Perspective- Transformative Research and its Discontents: A design practitioner reflects
- Legacy breakdowns, blog theme changes, and pandering to the gods of search
- Buchanan’s Nightmare Or the Fragmented Landscape of Design Practice
- Core values guiding Nordic social design practice
- Designing an organization for delivering Nordic social design
Author Archives: Niti Bhan
Nigeria pursuing deeper understanding of informal sector; now estimated at 57% of rebased GDP
From the BusinessDay article dated June 25th 2014 Nigeria’s informal sector accounts for as much as an estimated 57.9 percent of the nation’s rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Daouda Toure, United Nations resident coordinator/representative of the United Nations Development Programme … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Economy, Informal & Flexible, Nigeria
Tagged informal sector, nigeria
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Percentage of prepaid connections – global map 2013 data
Click on the image for the larger version. This is the mapped version of the latest data available on GSMA’s development website*, where you can sort through by region and country. The last available global map didn’t really break it … Continue reading
Posted in Airtime, Business Models, global, Mobile platform
Tagged infographic
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Analysing shifts in consumer household purchasing patterns – Milk ATMs in Kenya
“We are selling one litre at Sh65, but a consumer can get as little as 77ml at a cost of Sh5. All one needs to do is key in the amount they require, and the product is dispensed,” Gitonga, who … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Economy, Expenses, Flexibility, Income, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Urban, User research
Tagged africa, emerging middle class, flexibility, floating class
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The mechanization of donkey water, a symbol of economic progress
There’s a snippet of interesting insight in this news article from Hargeisa City in Somaliland. Traditional donkey carts supplying water are being replaced by motorcycles and this has been framed as a sign of increasing development and economic activity by … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Economy, Indigenous & Traditional, Urban, User research
Tagged donkey water, informal business, informal sector, upgrades
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Prepaid services for water in Africa – survey
An increasing number of African water utilities are turning to pre-paid metering in order to curb wastage, claw back lost revenues and extend service coverage. Do the rewards justify the high roll-out costs? Chris Heymans, senior water and sanitation specialist … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Business Models, Urban
Tagged africa, chart, prepaid water, water
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A design challenge for agric service innovation in rural Africa
Find a way to embed principles of sustainable good agriculture for the smallscale farmer in a socio-economically beneficial way. How would we do this? Where do we begin? The answers to these questions and more will be forthcoming on this … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Design, Flexibility, Frameworks, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Mobile platform, Rural, Rural Economy, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value
Tagged agriculture, business models, design, design challenge, prepaid, prepaid economy, rural economy, vcd
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Part 4: The visual documentation of the original research on rural economic behaviour
I have uploaded a PDF synopsis of the fieldwork conducted during the original Prepaid Economy research including approach and methodology. Also documented are the different ways those in the rural economy manage their ‘investments’. These images support the observations documented … Continue reading
Posted in About, Africa, Airtime, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Economy, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Livestock, Philipines, Project report, Rural Economy, Sub Saharan Africa, User research
Tagged bop, exploratory user research, insights, livestock, observations, portfolio of investments, prepaid economy, rural economy
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Part 3: Synthesis and Insights from original research on rural economic behaviour
One can conclude from synthesizing the data collected across the geographies and the range of “BoP” income levels that rural households demonstrated similar patterns of behaviour in their management of household expenses on irregular income streams. These are: the rapid … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Livestock, Project report, Rural Economy, User research
Tagged bop, bop marketing, business models, buyer behaviour, consumer insights, livestock, payment plans, prepaid economy, purchasing patterns, rural economy, user research
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Part 2: The Observations made during original research on rural economic behaviour
One can roughly consider the relative income (or wealth) across three regions where observations were conducted on a continuum where the Indian village was the ‘wealthiest’ while the Malawians were living closest to the edge. However, on synthesizing the combined … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Culture, Economy, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Livestock, Project report, Rural Economy, User research
Tagged bop, exploratory user research, household financial management, india, livestock, malawi, patterns, philippines, prepaid economy, rural economy, seasonality
1 Comment
Part 1: Why are we publishing our original research on rural economic behaviour in 5 parts online?
A recent article in The Economist on the economic value of owning cattle in rural India made me to realize just how little is understood about the rural economy. Here’s a snippet: That is because most people find spending easier … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, Cattle, Culture, Economy, Expenses, Flexibility, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Livestock, Project report, Rural, Rural Economy, South Asia, Strategy, User research, Value
Tagged cattle, cow, india, livestock, rural, rural economy, wealth
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The Prepaid Economy Blog 