The Vodacom platform, Siyakha, which aims to lower the cost to communicate for customers at the base of the pyramid, has reached 7.5 million people in its first year.
Siyakha, which is isiZulu for 'we are building', was launched in January 2017 and targets Vodacom's emerging prepaid segment. It is aimed at lowering the cost to communicate, for those who can least afford it, while increasing digital and social connectivity though mobile technology.
Nyimpini Mabunda, chief officer of Vodacom's consumer business unit, says Siyakha remains key in ensuring Vodacom provides everyday value and access to affordable communication services for those who need it the most.
"Rather than just a transactional relationship of buying airtime and using voice and data services, how do we become a lot more to our customers? It's about how to become a brand with purpose that makes a difference in their lives," he says.
Siyakha offers special tariffs for users, as well as zero-rated content to aid with key socio-economic challenges in the country. Any prepaid Vodacom customer is eligible to sign up, via USSD by dialling *188#. This also automatically gives users free funeral cover of up to R10 000, and they receive up to 50% in additional airtime value whenever they recharge their airtime balance.
Vodacom believes that with the increase in unique mobile users in SA, mobile technology is by far the most effective and powerful channel to provide educational material to prepaid customers.
Zero-rated content
In terms of zero-rated content, there are four pillars: social-connectivity, health, education and jobs.
"These pillars are reflective of the segment's primary needs and align to the 2030 national development goals. That is the idea behind Siyakha: knowing that technology can make a real and tangible difference in helping some of the most pressing issues we are facing in the country," says Mabunda.
The first product to launch under the socio-connectivity pillar was zero-rated access to Facebook Flex, a limited version of the popular social network. A year after its launch, Siyakha now has over a million customers using Facebook Flex on a regular basis and over six million overall subscribers.
One of the big success stories of the platform is under the health category through an offering called Mum&Baby. Mabunda calls it the "jewel of Siyakha" and in a year the platform has gained just under a million users.
"The customers who are connected to Mum&Baby get information on a range of health topics, including sexual and reproductive health, pregnancy information, breastfeeding, immunisation, mother and child bonding, early childhood development, nutrition and HIV/AIDS. All of the topics are, of course, guided by the Department of Health on things that moms really need to raise healthy babies.
"This is important if you look at the construct of Siyakha because we are building future generations. Too many children die unnecessarily because of ignorance or a lack of access to information. A lot of the stories we hear from users are really touching, because in rural communities people had to go really far to attend antenatal clinics and a lot of them don't do that because they don't have money. Now they can watch a video on their phone, which is free for them to download and watch, and it gives them the same information as from a professional."
That is the idea behind Siyakha; knowing that technology can make a real and tangible difference in helping some of the most pressing issues that we are facing in the country. Nyimpini Mabunda, chief officer of Vodacom's consumer business unit.
The info can be accessed via a mobisite and users are also sent free SMSes with stage-based information to support pregnant women, parents and care-givers. Mum&Baby content is offered in five languages - isiZulu, Sesotho, isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans - and Vodacom says it plans to add more South African languages soon.
The service is not only used by women; over 30% of Mum&Baby users are fathers.
Loveness Ngwakuma, who stays in Zonkesizwe, Vooslorus, is a user of the platform and says the Mum&Baby service is like "having a nurse in your hand".
"When we hear stories from people like Loveness, we know we are making significant inroads in our quest to improve the quality of the lives of our customers.
"A million customers benefited from this and I'm quoting the numbers because if these things didn't make a difference, no one would be using them. So to have these levels of subscriptions shows it is really making a difference in people's lives," adds Mabunda.
The platform also provides free content under its eSchool banner and Mabunda says there is an urgent need in SA to educate more people.
"There are many people who want to be educated but don't have access to classrooms; or they are very far; or they don't have access to qualified teachers.
"Working with the Department of Basic Education, we are able to take the authorised national curriculum and make it available for free to Siyakha customers. So you can do revisions on your phone at any time with no data charges."
He says eSchool has just under 300 000 users and is growing every day. Curriculum is available for grades R to 12 and those who do not have smartphones can access content at learning centres all over the country.
The platform also offers zero-rated access to jobs portals in an attempt to aid unemployed youth.
"One of the reasons for not getting a job is lack of access to information to find where jobs are available, not knowing how to do your CV correctly, not knowing how to conduct yourself in an interview. All of that info is available on our partner sites, under the jobs category on Siyakha."
Additional innovations
Mabunda says to expect "bigger and better" things soon in terms of improvements to current offerings, as well as new products and services.
"It has been a great year and a great success which builds expectation. Obviously, we have taken lessons from the first year and we are going to improve, and the things that have worked well, we need to accelerate them."
In terms of Mum&Baby, Vodacom has already launched an improved version which went live yesterday.
"We are looking at how to take the information beyond just specifically pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing type of information to holistic wellness. We will be looking at adding information around depression, first aid, diabetes, circumcision, etc." Mabunda says.
Using big data analytics and machine learning, the group is also working to make the platform more personalised to each individual customer "to make it more targeted and more holistic".
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