SANGONeT Conference

Press Release

9 October 2009

Vodacom, in collaboration with Vodafone, will be launching the global pilot of Betavine Social eXchange (BSX) - funded by the Vodafone Group Social Investment Fund. BSX was conceived to create mobile solutions to solve social problems in a sustainable manner via an open mobile applications community.

The BSX pilot project will be launched on 15 October 2009 and will engage a number of South African stakeholders while investigating the functionality and usability of the BSX initiative.  A key outcome of the 6-month pilot will be the assessment of the efficiency of BSX as a mechanism for sustainable distribution of mobile solutions.

Vodacom, South Africa’s leading cellular network, in collaboration with Vodafone, is proud to announce the launch of the global pilot of Betavine Social eXchange (BSX) - funded by the Vodafone Group Social Investment Fund. BSX was conceived to create mobile solutions to solve social problems in a sustainable manner via an open mobile applications community.

The BSX pilot project will be launched on 15 October 2009 and will engage a number of South African stakeholders while investigating the functionality and usability of the BSX initiative.  A key outcome of the 6-month pilot will be the assessment of the efficiency of BSX as a mechanism for sustainable distribution of mobile solutions.

“This initiative forms part of the Vodacom‘s drive for collaborative innovation and co-creation of solutions in the mobile industry. We are very involved and committed to social upliftment in South Africa, and we believe the Betavine Social eXchange can contribute to sustainable development.” says Shameel Joosub, Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa. 

The 5th Annual SANGONeT “ICT for Civil Society” Conference in Johannesburg, where BSX is being launched, is the premier ICT event dedicated to the work of the NGO sector in Southern Africa. It brings together NGOs, key application developers and ICT stakeholders with an interest in supporting the use of technology to solve social challenges for NGOs. The SANGONeT 2009 event will focus on the relevance of social media tools to the South African NGO sector.

David Barnard, Executive Director of SANGONeT, says: “The Betavine Social eXchange is a powerful example of innovative collaboration between the mobile industry and organisations at the forefront of addressing society’s development challenges. We are pleased that the pilot project will be implemented in South Africa given the country’s dynamic mobile industry and vibrant NGO sector.”

For more information on Betavine Social eXchange, please visit www.vodacominnovation.co.za or www.betavine.net

Ends

Issued on behalf of:

Shameel Joosub
Managing Director
Vodacom South Africa

Issued by:

Nicolene Visser
Executive Head: Corporate Communications
Vodacom Group Limited
011 653 5741
corporate.affairs@vodacom.co.za

For more information on the SANGONeT conference:

Matthew de Gale
ICT Services Manager
SANGONeT
011 403 4935
083 297 2939
matthew@sangonet.org.za

Editor notes:

In 2007 Vodafone launched the Betavine platform (www.betavine.net) as an open mobile application community - a place where anyone can find and share information and experiences about developing applications on any technology platform. It was created to encourage developers to cross over from other types of software development to mobile software development.

Building on this model of community-driven mobile application development, the Betavine Social eXchange was conceived to create mobile solutions to solve social problems in a way that helps them to be sustainable. It aims to engage new communities of users and enables participation of developers and users in the co-creation of new mobile applications and services.