Can CellBazaar Survive without an Urban Market—and Fulfill Its Development Potential? (Innovations Case Discussion: CellBazaar)

Abstract

founder of CellBazaar. Mr. Quadir was helping me balance a plate of snacks and soda with one hand and then, at my request, used his other to command the screen of his cell phone to shine the interface of CellBazaar: indeed, CellBazaar was and is his market-in-a-pocket. His story, and that of his co-author Naeem Mohaiemen, is one of innovation, synthesis, an ability to mobilize critical technical, commercial, and government contacts, and sheer persistence. It is also part manifesto and part mystery, each considered later. First, let us review CellBazaar’s accomplishments. From a business perspective, much has happened. The leaders of CellBazaar locked in the infrastructure of the telecommunications giant, GrameenPhone, with a three-year exclusive contract, and reconciled multiple platforms, technologies, and user needs in order to forge a market of 1.5 million customers (one percent of the entire population of Bangladesh). They overcame administrative red tape blocking important legal status and protections (FDI) and intellectual property rights. And, they mobilized the voluntary talent and zeal of many foreign experts who helped to develop CellBazaar’s product offering and sales approach. This array of results is inspiring, and itillustrates the design process of a brand new solution for users in a market once defined exclusively by expensive gobetweens. The CellBazaar story offers a good reason for tying rural producers to both rural and urban markets. First, there is demand in the countryside to get a better deal. Farmers, local retailers, and factory workers all labor to find ways to spend less and earn more. A lack of information stands in their way. The middleman with slightly better information than his peers has become the chokepoint in the pas-