Tag Archives: cashless

Insights on the psychology of cash money – Demonetization vs Financial Inclusion

By Niti Bhan | Published: November 17, 2016

The flurry of commentary on the Great Indian Demonetization of November 2016 has thrown up some nuggets of insight worth considering more deeply. Santosh Desai explores the psychology of cash money in the Times of India blog, linking the need for tangible evidence of income to physical labour, as opposed to those of us with […]

Posted in Alternative currency, Banking, Base of the Pyramid, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Mobile platform, Perspective, Risk, Savings, Sub Saharan Africa, Technology, User research | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Design of Digital Financial Services for Inclusion Needs More Respect and Humility to Succeed

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 18, 2016

In the past week alone, I’ve seen three glaring cases of unquestioned assumptions around the design and implementation of Digital Financial Service (DFS) particularly for financial inclusion, but also otherwise. This gives rise to the question whether the industry is prepared to undertake the mission they have set for themselves. The first is that their […]

Posted in Africa, Airtime, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Kenya, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Technology, User research | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rwanda launches cashless public transport payments – Will they succeed where Google failed in Kenya?

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 21, 2015

Public transport is going cashless in Kigali, Rwanda, with smart card payments and mobile money schemes being launched simultaneously with much fanfare. Can Kigali succeed where regional giant Kenya failed a couple of years ago? Nairobi’s attempt to impose cashless payment technologies in public transport (particularly the matatus, ubiquitous white mini buses that ply the […]

Posted in Africa, Airtime, Alternative currency, Analysis, Assumption filter, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Design, Ecosystem, Innovation Planning, Mobile platform, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Technology, urban | Also tagged , , , , , , | 3 Responses

‘Mpesa si pesa’ – mobile money’s collision with informal sector’s cash culture

By Michael Kimani | Published: April 27, 2015

Ever since mobile money (MM) came along, ‘cashless’ is all the rage in East Africa. Money experts have a sack-full of reasons why mobile money is good for the economy. The truth is, however, making a case for MM is easy – no doubt, but, one perspective that is often left out in almost all […]

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Ecosystem, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Mama Biashara, Mobile platform, Research, rural, Sub Saharan Africa, Technology | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RIP Google BebaPay – Requiem for a cashless payment system

By Niti Bhan | Published: February 26, 2015

Less than a year after going live, Google is closing down the BebaPay smart card which was introduced as an NFC based cashless payment mechanism for Nairobi’s public transport. Last year, I’d analyzed the context and the operating environment in which they’d launched their service, on hearing the news that they’d been struggling to gain […]

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, Analysis, ASEAN, Assumption filter, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Emerging Markets, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Mobile platform, Perspective, Philipines, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Process, Research, Strategy, Systems, Technology | Also tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The curious case of Google’s Beba Pay: a mobile payment app that users refuse to adopt

By Niti Bhan | Published: March 6, 2014

This week, news from Nairobi, that hotbed of mobile money innovation, opened up a Pandora’s box of reflections on payment plans, service design issues and the challenge of technology adoption in the mass markets of the African informal economy. None of these are ‘bad’ things in their own right, but taken together, they have resulted […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Alternative currency, Analysis, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Ecosystem, Informal & Flexible, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spain’s woes show behaviours reverting to patterns from pre-formal economies

By Niti Bhan | Published: September 1, 2012

This recent WSJ article on the emergence of coping mechanisms among the economically challenged in Spain caught my attention today for a couple of reasons. What struck me first was the fact that time (labour) was becoming a viable alternate to money (cash) and this made me come to this blog to look up the […]

Posted in Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Culture, Design, Economy, global, Informal & Flexible, Research, urban, User research, Value | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The underlying principle of flexibility

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 28, 2012

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 new survey of global financial habits by the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and Gallup […]

Posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Expenses, Income, Informal & Flexible, Research, Strategy, User research, Value | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some concerns about ‘pay as you go’ lighting solutions in rural markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: February 9, 2012

Having just got back yesterday after immersion in an arid part of rural Kenya, it struck me after coming across yet another solar lighting solution with a pay as you go or prepaid business model that this may become a barrier for many subsistence farmers, most of whom are off the grid and so, are […]

Posted in Africa, Airtime, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, India, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Mobile platform, Research, rural, Sub Saharan Africa, User research, Value | Also tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment