Ict policies in Developing Countries: An Evaluation with the Extended Design‐Actuality Gaps Framework

Appendix B. Summary of Backgrounds and Narratives of Select Participants 
Participa
nt # 
Selection Criteria 
Background and Narratives Summary 
1 
Gender: Woman 
Domicile: Rural 
Education: Illiterate 
Income: Medium 
~50 years old 
entrepreneur
This participant has a small cloth sale business in several nearby towns close to her village. She 
travels as far away as 300 miles to buy cloth at whole sale prices and sells at profit to villagers 
who cannot travel. Her business has grown significantly since she got a cell phone. Her 
customers call her and tell what they want when she is traveling. Her personalized service for 
customers has increased her revenues. She said: “I continuously travel from one village to 
another and for buying wholesale cloth. My customers love the fact that they can place ‘special 
orders”.
2 
Gender: Man 
Domicile: Urban 
Education: High School 
Income: High 
~35 years old 
entrepreneur 
This participant owns a small mechanical parts manufacturing facility in a small urban area. The 
demand for his quality parts has grown steadily between 2003 and 2007. In late 2007, he 
imported a used machine to automate the manufacturing process. However, the machine had 
missing parts and was not in operational condition. He used internet to find a manual for this 
machine, made and fixed some parts and brought the machine in operational condition. The 
variation in production process has gone down (0.0001% rejection rate) and demand has 
increased significantly (800% in one year). He uses internet, email and cell phone to stay in touch 
with his clients in different countries. He said: “I have no idea what I will do without internet”. 
He said: “my business has expanded several folds since I started using a phone and email to keep 
in touch with my suppliers”. 
3