‘We want to help all Nigerians maximise value of the internet’

MTN APPtitude is a first-of-its-kind revolutionary move to give all Nigerians the platform to enjoy the limitless possibilities and opportunities that the Internet provides. APPtitude is a portmanteau of two words – “App” and “Attitude”. “App” is a short form of “Applications”, which are the small icons we see on our phone screen and tablets, which give us direct links to the Internet. “Apps” are thus a short-cut, which makes Internet experience faster and better and eliminate the barriers of using traditional website addresses. You will agree with me that quite a lot of Nigerians recognise the importance of Internet in their lives; from learning, shopping, entertainment, social relationship, professional networking, banking payment etc. However, the challenge of people having to type long winding web addresses like www.chukwudiadeolaauduandsonslimited.com can be a nightmare for many.

You cannot remember many of these website addresses and when you miss just one single letter, it results in an error message. In some instances, you are not even sure whether the website ends with .com, .org, .net or .com.ng. You know there are even more top level domains like .biz, .tv, .info etc. It is now becoming more complex every day. We need easier and smarter access to make it attractive for current users and many new users, whether they are literate or not. Today, a lot of people who use the Internet are people who have access to mobile devices and not large screen computers. However, there is a challenge; the screens of mobile phones are smaller when compared to our desktop computers and it is cumbersome opening many browsers at the same time. We felt that the best way to enable this is to change the rule and promote a short cut access via an app, where customers do not need to remember website addresses, but only need to click on the icons of their favourite websites and get straight online.

The “attitude” dimension is the fact that every Nigerian of all ages, gender and culture, has got certain interests, preferences, passions etc., which can be better expressed or lived through the everyday enablement of the relevant and applicable applications. For example, if you are a follower of a football club, there are many apps out there that give you real-time access to what is happening at your club. If you are a knowledge-driven individual, there are relevant apps from fact file, latest trends, current affairs etc. that can enrich your knowledge without the stress of undue searching or typing URLs of websites that you often forget. In essence, the APPtitude movement is a drive to educate Nigerians about multiple apps that exist, give access to their apps free of charge by simplifying how to get them through curated gateways and encourage Internet consumption behavior with a view to helping all Nigerians to maximise the huge value of the Internet for socioeconomic development and self enhancement.  For us, this movement is about how we can democratise access to the Internet, starting with our over 60 million customers.

This movement also provides a lot of opportunities to many Nigerians, banks, industries who have apps that people don’t know about, to join this revolution of getting people to see apps as the alternative to access the Internet such that as a nation, we can get more people to use the power of the Internet to become better at what they do, which speaks to our philosophy of BetterMe. For businesses, the cost of running a business is reduced because customers can self-serve themselves via an app, make enquiries, check updates and even co-create with you.

I think what is most important to us, as a business, is that we are a business that is concerned about the lives of our customers. You will recall that our positioning as a business is to make the lives of our customers brighter by leading the delivery of a bold new digital world. The only way to lead that delivery is to empower our customers with the right tools to be able to enjoy the best of the digital world. We understand that “apps” would be the access point and that is the reason why we want to make sure that we get those apps into the hands of as many people as possible. If you look at the overall macroeconomic and socioeconomic impact of apps, it is huge. Internet access has a commensurate impact on the social and economic well-being of a nation.

It is as simple, as someone who would have to be in traffic for many hours, if you have an app which tracks traffic and crowd sources traffic information like giditraffic or trafficbutter in Nigeria, you will know where to go and where not to go. For people who are looking for best bargains on shopping, the power of the apps like Pricecheck allows them to know where to go get the best bargains.  Even for Nigerians who are very spiritual, there are so many apps that can get their Bible and Quran downloaded on their phones. Some even have voice enablement, which means you click on it and it automatically reads for you. We now have Igbo, Yoruba and Urhobo audio Bible as an app, which means the oldest grandmother in the village can connect with her spiritual essence, even when she cannot read or write. The APPtitude revolution expands the opportunity beyond the current illiteracy level.

