Access to Internet is a big problem of the majority of people around the world. Nonetheless, Japanese technopreneur Yosuke Fukada went to the Philippines and, with a partner, established two years ago Yoyo Philippines in Cebu City.
Fukada, CEO and cofounder of Yoyo, admitted he was inspired by the work and vision of Grameen Bank Founder Muhammad Yunus. Fukada said he chose to address the Internet-access problem because the majority of people in Asia don’t have the means to pay for access to the Net and mobile technology.
“I believe we can change the lives of many people via mobile technology,” said Fukada in an interview with the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of the Geeks on a Beach forum held recently in Makati City.
Fukada decided to focus on mobile technology because Filipinos give premium to mobile phone over other devices.
However, Fukada noticed the majority of Filipinos find it a challenge to connect to the Internet. “I would like to solve the connectivity problem not only in the Philippines but also in Indonesia, Vietnam plus India,” Fukada said.
About 95 percent of the population in Asia and Africa using smartphones are on prepaid plans.
To solve the connectivity problem, Fukada and his team developed an advertising platform to enable a lot of people to have continuous access to the Internet. For instance, a smartphone user gets certain points when he or she plays “Clash of Clans.” Once a user has accumulated the necessary points set by Yoyo and the advertiser, the points will be converted to load.
Another application developed by Yoyo was Hoop Drive, which has generated lots of users. “It was an attractive gaming application that generated plenty of advertisements,” he said.
Right now, Yoyo is ranked No. 1 one in Google Plus with 700,000 users. McDonald’s, Intel, Unilever are the start-up’s major advertisers, while CNN Philippines provides the news content.
In the long haul, Fukada and Yoyo are eyeing 1.8 billion users who are often offline. “By giving them online access, everybody can now watch Vice Ganda and Showtime by offering TV access,” Fukada said. He is all praises for his Filipino team for its talent and determination. “The talent here is very high, but there are few opportunities,” he said.
Fukada said the government and private sector must provide support to aspiring technopreneurs to harness their potentials.
He said activities like Geeks on a Beach can help start-ups build their business by linking them to the right people.