Category Archives: Income

Senegalese research on innovation processes in their informal ICT sector

Posted on December 30, 2011 by

I came across some excellent research by Dr Almamy Konte and Mariama Ndong of Senegal. While I’m sure the original working paper in French must be far better than this drafted English translation, their key points are nonetheless something to … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Culture, Economy, Income, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Mobile platform, Senegal, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

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

The role of women in informal trade in Africa

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

Section extract from this ARIA chapter “Informal Trade in Africa”: Women play a prominent role in informal trade, and in informal business activities in particular. These few figures are proof enough: four to five million women in West Africa are … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Bottom of the Pyramid, Culture, Economy, Income, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Sub Saharan Africa

Reflecting on managing retail at the BoP

Posted on June 28, 2010 by

When I think about my time in the Filipino village last year, the most significant learnings from the field are the ones I never really wrote about or pondered deeply at that time. They were too specific to retail, I … Continue reading →

Posted in ASEAN, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Income, Informal & Flexible, Philipines, Rural, Strategy, User research

Core values: business models meant to serve the BoP

Posted on June 25, 2010 by

(Republished from old Perspective 2.0 blog March 10th 2009) The biggest shock for me in the Phillippines was learning that airtime minutes purchased on a prepaid plan came with an expiry date. The smaller the amount the faster the expiration. … Continue reading →

Posted in Airtime, Alternative currency, ASEAN, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Design, Income, Informal & Flexible, Loans, Mobile platform, Philipines, Rural, Savings, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, User research

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

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

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

The BoP are people too – a shift in storytelling

Posted on April 13, 2009 by

Reading the recent post on "Portfolios of the Poor: How the Poor Live on Less Than $2 a Day" by Rob Katz on nextbillion.net, it struck me that this might be an early signal of a shift away from simply … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, ASEAN, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Culture, Economy, Expenses, Income, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Rural, Savings, South Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, Urban, User research