If you look at those in the educational sphere, there are many homework apps and even ones covering current affairs or continuous self-improvement. In Nigeria today, ccHub promoted Efiko, a Nigerian-made app that allows students in primary and secondary schools to perform studies based on the Nigerian curriculum on their basic feature phones, I mean phones that sell for N3,000 and less. We understand the overall macroeconomic implications and the well-being dimension of the Internet as a driver of total economic value. This is why MTN remains fully committed to the socio-economic development of Nigeria, as we see the spiral effect of this initiative on our customers and the larger world, even as we change the game in the way people access the Internet.

MTN has set itself as an essential enabler of the modern and progressive rhythm of life. We believe that if we are able to provide the right solutions and the right services at every critical milestone in the lives of our customers, we are giving them the power to enjoy their rhythm of life. Whether it is shopping, banking, security, whatever makes your life go round as a business, MTN will be there for you and make it better. I would like to use an example of an app that a lot of people do not know about called TruCaller. Nigerians are concerned and worried when an unknown number calls them, but today there is an app that allows you to know the identity of your caller if that person has a registered name on the global platform of TruCaller. All you need to do is download it. This is just an example of the many apps that provide simple and useful solutions in our lives. For us at MTN, being an essential enabler is giving access, democratizing access and getting more people to know about and understand what apps can do for them on a daily basis.

At MTN, our ecosystem is not just people who have direct relationship with our business; our ecosystem includes all the service providers that provide services to our customers every day. As such, if our customer has an account with a bank, we see that bank as part of our ecosystem because our channel will be used by our customer to access the services of the bank. We consider it to be our responsibility to enable daily engagements that enrich the way our customers work, live and play. Following on from this example, many banks currently have apps, but sadly many Nigerian customers don’t have these apps on their phones. As an enabler who understands the dynamics of the ecosystem, our role is to ensure that our customers can get those apps downloaded from their respective banks so that their banking transaction can be made easier, and they do not need to queue up to use banking services.

We are therefore taking the bull by the horns and we will provide the free gateway for this download in the month of APPtitude. The whole theory of the ecosystem for us is an ever evolving understanding of every single entity that captures the life of a customer. We ask ourselves about a day in the life of a customer – what are the major touch points and how can we, at MTN, partner with every single entity that touches our customers’ lives and make sure that we enrich those moments and make it as memorable as possible for them. That is our concept of an ecosystem partnership in the way we enhance customers’ everyday rhythm of life.

When we launched the BetterMe campaign early in the year, we actually advanced a cause; we promoted a new meaning. We were asking Nigerians to push on, press on and do what they have never done before. We urged Nigerians to be better at what they do. As much as it was philosophical, we also provided the enabling tools that are required to make people better. We felt that the most powerful and the closest BetterMe driver for every individual, irrespective of social class, is the Internet. If we can simplify access to the Internet, we can drive that conceptual philosophical campaign around BetterMe. We then felt that the way to start this app attitude was to launch an app that aggregates content for Nigerians as a starter.

As such, we launched the My 2015 BetterMe app, the first of its kind which curates everyday relevant content on a single platform. However, like I said earlier, there is a long term strategy. After we have exposed people to a single app, the next thing is to expose people to the fact that there are more apps out there that touch every moment of their lives; from banking to shopping, to traffic to buying food in the office, to getting the best deals and even booking holidays. The game changer for us is how we can best organise all of these life-enriching apps, so that everyone can enjoy the essence of BetterMe.

Moving that idea forward is also the reason for the partnership with the app development community so that as we create these apps, we get them into the hands of as many Nigerians as possible. For anyone who partners with us, the understanding is very simple. Today, with over 60 million subscribers on our network, any app on our platform can potentially reach 60 million people, which I believe is the intention of every app creator.  The whole journey around BetterMe is primarily simplifying access to the Internet, motivating people to see reasons why they need to use the Internet, educating people on the basis and the fundamentals of the Internet and, most importantly, providing free access through stimulating initiatives as we have done with this APPtitude month, where customers can have unlimited access to every app that matters to them and with no data fees charged.

More than half of Nigerians today have access to the Internet, but for most of them it is one-off access because of the challenge of repeat usage where you are required to remember those long and complicated web addresses. I need to ask you when last you visited your alumni website or your professional group web pages.  The fact is most website traffic are one-off visits.  The challenge we see made us to think around how best to make the whole experience seamless and simpler. We understand that there are many businesses in this situation, where your customers find it so difficult to remember your web address. That is why we feel that rather than bothering customers with so many URLs to remember, people can just have your company app on their phone, which they can just click on to get direct access to your website.

