From founding team of Geeks Without Frontiers

Date 4 December 2009

The Digital Divide is Significant

•  Since the Missing Link Report (ITU/Maitland Commission 1984), there

is greater recognition that access to communications is key for
sustainable development
•  However, bridging the digital divide without also addressing energy
divide means more greenhouse gases
o  1.6 Billion people have no access to electricity
o  1.4 Billion people have not communications
And The Energy Divide is Significant
You Cannot Bridge the Digital Divide without addressing the Energy Divide

Increasingly Dirty
Telecoms

Source: Stormground.com
 Importance of Green Communications

•  “Mobile operators across the developing world

will incur a US$14.6 billion diesel bill from
powering off-grid base stations by 2012"
according to GSMA
•  Each diesel base station consumes
approximately 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) per
year with fueling cost running $30,000 per site or
116,226 pound of CO2 released into the
atmosphere per site annually
•  India alone is estimated to use 2 billion liters of
diesel just to power mobile base stations and
this is expected to double by end of 2010
•  Africa burns more than 30 million liters of diesel
a year to power mobile phone base stations
 Meanwhile...Human Network is
Living In Poverty

•  60% of the world’s population currently

lives on 6% of the world’s income (half the
world’s population lives on $2/day or less
whilst 1 billion lives on $1/per day or less)

•  3 Billion more people are expected to be

added to the world by 2050
•  Business as usual” will not alleviate
poverty
•  Charity will not alleviate poverty
sustainably
 A New Green Rural Network Architecture
To Bridge The Digital Divide

•  Low Power Devices = Low Cost = Greater Rural Penetration

•  Green Telecoms w/ Distributed Renewable Power(Grid Independence)
•  Energy + Communications = The First Step toward ending Poverty
•  Yunus Social Business Model (Owned by the Poor and JV Models)

Prof. Yunus
New Network Can Alleviate Poverty
•  Prof Yunus in his book “Creating a World Without
Poverty” stated that bridging the digital divide cannot be
done with “business as usual”. He challenged anyone
reading his book to start create an organisation called
ISEP (“ICT Solutions to End Poverty”)

•  Called for the creation of a Social Business Fund (UNITY FUND)

•  10 percent growth in mobile phone subscriptions leads to a 1.2 percent
increase in GDP
•  Voice Communications Significantly Improve Productivity (doesn’t
require literacy to communicate)
•  We Believe that having Access to the Communications &
Energy is a fundamental human right!
Our Response To Prof Yunus-
Geeks Without Frontiers
"Global Partnership to Bridge the Digital Divide Sustainably & Alleviate Poverty"

Vision
•  To positively impact 1 billion people in extreme
poverty over the next 10 years
•  by building economically and environmentally
sustainable communications
•  providing universal access and contributing to
smart villages throughout the world
 Geeks Without Frontiers
"Global Partnership to Bridge the Digital Divide Sustainably & Alleviate Poverty"

Mission

•  By providing clean energy and

communications to the poorest regions of
the world, we are able to alleviate
poverty and unleash human talent and
economic development
•  Our efforts utilize the Nobel Prize proven
and Sustainable Yunus Social Business
Model
•  "Geeks Without Frontiers" seek to build
Smart Sustainable Village
Infrastructure through SEEEC
(Sustainable Environment & Economics
for Energy and Communications)to
Alleviate Poverty around the World
Difference in Our Approach

•  GWF's energy and telecommunications backbone will be deployed to the

rural poor using a model based on the Yunus Social Business Model
•  GWF taps into a cadre of geeks and geek organizations from around the
world to apply a participatory and empowering approach we call SPARCS
(Seeding Projects that Advance Rural Communities Sustainably) with a focus
on energy and communication infrastructure development
•  GWF fills the funding gap for building this infrastructure for the poor through
"Unity Capital
•  Setting up Two Organizations:
o  For Profit B Corp – Social Impact is the Single Bottom Line
o  Non Profit 501c3 – Able to Accept Tax Deductible Contributions
 A Sustainable Impact is Key
Yunus Social Business Model

The Yunus social business model offers the most innovative and sustainable
solution to bridging the Comms/Energy divide and addressing poverty

  Social business model has a single bottom line: alleviating poverty

  A business that drives profit for the expansion of the operations thus
making a greater impact for doing more good
  Lenders/investors recover what they put into the company but no
dividends – the return is purely social
  Two social business model
- Co-owned with the poor
- JV with an NGO/For Profit e.g. Grameen-Danone
 GWF Solution

  Address the Energy Divide with Renewable Energy Based

Power Systems (Off Grid)
  +
  Address the Digital Divide with Low Power Communications,
Network, Appropriate Applications
 +
  Innovative Yunus Sustainable Social Business Model
 =
  Alleviation of Poverty & Empowerment of the Poor
Progress & Recent Accomplishments

•  Kick-off Brainstorming meeting on the 21st October 2009 in

Cupertino

•  Internal Market & Technology Needs Survey

•  White Paper the "Geeks" Sustainable Green Telecommunications

Initiative & the Unity Capital.

•  Powerpoint Presentation, Video & Brochure on the "Geeks"

Initiative

•  Identifying Phase I Projects and Partners

GWF Action Plan
1) Introducing GWF at COP15 on the 8th December 2009 at the ITU/UNFCC iSeeT
Kiosk
2) Finalize Corporate Partners December/January
3) Work with pro-bono lawyers to finalize the structure of GWF
4) Soft launch at Pacific Telecommunications Conference January 2010 and Mobile
World Congress February 2010
5) Field visits to pre-qualify partners and projects
6) Film mini-documentary about the field visits and projects
7) Founding Conference March 11th & March 12th Northern California
8) Wider outreach through conferences regionally e.g. APRICOT in Asia, AFNOG or
Africa StaCom in Africa, etc.
9) Launch of seed fund and 4-6 pre-qualified projects (2 per region ideally) in
Sweden in June
The Time For Action Is Now