Factors affecting sustainability of ICT4D projects : a case study of mobile cinemas in rural South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate if the provision mobile technologies to micro-entrepreneurs can lead to the development of new business models that will support the sustainability of the businesses they develop. A case study was undertaken focusing on 14 micro-entrepreneurs that were participants in the Mosaic 2B ICT for development research study. Mosaic 2B was a European research project aimed at developing and testing a framework that used cloud-based applications and low-cost internet delivery mechanisms to provide entertainment media to disadvantaged communities. The entrepreneurs were provided with technology referred to as the Cinema-in-a-backpack that they could use to download and screen movies in their communities in order to raise an income for themselves. The Cinema-in-a-backpack project was implemented in the Nkangala district in Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Mixed methods were used to collect data from these MEs over a period of 6 months. The data was analysed to identify the business models they implemented and to determine how sustainable these models are. Positive factors and obstacles were identified and a model was created to indicate how these could influence the proposed business models in terms of their sustainability.