothing to do with coverage. The real problems are:

• Affordability
• Consumer readiness
• Lack of relevant content
• Poor power infrastructure

For people living in off-grid or grid-edge communities, charging their phones is a daily challenge. One that slows economic growth and leaves many without access to services like government portals, online banking, social media, entertainment and eCommerce. 

Over the period 2014–2019, mobile operators invested around $320 billion in expanding and upgrading networks, bringing mobile broadband coverage to
a billion additional people. Over the same period, mobile internet adoption increased at a constant pace but did not outpace coverage, which explains why the usage gap is not reducing and even widening in some regions. This has profound implications for governments, the mobile industry and the 4 billion people that remain excluded from the mobile internet worldwide.

Our solution is the BuffaloGrid Hub, a solar-powered device that can charge 10 portable electronic devices (such as mobile phones) simultaneously.
Users of The Hub are able to register via a touch screen using an SMS-based authentication flow and then charge their mobile phone from The Hub using one of the provided charging ports. 
The Hubs connect with the BuffaloGrid Cloud, a software platform accessible from anywhere, and users can access entertainment, sports, educational and health content via Wi-Fi.
The Hub includes an LTE modem so that it can be configured and updated using BuffaloGrid’s Cloud platform.

Our users are some of the 3.4 billion people who are not yet connected to the internet. These customers are concentrated in rural and peri-urban areas around the world. Our users are typically young and (18-35 years old), skew slightly male (although this is changing over time), and are smartphone-first individuals, they don't usually own a tv or laptop, and all the digital content they consume is through their phones. They live in places like India or Nigeria, where infrastructure is poor but smartphone penetration is expected to increase year by year.

The problem is that half of the world’s population has never experienced the internet.
Our solution is designed to connect some of the 3.4 billion people who are not yet connected.
Our service removes the barriers for the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to adopt and engage with the internet.
The challenge seeks solutions that provide low-income, remote, and refugee communities access to digital infrastructure and safe, affordable internet - this is what we do.
Our approach is universally applicable, globally scalable, and has the potential for explosive growth.

Development and testing of BuffaloGrid hardware (Hubs, battery packs) and cloud platform is now complete and the system has been trialed within an initial commercial deployment in Uttar Pradesh (India). BuffaloGrid has so far served 100,000+ users. BuffaloGrid service is at TRL 8(Technology Readiness Level)   and expected to reach TRL 9 within 6 months.

• Business Model - Unique collaboration with MNOs allows BuffaloGrid to provide free charging to users. BuffaloGrid can also white-label its solution for MNOs or co-brand.

• Connectivity - BuffaloGrid removes the barriers for the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to adopt and engage with the internet. BuffaloGrid Hubs uniquely allow its users access to education/ development/ entertainment content, independent of unreliable 3G/4G connections across its deployment regions (Bangladesh, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Turkey).

• Hardware Ownership - BuffaloGrid retains ownership of all hardware, so can invest in high-quality components and have much greater control over EoL to combat eWaste (a major issue with current systems).

• Display - BuffaloGrid Hub is the only solar charger with a screen, allowing BuffaloGrid to display advertising and provide public information to users.

• Village Approach - A village-level approach (competitors only provide units to individual households) allows each hub to service/impact up to 1000 users, enabling extensive scalability.

Our pilots have so far served over 100,000 users in India between 2018-2019. 

Each Hub serves, on average, 600 unique users. By the end of Q4 2021 we will have deployed 200 Hubs and will be serving over 120,000 users in Bangladesh.

With predicted growth led by commercial deployments in Bangladesh, India and Nigeria in partnership with local MNO’s - with contracts in place in Bangladesh and India and advanced conversations in Nigeria with two of the largest mobile network operators. 

For humanitarian deployments in Kenya, Uganda and Jordan we have partnered with Techfuees and various multilateral organizations with whom we are looking at a long-term plan to deliver our services for free in refugee and settlement settings across Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Government deployments have received confirmation of interest from Afghanistan but require external funding and the Innovation Agency of Panama has expressed interest in using Hubs to bring education to indigenous communities. 

Finally, with our hardware as a sales service/franchise model in Turkey where advanced conversations are happening.

Leading with commercial deployments by 2026 we can have 20,000 Hubs deployed and be serving 12 million users. This can be fully achieved in one country as in India we have 100,000 locations identified in one state and in Bangladesh over 300,000 alone. Adding Turkey and Nigeria only exponentially increases the potential and complimented by humanitarian and government deployments the solution is of a global scale. 

BuffaloGrid's cloud platform will continuously collect granular usage data for data-driven decisions and analysis.

