

Zidisha (YC W14) Flattens Financial Barriers In Developing Countries With SMS - jkurnia
https://www.twilio.com/blog/2014/08/zidisha-flattens-financial-barriers-in-developing-countries-with-twilio-sms-nt.html

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lalwanivikas
SMS is the quickest way I guess as emails are not read very frequently in that
region. Isn't there a way to reply(email) via SMS?

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jkurnia
We can receive SMS replies at the virtual Twilio number we use for automated
notifications. We have an amazing virtual team of volunteers and interns who
reply to those messages in various languages - we actually end up doing more
support for borrowers via SMS than email.

Most Zidisha borrowers own feature phones, but not computers. When lenders
post comments on their profiles, we send the comments as an SMS text to the
borrowers' phones. The borrowers can then opt to visit a cybercafe to post a
response.

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jkurnia
I'm Julia, founder of Zidisha. I'd be happy to respond to questions and
comments.

