Category Archives: Indigenous & Traditional

The mechanization of donkey water, a symbol of economic progress

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Niti Bhan

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 | Comments Off

A design challenge for agric service innovation in rural Africa

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Niti Bhan

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 | Comments Off

Part 4: The visual documentation of the original research on rural economic behaviour

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Niti Bhan

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 | 1 Comment

Part 2: The Observations made during original research on rural economic behaviour

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Niti Bhan

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?

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Niti Bhan

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 | Comments Off

The Role of Livestock Data in Rural Africa: The Tanzanian Case Study

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Niti Bhan

The World Bank finally notices the humble goat, four of which will buy you a new Nokia featurephone in Malawi. Funded by Bill and Melinda, this report takes a closer look at the domesticated animal as a financial instrument and … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, Bottom of the Pyramid, Cashless transactions, Culture, Indigenous & Traditional, Livestock, Rural, Rural Economy, Savings, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value | Tagged agriculture, livestock, rural economy, subsistence farmer, tanzania | Comments Off

India recognizes the economic contribution of street vendors

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Niti Bhan

What Indian economic phenomenon is at once marginal, even illegal, and enormously independent and entrepreneurial? That would be the street vendor, the small capitalist of the poor, and reservoir of off-the-books penalties that grease the machine of every municipal authority … Continue reading →

Posted in Bottom of the Pyramid, Economy, Flexibility, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Migrant worker, South Asia, Urban, Value | Tagged bottom of the pyramid, india, policy, prepaid economy, street vendors, unorganized sector | Comments Off

Reflecting on this blog’s genesis after 5 years

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Niti Bhan

I started this blog in late December 2008, in earnest and every day during the first prototype fieldwork for The Prepaid Economy project, one of the iBoP Asia Project’s first batch of Small Grant winners from the ASEAN region. For … Continue reading →

Posted in About, Africa, Airtime, ASEAN, Assumption filter, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Collection, Design, Economy, Flexibility, global, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Migrant worker, Mobile platform, Philipines, Project report, South Asia, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Urban, User research, Value | Tagged 5 years, africa, asean, asia, bop, five years, india, prepaid economy, project, rural, update | Comments Off

Promoting Africa’s Informal Sector

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Niti Bhan

Organising the informal sector and recognising its role as a profitable activity may contribute to economic development. This can also improve the capacity of informal workers to meet their basic needs by increasing their incomes and strengthening their legal status. … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Airtime, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Buyer Behaviour, Cashless transactions, China, Economy, Flexibility, global, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Migrant worker, Mobile platform, Rural, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value | Tagged prepaid economy | Comments Off

Snippets of note

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Niti Bhan

The fifth most important barrier to financial inclusion is individual level informality, a constraint cited by 15 percent of the unbanked population in Nigeria. Respondents who cite informality reasons for financial exclusion tend to be more educated and rurally based … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Airtime, Banking, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Economy, Flexibility, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Rural, Sub Saharan Africa, User research | Comments Off