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Thank you,
RubyConfTH 2023
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Bernard Banta
@Bantab
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Finplus Group
CTO and Co-Founder
I work at
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ARC
Chairman and Co-founder
rubycommunity.africa
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Nairobi,
Kenya
I’m from
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Breaking Barriers
Empowering the Unbanked with Innovative Tech
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Globally, some 1.4 billion adults remain unbanked. These
people are hardest to reach – and more commonly
women, poorer, less educated, and living in rural areas.
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Understanding the Challenges
● Limited access to banking infrastructure
● Low income
● Digital illiteracy
● High transaction costs
● Geographical barriers
● Limited connectivity
● Informal work
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What phones do they use;
● Most of them use feature phones
● Minority of them use low-end smartphones
with minimal internet access
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What can you do with a
feature phone?
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USSD
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Rails backend
server
Telecommunication
company
Feature phone
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How do you develop a
USSD app
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For a simple app you
can use conditional
statements
Thank you for dialing
our short code. Please
select an option below.
1. Get more information
2. Support contacts
3. Request demo
4. Sales contacts
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case user_input
when '1'
# Send an SMS about more information
when '2'
# Send an SMS about support contacts
when '3'
# Log demo request
when '4'
# Send an SMS about sales contacts
else
# Display invalid input
end
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How about a complex
app?
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We came up with a
Component-Based solution
approach
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We create a USSD tree
file in JSON format
compatible with the
AppNode model
structure we saw
previously.
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We generate a tree on
the DB based on the
JSON file.
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Class BaseNodeProcesor
Controller
Class RequestReceiver
Class NodeProcessor
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class NodeProcessor1 < BaseProcessor
def process_request
# Implement your logic here
end
end
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What more can you do with
USSD?
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- Web browser and
- Mobile app USSD apps
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Let’s
Zoom out
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I’d like us to think about
a few questions.
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Do we easily get swayed
by new tech tools
without fully exploring
the full potential of
existing ones?
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What other problems
can USSD solve?
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Are there other real
problems affecting millions
of people or even billions
that can be solved by simple
innovative tech?
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Thank you