Nokia unveils microfinance route to reach rural consumers

Microfinance Focus, Aug. 19, 2009: Nokia India has announced plans to roll out a unique microfinancing offer in 12 states to make mobility more accessible to rural markets and notably, to the female population in rural India.
The company has recently concluded a successful pilot in partnership with a leading microfinance institution in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, said a press release.
Under this pilot, an easy payment scheme was offered on handsets to women consumers at a weekly installment of Rs100 over 25 weeks. Conducted across over 2,500 villages, the pilot received a heartwarming response and received over 27,500 applications, the release added.

JOINS OTHER STAKEHOLDERS

Nokia has joined hands with a host of other stakeholders across the government and private enterprises to deliver localized and personalized information through the Nokia Life Tools, being introduced commercially across the country.
Nokia Life Tools is a range of innovative agriculture, information and education services targeted at non-urban consumers.
Emphasizing the need for fostering new ways of working, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of Nokia Corporation said, “As a market leader, our emphasis is on creating value for the entire ecosystem. Mutually beneficial relationships among industries and companies will be more important than ever. We believe that by sharing resources and ideas, by tapping into each other’s expertise, we can accelerate our efforts to transform our products and services and take mobility to the next frontier.”
For the agricultural services under Nokia Life Tools, Nokia is collaborating with MSAMB, Reuters Market Light (RML), Syngenta, Madison Research, Skymet and many other key government agencies, NGO’s and industry partners. Additionally, Pearson, EnableM and OnMobile are the partners for Education and Entertainment content respectively. The services are being delivered to consumers through IDEA currently.

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