You know that apps also have a way of beeping when a new content is uploaded, so such repeat visit is guaranteed. We have recognised that there are many organizations and businesses that we can assist and support to convert their websites to easier, simpler and accessible apps. We are interested in organizations, non-governmental organisation and alumni associations among many others. We are also looking for religious groups, residential associations, professional groups who have websites but need to simplify access for people. Based on that drive, we are committed to this task of simplifying access and we have put in place all that is required to make it happen.

The other thing we have done is that as soon as these apps are ready, we ask those partners to bring the phone numbers of all the people that are members, irrespective of network, and we will send the application download link specifically to their phones to access the download gateway for free. You can imagine the overall transforming snowball effect this has on the larger business landscape.

We have seen countries that have been transformed by the power of the Internet. With APPtitude, we would see a nation raising her game and competing with other businesses anywhere in the world. It has been proven that the Internet has a proportionate impact on the total wellbeing of the people and a direct impact on economic value creation of any country. To put these in context, I shall reference a study by McKinsey on Internet Leadership Supply Index of G8 and 5 key countries and concluded that if Internet consumption and expenditure were a sector; its weight in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be bigger than energy, agriculture, or several other critical industries.

MTN, as a company, is able to give people access to learn on the go, shop on the go, order their food on the go, follow up with their family on the go, chat, do everything they want to do on the go. This mean a direct reduction in the cost of living and people can make more savings to do other interesting things. We see business taking a leap in terms of ability to compete and do more business whilst also satisfying their customers’ needs resulting in an incremental spend. For banks, the costs of serving customers would reduce, if most of their customers have apps – so if I need to confirm a transaction like clearing a cheque, I just need to click on my app and I can do it there and then.

Here’s another example that fits this bill. I want to watch a movie, I can read the review of the movie, I can share my moments with my family, I can know what is going on around me, I can do so much on the go, which of course has a direct impact on shared value creation.

There is no limit to the number of apps you can download. When we started this campaign, we were playing with the word – attitude. We think that everyone has got an attitude which speaks to their interest, tendencies and things that matter most to you. Your attitude could be that you are a good mother who cooks well and we are saying that for every attitude that you have, be it reading, shopping or a spiritual attitude, there is an app which enables that attitude and gives it a continuum in terms of sustenance and allows you to be committed to it. That is why we changed the ‘ATT’ in ATTITUDE to APP to name this movement as APPtitude.

Whatever your attitude is, even if it is unlimited, there is an app for it. Whether you love Nigerian movies, or you are a lover of football, or want to read news on the go, there are many apps for that. We are telling Nigerians, whatever their attitude is, there is an app for it even as they turn their attitude to APPtitude in an unlimited manner. They only need to send APP to 131 and they receive a response SMS with a link to a special gateway where we have organised many apps around popular themes like Sport, Education, Entertainment, Business, Religion etc.

We realize that a lot of Nigerians do not understand the way the Internet is being currently packaged for sale. Right now, we tell Nigerians to buy 10MB or 20MB or even in GB and the fundamental question is, what is in it for me? What do I use it for? Using the APPtitude as an anchor, we are focusing around what people want to use the Internet for and give them unlimited access to it. They also pay a basic fee and know that they have unlimited access to the particular app of their choice. What you are going to see going forward is that with all the relevant apps, as you buy them, you can have unlimited access to that particular app for a period of one day, seven days or even one month. All you just need is to pay a basic fee and then you have unlimited access. Nigerians should be ready for what we call the app-based bundles that we have launched, and many of them would come out in the market. I am sure you are aware of our social networking app bundle already called GoodyBags. This will now be extended to others.

For example, a lot of Nigerians follow Channels TV News. I am happy to announce that there is now a Channels News bundle on MTN which allows you to have unlimited access to the Channels News app when you pay a very small fee. Another example is the MTN Project Fame. There is a lot of content around Project Fame that is never shown on TV. So, we have the Project Fame bundle that provides unlimited access to the Project Fame app and you can view all the exclusive content after paying a basic fee. You don’t need to bother yourself about how many megabytes or kilobytes you have used because you have unlimited access. The whole essence of APPtitude also helps us to simplify the basis for charging for Internet content to make it easier for people.

