Potential opportunity to develop a project for MTN
Yegwa Ukpo
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Hey all,
So I had a meeting yesterday with Chuma Obumselu who should hopefully be joining us in the Network sometime soon about the possibilities of creating something that MTN could align themselves with.
He had attended the tail end of the first Praxis (open) session for the Network and based on what he saw and things we had discussed prior to it, he thought it could be cool to pitch something based on the principles the Network operates on that could be pushed to MTN and/or the MTN Foundation as a project they could execute next year.
Now, in very coarse terms, I guess the idea is that even though MTN is a very stereotypical large multinational corporation, they could maybe get some mileage by aligning themselves with something new, alternative and keyed into concepts like sustainability etc. while we get money and a platform for showcasing our ideas.
The way I figure something like this would work would be that we suggest ideas and then vote on which one to push forward. Once we have that, we create a team, give them a cool-sounding code name and leave them to handle the nitty-gritty of interfacing with MTN as a body. Once money gets paid, we compensate the people involved for their time and put the rest of the money into The Dyad Network's purse to be deployed for self-initiated community projects and supporting other initiatives. As I have mentioned before, all these things - including how to spend the money etc. - will be always open to the vote on here and everything will be kept fully transparent.
Chuma works in branding and his company is looking at doing a presentation to MTN sometime next month before the holidays, so there really isn't much time to develop something, but I think there could be an opportunity here as long as we are aware of the sort of company we will be working for.
Ré had suggested some interesting ideas for building a protocol for dealing with companies that on the surface are not aligned with our values (capitalist, extractive, opaque etc), but I will let him discuss those himself on here.
Cheers and I look forward to some contributions. I will shut this thread and put up a proposal for voting on the 4th of December, so please make yourself heard before then if you have any suggestions.
Let's do this!
Yegwa Ukpo Tue 29 Nov 2016 9:37PM
Hmmm...I like this idea quite a bit. I wonder whether they will be able to go for it. Just thinking about the regulatory bodies here...might be able to push this as something that they won't see as a threat to the existing bank order.
The idea I had was to create a radio and/or TV show (maybe with podcasts thrown in) focusing on people doing business and running organisations that are on the fringe of what typically passes for the mainstream here. Focus on these people, highlight their organisations and do some extrapolation about what that sort of activity could mean if it propagated on a wider scale.
There seems to be a lack of visible platforms for Nigerians to discover ideas that are not the typical thing. Even something as generic as a leather tannery is considered unique and novel here because people have no channels to discuss or here about things like this.
Talk shows exist here that interview some of these sorts of entrepreneurs and founders, but they tend to not be well produced or have the sort of clout that a brand like MTN could bring to the table.
Adun Okupe Tue 29 Nov 2016 11:02PM
I agree - I think something that opens up a space/platform for where we can collect and be made aware of 'alternative' ways of doing businesses and running organisations will be great and though MTN is extractive etc, this is bringing them closer to our goal/objective and in this way, we are using a brand to create some more 'awareness capital' of alternative ways of doing things....I think radio shows, tv programmes/short documentary style together with a vibrant online forum/discussion can be a cool project.
Yegwa Ukpo Wed 30 Nov 2016 11:40AM
Yeah, I like the idea of including the online part, but I guess this will be dependent on how expansive and comprehensive we are looking at this project becoming. Once we get an idea of the people that are ready to work on a proposal in the next two weeks so we can submit something to MTN, that will be great and will give us a better idea of how to define the scope.
I am trying to divide my time between projects at the moment, so while I really love the idea of building something that will act like a sort of vaccine for our current economic system, I may realistically not have the time to do much apart from the initial project scope and overviews for the shows run. A high concept look at the whole thing - assuming we go with the radio/tv idea.
Adun Okupe Wed 30 Nov 2016 12:10PM
Yes, time really is of the essence - it can be a proposal with timelines inbuilt for a pilot phase/proof of concept and then opportunity to expand later, but again, once we get an idea of who wants to get involved....
Lyall Wed 30 Nov 2016 10:18AM
cool, how would you leverage the show to introduce the Dyad? or would you initially just be looking to build a network.
Could the show possibly be orientated on: what money means to people or rather ways of getting money. Why do people choose to get money in the way that they do. A maker could talk about the pleasures of work as a reward or the knowledge that he/she is not harming the environment.
(I am more having a conversation than suggesting something specific)
Re 'powers that be'..I am assuming MTN is just a cellular network?
Yegwa Ukpo Wed 30 Nov 2016 11:35AM
cool, how would you leverage the show to introduce the Dyad? or would you initially just be looking to build a network.
I am thinking about sneaking in the Dyad in one or two episodes. Almost like - "oh! this is interesting! I wonder what these people are doing over here with this mutualist cooperative thing..." than something more obvious/direct. Seems like it might look less scary to MTN to give it a much broader focus that they won't suspect is actually antithetical to their business practices, heh.
Could the show possibly be orientated on: what money means to people or rather ways of getting money. Why do people choose to get money in the way that they do. A maker could talk about the pleasures of work as a reward or the knowledge that he/she is not harming the environment.
Yes! Definitely. I have been looking for a direction or at least, a sub-theme for the show, and this seems like a pretty good one - especially since it can start the conversation in the public sphere about the limitations of money and thinking about what becomes possible when one doesn't see money either as a necessary ingredient and/or an end in and of itself.
Re 'powers that be'..I am assuming MTN is just a cellular network?
I presume you are referring to my comment about regulatory bodies and MTN serving as a platform of exchange? The only reason I mentioned it is because when mobile money first started coming into the country, the banks and the CBN basically sabotaged it big time by implementing all sorts of regulations to cripple the sorts of things that the networks could do. A lot of them were worried about the sort of thing that happened with M-Pesa in Kenya would happen here and make them irrelevant to the majority of un-banked people in Nigeria.
Anyway, it is just speculation. I think it is definitely worthwhile bringing it up as a possibility if we end up developing a proposal along the lines that you originally suggested (or maybe even incorporating it into this tv/radio thing I am proposing) and seeing what they say.
Lyall · Tue 29 Nov 2016 1:46PM
Seems like a great opportunity, especially to market the DYAD
Communication enables community. Perhaps a campaign could centre around making connections stronger which infers better collaborations between individuals.
MTN could create a vehicle for participants to register moneyless exchanges (A dyad exchange) These exchanges could be incentivised by giving away a percentage of the value of an exchange back to the participants as airtime.
Perhaps vendors would first need to assign a Dyad value to their good/service offering.