HITCH: Affordable Video Content for Empowering Women & Girls

HITCH empowers women and girls in emerging markets through free access to impactful videos, especially in local languages. These videos transcend literacy barriers, enabling unrestricted access to decision-making tools that improve socio-economic participation and prosperity. HITCH interconnects solar-powered community WiFi hotspots, into a sustainable video content delivery platform.

HITCH is a solar-powered smart WiFi router that predictively aggregates, downloads, and serves up video content via fixed or mobile community WiFi hotspots. These smart WiFi routers are interconnected into a seamless data-driven video content delivery platform.

HITCH achieves significant savings by:

• Buying Internet connectivity in bulk,
• Predictively aggregating and downloading video content once, and
• Sharing the videos many times with women and girls – using individual or shared WiFi-enabled devices for access, via fixed or mobile WiFi routers.

HITCH smart routers overcome low connectivity by starting and stopping video downloads, using any Internet connection available; and provide free access to these impactful videos for women and girls, empowering them with critical information and decision-making tools. Video content can also be updated by offline delivery of preloaded encrypted SD cards.

HITCH smart routers are owned and operated by women cooperatives, providing shared information access to members and other female users, to overcome cultural limitations of traditional societal gatekeepers.

HITCH operators automatically setup video content WiFi hotpots, either in fixed places or as mobile pop-up locations (like open-air produce markets), to ease access from target users.

HITCH routers owned and operated by women cooperatives leverage a scalable communal distribution franchise, driven by a financial model sustained by cross-subsidizing revenue-shares from advertisers, content sponsors and marketers, and other interested stakeholders.

Additionally, the routers provide opportunities to upsell in-demand local entertainment content at affordable prices; increasing distribution revenue flow options for women cooperatives.

HITCH routers also provide affordable off-grid energy access, via built-in ports for charging personal devices, LED appliances, etc. powered by enhanced solar & battery capacity.

In Nigeria, and many other developing markets, women and girls face especially significant barriers to the information flows and knowledge exchanges that pervasive information and communications technology access engenders. These barriers stifle learning, self-determination, and opportunity.

HITCH addresses this problem by providing a scalable sharing economy solution, anchored on a financially empowering women-cooperatives distribution model, sustained by adequate cross-subsidizing revenue options from complementary stakeholders.

HITCH directly tackles the challenges posed by low connectivity and cultural limitations to both female empowerment and gender equality; and can also be leveraged as a powerful dissemination channel for information concerning access to finance.

HITCH sustains gender equality, social standing, & girl-child empowerment, using videos[1] (in local languages to increase engagement[2]). In Nigeria, broadband is unavailable, unaffordable, and inaccessible[3]. HITCH achieves significant savings via sharing economy models[4]; and is owned/managed by women cooperatives/SMEs, with whom it shares revenue from customers (for content delivery, sponsored content, or analytics). It provides free access to women/girls on WiFi-enabled devices[5]. Videos supply critical decision-making tools and learning[6]; but HITCH also delivers cross-subsidizing market-based information, freemium entertainment (from Nollywood), & energy access. Beneficiaries increase business capacity, output, & market opportunities, increasing incomes and self-determination. 

Persona: Economically-active Bottom-of-Pyramid women and girls, with access to WiFi-enabled viewing device, need videos for learning & socio-economic empowerment.

Journey: Use women-cooperative-operated WiFi hotspots to access impactful video content from mobile or fixed smart routers.

Beneficiaries [Direct: 10,000 women-cooperatives. Indirect: 1,000,000 women and girls.]

Current Deployment in Nigeria

5 routers in 2 months

16,662 video views

656 users

102GB mobile data savings

25.39 views/user

131.2 users/router.

Proposed Project in Nigeria

10,000 routers in 3 years

25 million video views

1,000,000 women & girls

150,000GB mobile data savings

100 users/router 

$100/month (women-cooperative revenue-share)

Indestructible audit trail, as each router distributed will be tracked (via automatic data upload & remote management feature) and "collateralized" by designated local community women-cooperative that will own, secure, and operate it. - 10,000 women-cooperatives own/operate a HITCH router in Nigeria

Indestructible audit trail for all user engagement, as each router keeps track of videos viewed, including metadata like user, time, date, level of completion, number of times viewed, etc. - 25 million video views from 1,000,000 women and girls in 3 years

Indestructible audit trail for all "sponsored" content deliveries, including all corresponding revenue accruing to HITCH platform from customers, will be documented, tracked, and apportioned; with women-cooperatives getting a monthly net revenue share. - $100/month in HITCH cooperative revenue-share

Supports WiFi-enabled devices, because of ubiquity. Telcos will compel subscribers to migrate from non-WiFi feature phones (for cost efficiency). HITCH model supports monthly router installments from cooperatives (members share cost). Competitors focus on individual connections or do not include backhaul in offering. Targets areas with existing mobile internet (< 12.5Kbps), as router predictively-downloads videos over time, only permiting access when complete. If connection drops, download continues when reestablished. We surmount adoption barriers (costs, literacy, functionality) by focus on Download-Once-Redistribute-Many video access (some in local languages). We focus on cross-subsidzing offering, local ownership, knowledge, plus analytics & scalable revenue-share partnerships.

