Case Summary
Vodafone created an inclusive innovation in the hyper-competitive Indian market, by developing a secure way for its female customers to recharge their calling cards (prepaid connection), without revealing their phone numbers. Unscrupulous retailers had been selling women’s numbers to sexual predators for less than a dollar. Vodafone enabled women to recharge their real numbers by using a fake number, using the Vodafone Sakhi service.
Today Vodafone Sakhi has over 1.6 MM subscribers. Investing in empowering women, instead of simply showing support, helped Vodafone increase usage and ARPU among women subscribers.