COMMUNICATION/ WOMEN SPECIAL...Connecting Women

Connecting Women 

MOBILE PHONES WERE A SERIOUS INSTRUMENT FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN 2012

    Purbi has not gone to the nearest town to buy a mobile recharge coupon in the past one year. The 26-year-old villager, living near Siliguri in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, has not even consulted a physician over the same period. She doesn’t need to, thanks to the MTS Saheli van that takes care of her needs. It has been over a year since MTS India, the CDMA mobile service brand of Sistema Shyam, rolled out its marketing campaign for female consumers in West Bengal. MTS Saheli — an air-conditioned bus with a female physician, beauty experts and sales women offering a range of telecom services — has helped MTS India taste success at the bottom of the pyramid by engaging with over 8 lakh rural customers. “We are delighted with the success of Saheli,” says Leonid Musatov, chief marketing and sales officer of MTS India, “and we plan to expand the programme in 2013.” Similarly, Vodafone India has rolled out ‘Angel Stores’ across the country. A first-ofits kind retail concept, Angel Store outlets are run and managed by women employees only — from security to pantry to customer service resources and management personnel. Angel Stores is a part of Vodafone’s endeavour to provide women employees with one of the most secure and productive working environments to work in, the spokesperson adds. Vodafone is rolling out another out-ofthe-box retail concept in Haryana called Vodafone Fetailers. As part of the pilot, Vodafone has trained 25 women all from a district in Haryana circle to sell E-topups and recharge vouchers. These women have been equipped with a start-up kit comprising a SIM card, mobile handset, E-top-up and tracking registers. They will also get special incentives in the first two months. A recent report by the Cherie Blair Foundation and GSMA Development Fund had found that mobile penetration among women in India is 28% as compared to 40% among men. But women not only spend three hours more on calls every month, they spend four times the amount of time men spend on instant messaging (chat) applications, says the study. That’s an opportunity for mobile-based businesses. A few months ago Vuclip, the world’s largest independent mobile video destination, launched India’s first mobile portal, Mira. Designed to appeal to the new-age woman, Mira features video content relating to health, beauty, fashion, cooking recipes, and can be accessed from any internet-enabled mobile phone.

Rajiv Singh ET121227