Role of Chamas in informal sector entrepreneurialism in Kenya
Researcher Mary Njeri Kinyanjui shares deep insights from Kenya on how social cooperation and collaboration play an important role in the informal entrepreneur’s business financing strategy. In East Africa, particularly in Kenya, the formation of chama—a Kiswahili word for social group—has helped to enhance group agency and solidarity entrepreneurialism. Individuals collectively and cooperatively form a […]
“Cheap is expensive.”
Mama said something very profound when I asked her which of those kerosene stoves she would purchase for herself, “Cheap is expensive,” she said, making a moue at the low cost imports jostling for space in her kitchengoods shop on the outskirts of Kibra. While the limitations of cash in hand may drive her customer’s […]
Marketing the Unbranded: Avocados on the side of the Road
These stickers caught my attention. The only one of a long line of makeshift wooden stalls by the side of a highway in Central Kenya to display what looked like branded avocados. Were they part of some cooperative or horticulture exporter’s leftovers? They turned out to belong to Maude, the ambitious and aspirational market woman […]
Dynamic vs Static Metrics: Attributes for an African Measure of Competitiveness
For analysts everywhere, the challenge of considering each economy in its own right seems to be far too much trouble, and so they tend towards sweeping generalizations which lump all metrics under one label – “Africa”. Some find even that far too exhausting and aggregate Africa along with Europe and the Middle East. These regional […]
Questioning Convention: Comparison Metrics for Competitive African Markets
Taking the question of appropriate and relevant metrics by which to assess competitiveness (rather, attractiveness) of the emerging African consumer markets further, I decided to dig up some analytical infographics to compare and contrast their approaches. Urbanization is a current favourite, and here are two similar looking visuals from two different perspectives. The first is […]
African E-Commerce: Successfully Leapfrogging The Metrics of Fail
Postal networks are critical elements of the e-commerce chain, a UN report said, including home postal delivery as an indicator in a new global index to measure countries’ readiness to carry out business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. ~ source By these metrics, countries on the African continent such as Nigeria rank 101st on the global index, far […]
Branding the Unbranded: The story of Cookswell Jikos, Kenya
These are jikos – metal stoves that use charcoal – displayed for sale in the jua kali market in the town of Nakuru, Kenya. Made from scrap metal, using the most rudimentary tools, under conditions of resource scarcity, they are one of the everyday products churned out by the informal manufacturing sector. These are […]
Beer as a symbol of aspirational consumption and upward mobility
I came across SABMiller’s recent presentation on their consumer market strategy and some of their infographics caught my attention. This one, for instance, not only shows the relative proportion of formal to informal alcoholic beverages prevalent in the market but also informs us that it costs 4 hours to buy a beer in Africa, compared […]
Smartphones and the internet across the developing and emerging world
The Pew Research Center has just released a report on my favourite topic – mobile phones in the emerging economies of the developing world – with some surprising results. And it demonstrates the so called leapfrogging of legacy infrastructure, in this case, the landline. These numbers demonstrate the emergence of globally connected consumers, regardless of […]
Why Indian FMCGs eagerly enter African Consumer Markets
This chart from that Neilson retail study on sales of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) shows how Kenya’s retail sector is significantly more formalized than India’s. Given their decades of experience with their vast, informal markets, is it any wonder that India’s consumer brands find the East African market an attractive proposition? Their visibility in […]
