Category Archives: Philipines

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

Exploratory User Research in the Rural Economy

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Niti Bhan

When I first began developing the attributes by which to select representative user profiles for the original fieldwork to begin understanding the “prepaid economy”, that is, household financial management in rural India, The Philippines and Malawi, it was based on … Continue reading →

Posted in Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Design, Economy, Expenses, Flexibility, Frameworks, global, Income, India, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Philipines, Rural, User research | Tagged agriculture, cash, design ethnography, exploratory user research, farmers, gem, informal economy, pay as you go, prepaid economy, rural economy, user research | 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

Mapping global seasonality: national times of abundance and scarcity?

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Niti Bhan

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

Welcome to Bazaaristan: global informal economy being recognized

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Niti Bhan

Across the globe, 1.8 billion people — a quarter of the world’s population — work off the books each day. They are paid in cash for the goods they sell and the services they provide, and due to their ubiquity, … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, ASEAN, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Culture, Economy, global, India, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Literature review, Philipines, South Africa, South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, Urban, User research, Value | Tagged informal economy, robert neuwirth, stealth of nations | Comments Off

The global prepaid economy – map

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Niti Bhan

Posted in Airtime, ASEAN, Business Models, Economy, global, India, Kenya, Mobile platform, Philipines, South Africa, South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa | Comments Off

Worldwide informal economies – infographic

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Niti Bhan

Source

Posted in Africa, ASEAN, Bottom of the Pyramid, Economy, India, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Philipines, South Africa, South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa | Comments Off

Reflecting on managing retail at the BoP

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Niti Bhan

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 | Comments Off

Core values: business models meant to serve the BoP

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Niti Bhan

(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 | Comments Off

iBoP Asia 2008 Small Grant Projects – Part two

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Niti Bhan

Posted in ASEAN, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business Models, Culture, Design, Mobile platform, Philipines, Project report, Value | Comments Off