Category Archives: Strategy

Mapping global seasonality: national times of abundance and scarcity?

Posted on June 4, 2012 by

Connecting some dots made me think of this exercise. If national governments are increasingly looking at ways to bridge the informal economy with the formal, in order to provide more inclusive benefits to their citizens and at the same time … Continue reading →

Posted in ASEAN, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Culture, Philipines, User research, Banking, India, Informal & Flexible, Africa, Buyer Behaviour, Income, Rural, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Indigenous & Traditional, South Asia, Economy, Cashless transactions, Assumption filter, Migrant worker, South Africa, Kenya, global, Senegal, China | Leave a comment

Seasonality in incomes still underrated as influence on purchasing patterns

Posted on May 26, 2012 by

While the BBC has begun questioning the oft quoted “$1 a day” statistic used most often to demonstrate the bottom billion below the global poverty line, they barely touch upon the impact of seasonality on the population segment’s cash flow, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Culture, Value, User research, Informal & Flexible, Buyer Behaviour, Income, Strategy, Indigenous & Traditional, Economy, Assumption filter, global | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , ,

Informal payment plans offer flexibility and convenience

Posted on February 18, 2012 by

Rural electronics shops in the North Meru region of Kenya are full of colour television sets, home stereos and DVD players as increasing electrification of smaller and smaller market towns takes place. How do aspiring customers pay for these high … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Economy, Income, Informal & Flexible, Rural, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 , , , , , , , ,

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

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