Category Archives: Savings
The Role of Livestock Data in Rural Africa: The Tanzanian Case Study
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
Financial Inclusion survey and the informal economy
Gallup conducted the survey on behalf of the World Bank and their comprehensive synopsis available online (with links to the full report) offers a few more charts in addition to the map above. These look at bank account ownership among … Continue reading
The multifunctionality of livestock in rural Kenya
This is an interesting research paper from Purdue’s Agricultural Economics department published in 2008. Titled Traits Affecting Household Livestock Marketing Decisions in Rural Kenya (pdf), it’s abstract informs us that: While many contemporary development programs with regard to Sub-Saharan Africa’s … Continue reading
Core values: business models meant to serve the BoP
(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
Women Together: Incentivising Savings
Mahila Milan means “women together” and provides a decentralised vehicle for the empowerment of women via leadership roles and advocacy alongside its pivotal daily savings collection. Continue reading
Savings Circles
Bishi schemes are a kind of Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA): informal and voluntary local savings clubs which has a long history in India and elsewhere in the developing world. Continue reading
Synthesis of the Prepaid Economy Project
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
Seasonality and its influence on rural BoP household financial management
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
Observations: Rural BoP and the cash economy
Investment or Independence? Photo Credit: Goverdhan Meena Across the board, the particular characteristic that most stood out during my conversations with the rural populace in India and The Philippines, as well as prior experiences elsewhere, was their … Continue reading
Some observed behaviour patterns in rural BoP households
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
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