You might end up making more impact if you started a startup in your own country, and just earned-to-give your earnings to GiveWell / EA organizations. This is because I think there are very few startups that benefit the poorest of the poor, since the poorest people don’t even have access to basic needs.
Can’t you just provide people basic needs then though? Many of Wave’s clients have no smartphone and can’t read. Low-cost Android phones (e.g. Tecno Mobile) probably provided a lot of value to people who previously didn’t have smartphones. Providing people cell service is hard (if you’re not a telecom), but if an area has cell service but no internet you can still make useful information products with USSD, SMS, etc., or physical shops.
(I do think that many good startup ideas in the developing world involve providing relatively “basic” needs! But it seems to me like there’s decent opportunity there.)
Broadly agree, but:
Can’t you just provide people basic needs then though? Many of Wave’s clients have no smartphone and can’t read. Low-cost Android phones (e.g. Tecno Mobile) probably provided a lot of value to people who previously didn’t have smartphones. Providing people cell service is hard (if you’re not a telecom), but if an area has cell service but no internet you can still make useful information products with USSD, SMS, etc., or physical shops.
(I do think that many good startup ideas in the developing world involve providing relatively “basic” needs! But it seems to me like there’s decent opportunity there.)