Research validates video impact on audience engagement/learning. HITCH supplies videos to sustain unrestricted information, knowledge exchange, critical decision-making tools, and communal entrepreneurial opportunities to women and girls in emerging markets, using any WiFi-enabled device.

Smart router is plug and play, with rugged and compact form-factor ideal for its operating environment. UIUX flow was co-created with beneficiaries, with beneficiary-driven iterative UIUX feedback guiding adjustments. Includes remote management via steady/intermittent mobile Internet.

Smart router is fixed/mobile to increase communal access opportunities. Local language videos increase resonance with beneficiaries. Off-grid energy access limitations necessitated enhancement of solar/battery capacity for recharging feature.

Operators just plug in router, and service is automatically enabled. Onsite diagnostic/management is possible via dropdown command menu. Auto-enabled remote management, with data periodically uploaded for predictive management/support/service decisions.

Beneficiaries access free service via open HITCH WiFi SSID at fixed/mobile video-content WiFi hotspots, owned/operated by women-cooperatives. User’s device automatically redirects to landing page (no input required), with icon-driven web (browser) application interface. User doesn’t download app or type in commands.

Interface is optimized via locally-tested command icons. Categorized videos are viewed by clicking on corresponding icons/links. Basic: video offering is free. Upsells: <=2% of minimum wage (N360).

Grants from Nigerian Government (NGN15 million), World Bank/UK-DFID (NGN10.67 million), and Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (CAD15,000) to complete our MVP and launch Nigerian pilot (Nsukka, Enugu, and Abuja, with Kano and Lagos scheduled by EOM August 2017). We have a 6-month runway, and are currently exploring grant and equity funding options to sustain operations.

As platform is cross-subidized with revenue from customers (Content Sponsors, Impact Practitioners, & Content Distributors), we are aggressively engaging over 250 leads in our sales funnel (with 134 met in-person, 46 expressing interest, 20 in discussions with), so as to convert them into paying customers.

HITCH will be open to Third-Party Developers/Solution Providers, as an Impact-as-a-Service platform, for providing content, services, & applications to underserved beneficiaries. Anonymized usage data is logged to provide deep insights into impact asessments, consumption patterns, energy usage, peak/off-peak flows, engagement triggers, etc.; supplied as premium analytics to relevant stakeholders.

Buying Process: Given our model/runway, managing buying process for “Anchor” Potential-Customers; but specifically, for opportunities with Impact Practitioners (Donor Agencies, etc.). Balancing the trade-offs between unit and bulk sales at this stage in our development, given our resource limitations. Some unit sales are asking for customization; and it is not clear if there will be follow-on orders.

Funding: Submitting successful grant and impact funding applications to implement our strategy and finance growth.

Selling: Developing and managing an effective Sales Funnel, with successful conversions to sustain deployment. Team: Getting more development and sales/marketing team members to grow/scale the platform.

http://www.twitter.com/@HITCHStream

http://www.facebook.com/HITCHStream

HITCH is on a mission to change the lives of underserved users, especially women and girls, leveraging video for sustainable impact. We believe that the notion of trickle-down broadband can be disrupted now, not later. Solve will connect us to the ecosystem to make this happen.

To put our mission in context, according to Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (broadband industry coalition), of 4 billion people globally without broadband:

1/4 have $12.00 to spend on communication needs monthly

1/4 have $7.00

1/4 have $4.40 And 1/4 have $2.25; this last group are Bottom-of-Pyramid users living on less than $1/day.

Partners:

World Bank & UK-DFID

Federal Ministry of Finance Nigeria

International Institute for Tropical Agriculture

Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Nigeria

Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (University of Waterloo, Canada)

Proposed Partners:

Mobisol: Off-grid renewable energy provider. Digital Green: Proponent of data-driven usage of video for training. 

Direct: BluPoint, BRCK, PirateBox, etc.

Indirect: RACHEL Project by World Possible, Outernet, etc.