The ubiquitious rural computer
Bargaining for bananas in rural Rwandan market could not have been completed without the use of the mobile phone’s calculator function. While a combination of broken Swahili, Kinyarwanda and English was used by the customer and the shopkeeper, the transaction’s clarity was increased by piling goods on the table and then using the clear numerals […]
Branded travel
Vehicle to reach deep into the interior of rural Rwanda. Did tend to overheat on the steep sections of the mountainous country’s roads. This post was written by niti bhan and rss originates from www.nitibhan.com
Kigali International, built by China Star
Kigali, Rwanda – the airport still has the construction company’s banner visibly promoting their contribution to the International Airport. This post was written by niti bhan and rss originates from www.nitibhan.com
Bujumbura International Airport, Burundi
The beehive look of the airport building caught my attention in Bujumbura, Burundi, last week. This post was written by niti bhan and rss originates from www.nitibhan.com
For Norway, today.
Surrounded by enemies, go into your time.Within a bloody storm – devote yourself to fight.Maybe you ask in fear, uncovered, open:With what shall I fight?What is my weapon? Here is your shield against violence, here is your sword:the belief in our life, the worth of mankind.For all our future’s sake, seek it and cultivate it.Die […]
New Product Introductions in Informal Markets
“What’s new?” I asked Peter who runs this mari mari shop in a makeshift market just yards from Nairobi’s famous Kibera, and he proudly showed off the various features of this television set cum DVD player that can run on a small battery if need be. Yours for just $100. Don’t miss the bright pink […]
Marketing principles for the informal economies of the emerging world
This will be the working title of the book I plan to sit down and start writing the latest by January 2013. And I can’t start earlier than November this year because I need to see the results in the market start to come in first before I can pontificate on the topic, but naturally […]
At the Estonian Design Society in Tallinn
Tallinn, Estonia on 28th June 2012 Lots of user centered design talk, strawberries and wine. This post was written by niti bhan and rss originates from www.nitibhan.com
“Kadogo” kerosene vs “Lumpsum” LPG: Trade-offs and cost/benefit analysis
Following a fascinating conversation with @bankelele and @majiwater on Twitter regarding the cost of kerosene, pay as you go models and relative benefits of each, I’ve been inspired to write this post exploring the topic further. Before I proceed, I’d like to take a moment to clarify what the “Prepaid” in the title of this […]
Grassroots innovators and the “build-test-learn” loop
Afrigadgeteers exemplify the customer centric principles of such high tech processes as the Lean Startup (r) method, or so it emerged from an insightful conversation with my Tallinn based friend Siim Esko recently, on Skype of course. He made the connection between the need to experiment and test prototypes for market viability – rapidly and […]