We are very hopeful that APPtitude would help us to get people who have never used SMS before to enjoy the power of the Internet. This is because we have seen people who can’t compose an SMS but can recognize an icon on the mobile phone. The Afrinolly app for example provides empirical validation to this claim. Afrinolly is an app that curates movies in Nigeria and across the continent and provide trailers and reviews. What we have learnt is that, people of about 70 years and above can click on the app, as they can recognise the faces of their favourite actors and actresses. They don’t need to go to school to recognize that this is actor A or B. Also, nobody needs to teach them how to click, so as they click, it takes them to that page and they can watch the movie. We have seen it work and that is why we believe that anyone, irrespective of the age, gender or literacy level can have access to the Internet. Now that literacy is no longer a barrier to entry, you can imagine the impact that APPtitude is going to make in the transformation of our nation and drive for advancement as we become a leading country in the world.

The success of app creation for the local app creator in Nigeria is not the fact that he or she has created the greatest app, but that the app is available in as many phones as possible. It’s all about the repeat purchase, the affinity you are able to build and the volume of visibility that you are able to generate as an app developer that ultimately translates to your bottom line. The APPtitude movement is thus the first bold step to support local app developers with the potential of getting their apps into the phones of every Nigerian without any barriers getting in the way.

This is why we believe that visibility is the most critical way to help this wonderful clan of app creators. We have thus created an upload gateway at www.mtnonline.com/apptitude for them to post their apps into our download interface. Now there is no excuse. This is the month to get your apps across to as many people as possible using the opportunity that we have created. On the sidelines, we are also partnering with the app creators, guiding them in terms of how best to optimize their apps; how best to configure them to work optimally on the different types of phones that Nigerians have. We understand that there are some apps that work better on smartphones, there are some that work best on feature phones (the java-based ones), we understand those dynamics and we are making this information available to the community of app creators so that when they are creating their content, they are creating contents that are true to the reality of the market and applicable to the context of the users. Our engagement with the app community is continuous.

We are continuously sharing best practices and learning with them as a company that is committed to the development of that part of our ecosystem so that if we are able to build competence and capacity; we know that it has a direct impact on the quality of apps they bring to our network and the kind of experience that the customer will have as they enjoy using those apps.

The APPtitude campaign is meant to serve the purpose of education, enlightenment and empowerment. In as much as we are using mass media to educate and enlighten people, especially people who are current users to know that there is a lot more they can download, we have now gone a step further to the level of empowerment which is “I can help you do it”.  As part of APPtitude week, we have some young Nigerians that are working with us, you will see them on the streets, and they will walk from house to house, markets and retail shops. All they are doing is telling Nigerians s how to download and what to download.  They will be asking you – “What is your attitude”.

For responses like – “I love to see what my children are doing on Facebook”, they will help you download Facebook, Instagram etc. To be very frank, a good mother in this world today should have a Facebook account; not necessarily because you want to be there but because you care enough to understand the context of the world your child is living in. For such parents, we will help them. Also, there are a lot of grandparents out there, who want to be part of their grandchildren’s exposure and therefore want to join WhatsApp, you’ll see us going to meet them and say to them – “Grandma, this is how to download WhatsApp and with WhatsApp you can be in touch with your grandchildren anywhere they are in the world”. Those people who go from door to door offering these consulting services on different apps are called the hAPPy crew.

We also plan to have them in some of our partners’ outlet. Some banks who are partnering with us to download some specific apps, we are going to have them in the banking halls in the month of May. If you are in any of our retail stores or MTN Service Centres, you are going to see members of the hAPPy crew who will walk you through every step of the way. What you need to do, how to click, how to download, how to pick things here and there and give you that wonderful experience to enjoy the best of the world bundled via the world of applications.

This is our commitment to expand the frontier of Internet apps and give every Nigerian the opportunity to raise their game and be better in what they do as we drive to convert every ATTitude to APPtitude in the months ahead and my favourite quote for this campaign is “Attitude is good but it won’t get you the the highest altitude, you need APPtitude to receive gratitude, certitude and latitude, even in the midst of multitude”

Play it differently, raising our APPtitude is to be better at what we do, be a better father, a better parent, a better business person and we all cumulatively add up to and make a better Nigeria in the spirit of BetterMe.