Category Archives: Expenses

The underlying principle of flexibility

Posted on April 28, 2012 by

The Economist writes about the proliferation of mobile money across the African continent, high lighting some aspects of its rapid adoption by the local population – 96% of whom are on prepaid or pay as you go mobile subscriptions.  A … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Expenses, Income, Informal & Flexible, Strategy, User research, Value | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Price cuts in the prepaid economy

Posted on April 4, 2012 by

Sunil Bharti Mittal recently referred to a pattern of consumer behaviour that came as a surprise to Airtel Africa, leading to a rethink of their near future pricing strategy for this market. The Indian telecom company told participants at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Airtime, Assumption filter, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Expenses, Income, Kenya, Mobile platform, Urban, User research

Ever smaller and smaller: how household budgets deal with rising prices and inflation

Posted on December 9, 2011 by

It is only an eighth of a kilogramme packet of sugar, yet many Kenyans can barely afford it. This particular size of sugar has many references among residents of Nyanza Province, such as kobole, Kadogo and Sukari ndogo. In Kisian … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Bottom of the Pyramid, Buyer Behaviour, Economy, Expenses, Income, Kenya, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value

Prepaid pricing plans and the financially savvy BoP buyer: A discussion

Posted on January 5, 2010 by

Rural grocery shop, South Africa January 2008 While putting together my post on demanding BoP customers today, I came across this snippet from an article titled "Getting to know the sophisticated prepaid user" from The Philippines (one of the field … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Airtime, ASEAN, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Expenses, Income, India, Mobile platform, Philipines, Rural, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Urban, User research

Coping Strategies as Food Prices Soar

Posted on December 17, 2009 by

Surging food prices are being widely reported in India this month. I’ve been asking female informants and neighbours at Dharavi how they are managing the pressure on household expenses. Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Expenses, India | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Synthesis of the Prepaid Economy Project

Posted on November 27, 2009 by

The impetus for the Prepaid Economy project came from field observations during other projects which focused on the design and development of products and services for those at the BoP. It was noted that the majority of the BoP lived … Continue reading →

Posted in Airtime, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Design, Economy, Expenses, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Mobile platform, Philipines, Project report, Rural, Savings, Strategy, User research, Value

Seasonality and its influence on rural BoP household financial management

Posted on July 26, 2009 by

Fallow field, Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan India  January 2009 I first noticed the influence of seasonality on income halfway during the Indian fieldwork. On one hand, its but natural that the seasons are linked to a farmer's cash flow, dependent as … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Economy, Expenses, Income, India, Loans, Philipines, Rural, Savings, South Asia, Strategy, User research

Observations: Rural BoP and the cash economy

Posted on July 22, 2009 by

Investment or Independence?          Photo Credit: Goverdhan Meena Across the board, the particular characteristic that most stood out during my conversations with the rural populace in India and The Philippines, as well as prior experiences elsewhere, was their … Continue reading →

Posted in Assumption filter, Bottom of the Pyramid, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Economy, Expenses, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Migrant worker, Philipines, Project report, Rural, Savings, South Africa, South Asia, User research, Value

Some observed behaviour patterns in rural BoP households

Posted on May 14, 2009 by

Collage by Dave Tait Across the regions, we saw patterns of financial behaviour (download PDF) that echoed similarities of intent and goals. For example, at peak times such as the post harvest season, wealth was often stored in the form … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, ASEAN, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Cashless transactions, Culture, Economy, Expenses, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Philipines, Rural, Savings, Sub Saharan Africa, User research

Quick summary of workshop findings

Posted on April 23, 2009 by

Our workshop officially ended today although there's still a lot of 'mopping up' to be done not to mention the final documentation. We had the opportunity to analyze groups of users observed and interviewed by me in rural Rajasthan (India) … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, ASEAN, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Economy, Expenses, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Loans, Philipines, Rural, Savings, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value | 4 Comments