This will show-
Number of users accessing free power/streaming
Number of users accessing Premium content
Quantity of health/education streams/downloads 

Deployment planning, progress measurements and impact reporting are to be lead by Associate Professor in Economics, Department of Economics and Social Research Institute at University College London Gabriella Conti, Ph.D. Co-Investigator, National Child Development Study (1958BBC), Research Fellow, Institute for Fiscal Studies, IZA and CEPR, ERC Consolidator Award 2019-2024, Nick Hales Award 2019
Leverhulme Trust Prize 2019, Associate Editor, Journal of Health Economics.

Identifying a representative sample of potential beneficiaries of the interventions and collecting baseline data before the deployment of the BuffaloGrid Hubs and tablets when relevant. The survey will collect demographics and socio-economic indicators and other outcomes of interest at the individual/family level. We will then randomly select clusters (areas) where the technology will be immediately deployed (i.e. treatment group) and clusters (areas) that will receive the technology at a later stage (i.e., control group). The randomization process ensures that individuals in each of the groups are, on average, similar at the onset of the study and differ only with respect to the exposure to the program. In other words, this methodology helps minimize confounding factors and neatly identify the impact of the program. The core assessment of the impact will be based on an endline data collection to be conducted with the same individuals surveyed at baseline.

Full time - 12

CEO Daniel Becerra holds an MA in Industrial Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and an MSc from Imperial College London and has 10 years experience as an entrepreneur in design and technology. He previously founded an eco-friendly air conditioning company, Artica Technologies which went on to be acquired by VKR Holdings in a successful exit.

Chief Innovation Officer Chris Hibberd is a research analyst with a master's in physics and a Ph.D. in Engineering from the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology. He worked in the R&D team of the New York Stock Exchange’s technology division. While working on a sanitation project in Nepal, Chris saw firsthand how the seasonal unreliability of power prevented mobile phone owners from using their devices.

Chief Technology Officer Andrew McCaughan holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Queen's University Belfast.  Throughout his career, Andrew has been drawn to organisations that have a positive impact on people’s lives.  Prior to joining BuffaloGrid, he has been technical leader in developing market-disruptive products for education, healthcare, and local government.

Chief Strategy Officer Vanessa Arelle is the Founder & CEO of TZ Systems, a tech company focused on diversity, inclusivity, equality, and wellbeing. She worked for 4 years as Head of Cultural Affairs at the Mexican Embassy in the UK.

As well as our main UK-based team, we also have members situated in India, Vietnam, Spain, Portugal, and the USA.
We have recently incorporated BuffaloGrid Systems Nigeria and staff recruitment will begin this summer.

BuffaloGrid considers all forms of discrimination to be unacceptable in the workplace. It is the policy of the company to provide equal opportunities throughout employment, including remuneration, recruitment, and the training and promotion of all employees. This means that all job applicants and employees will receive equal treatment regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sex, mental or physical disability, age, religion or belief, marital or civil partner status, sexual orientation or gender reassignment.  In our recent recruitment rounds, we have combated bias by ensuring our job descriptions are gender-neutral.  We have worked closely with our recruitment partners to ensure that 50% of our candidates are female.

Our management team has weekly one-on-one sessions with their team members.  These sessions are safe spaces for employees to speak their minds honestly and openly.  

The BuffaloGrid team is made up of team members in India, Vietnam, Europe and South America with differing cultural backgrounds.  To ensure our employees are satisfied and supported, we offer floating holidays to accommodate any religious preferences they may have.

The company seeks to fulfil this commitment to equal opportunities through the application of policies and procedures which are consistent and equitable and which recognise the expertise and ability of each individual.

Support and exposure provided by winning this award will help BuffaloGrid impact the lives of over 10 Million people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Access to phone charging and digital services will level the playing field as the developing world recovers after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our solution is globally scalable, and access to strategic advice from Solve’s wide range of experts will be invaluable as we enter new territories.

We want to be part of a large network of innovators working together to solve the biggest problems the world faces today.

Human Capital - As we expand internationally sourcing the right talent and the right leadership in the different geographies will be a challenge.

Content Generators - Companies developing content in our four verticals (Education, Health, Entertainment and Sports)

Financial Inclusion - As we progress more services will be made available by our platform. Our goal is to help digitise the local economy and for that partnering with companies addressing the financial needs of our target users will be perfect.

BuffaloGrid is already working with the UNHCR and Techfugees to bring our solution to some of the 80 million people currently displaced worldwide.

This award would support BuffaloGrid’s mission by enabling it to hire more people and scale significantly faster. 

The prize money would also accelerate BuffaloGrid Hubs’ incorporation of mesh-networking hardware, which will allow its users better access to education/development/entertainment content, significantly increasing BuffaloGrid's positive impact.

The increased visibility and credibility offered by the award would help BuffaloGrid establish new partnerships with existing large distribution networks to enable the expansion of BuffaloGrid’s operations. 

The award would also attract content providers to enhance the size and quality of the content within BuffaloGrid's content portal and therefore make it more useful to our end users.