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Internet Set to Drive Innovation in Emerging

Markets

Tehology has ee resposile for iilisatios greatest leaps. The jup fro stoe to bronze provided better ploughs, allowing ore food to e produed. Neoes stea engine harnessed chemical energy to create kinetic energy the technology behind the railways and steamships, enabling goods and raw materials to be sent more quickly around the

globe.

Based on the concept of the stone, bronze and iron ages, some anthropologists now consider

that we live in the information age. The revolution in the transmission and access to

information is truly staggering.

Guteergs ietio of the pritig press i is oe of seeral ajor milestones in the story of information. Mass printing facilitated the propagation of scientific ideas, enabling the

flourishing of scientific discovery in Europe in the following centuries.

Moving forward to the nineteenth century, the laying of telegraph lines in the 1850s allowed

news and information to be exchanged with far away regions. By 1902 transoceanic cables

provided a global network, forming the bedrock of our information age.

The invention of the World Wide Web, a network of computers, by Tim Berners Lee has led to

an explosion in the availability of information. What was available to a few people in libraries is

now open to anyone from around the globe with access to the internet. The growth in the

number of people with access to the internet, in terms of access to information and education

is oe of the orlds ajor suess stories.

By the end of 2014 there will be almost 3 billion internet users, two-thirds of them coming from

the developing world, according to the International Telecommunications Union. The number

of mobile-broadband subscriptions will reach 2.3 billion globally, of which 55% will be in the

developing world.

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The next leap in mobile technology, 5G will help boost internet availability to be almost

everywhere, from villages in the Rift Valley to the slums of Dacca. This is thanks to new compact

antennae technology that allows mobile stations to be fixed on normal homes and even

telegraph poles, unlike current large and bulky mobile masts. With it, 5G will bring speeds of

800 Gps,equivalent to streaming 33 HD video films in a second.

Because mobile internet infrastructure is easier to install than cable based systems, emerging

economies have leapt straight to a digital network. This means the new mobile networks can be

expected to have a far more profound effect on the economies of emerging markets than in

deeloped eooies. Its already happeig o. I Keya, farers are usig apps o their mobile to check up on stock prices of their produce so that they can get the best price. The

internet will have the most impact in emerging markets, which typically have younger

populatios tha deeloped eooies. They are hoe to 9% of the orlds uder s; i India, for example, just over half the population is below the age of 25.

What this eas for the orlds aily youg populatio as suitly put y Bill Gates: The information highway is going to break down boundaries and may promote a world culture, or at

least a sharig of atiities ad alues. This ay stregthe cultural diversity and counter the tedey toard a sigle orld ulture.

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The convergence of technologies, such as GPS and digital mapping, digital video and cellular

mobile devices, linked by the internet, provides a wealth of new business opportunities in the

rapidly expanding service economy. Tapping into this environment is a generation of young

people in the emerging markets, nurtured in a virtual world that is as familiar to them as the

real world. They represent a pool of talent that will become the entrepreneurial pioneers of the

future.

This combination of accessible information technology and a large young dynamic demographic

is expected to be a major contributor to the success of emerging economies in the coming years

with growth rates far outstripping Western developed nations. In a recent report, Euromonitor

International predicts that emerging market economies will grow almost three times faster

than developed ones, accounting for an average of 65% of global economic growth through to

2020.

Supplying the market as well as providing the pool of talent in emerging economies is a

burgeoning middle class. According to Ernst & Young, in Asia along, 525 million people already

count themselves as middle class ore tha the Europea Uios total population. This is set to triple to 1.7 billion, according to a report by the Brooking Institution. By 2030, Asia will be

the home of 3 billion middle class people 10 times more than predicted for North America and five times more than Europe.

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Observing the akstory of ioatio ehid todays teh giats suh as Google ad Faeook, there is a common pattern of young entrepreneurial technical talent with an average age of 23

when the business took off. Access to the internet combined with the growing educated middle

class in the emerging world will mean this is where the new world-beating tech companies will

emerge. But this is only going to happen with access to capital. Banks have failed to step up to

the mark in helping small businesses to grow. Peer-to-peer lending is playing a role by allowing

smaller investors to participate while reducing risk. However, venture capital, with the

resources of not only funds, but also expertise to mentor young entrepreneurs, is in a position

to take the lead in creating the businesses of tomorrow. And it is in the emerging market where

the opportunities will be found.

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Tej Kohli is a highly successful international businessman, entrepreneur and an ardent

philanthropist with an innate talent for supporting and nurturing entrepreneurs with

extraordinary ideas, to create pioneers of the future.

Learn more about Tej Kohli