Is Africa a multinational’s opportunity or one better served by SMEs?
It is not just about the risks in Africa, since in many cases African risk may be overpriced, which creates additional opportunities for investors who know what they are doing. It is more about the challenges of doing business in a continent in which more than 70% of the population lives on less than two […]
Observed market forces acting on the changing mobile landscape in East Africa
About two years ago I remember making an observation that I couldn’t seem to see any coherent patterns anymore the way I’d been able to by surfing the net for information. Flux I called it. Everything felt like it was in transition and nothing seemed to stay steady enough to grasp, much less describe. This […]
Breaking the silence
I have not blogged in my own personal space where I can ponder over things in writing in such a long time that I feared I’d lost my ability to write. These fingers have been unable to let the words flow as freely and as smoothly as they used to, in all those years of […]
Analysis of mobile platform business models for lower income customers by Monitor Group
The Monitor Group has released a report analyzing business models across Sub Saharan Africa meant for the BoP (Base or Bottom of the Pyramid, that is the survival markets living on $2 or less a day shown above). For comparison, the percentage of population who fall under the category of emerging middle class market (defined […]
Navigating the African market opportunity
We have not been able to ignore the constant stream of media articles this year on the ‘rise of the African lions’ echoing the tigers and dragons of Asia just a few short years ago. The first reports mentioned GDP growth rates and economic potential followed rapidly by statistics on consumption, market opportunities and now, […]
Kenya’s Kadogo Economy
Charcoal seller Margaret Nyambura, a widowed mother of four, used Sh100 we had given her to shop for food and household goods that would last her family three days. Her priority was cooking oil and maize flour, which cost her Sh20 and Sh10 respectively. Each was measured in portions to fit her money. She bought […]
May 2011 – In transition
Greetings, If you have come here from Dirk’s Digital Life page, welcome! My links to my article and about page still work but I’m in transition right now between Finland and my next location. You can see some of our work here and reach me via Semacraft. I will update as soon as things are […]
Looking Forward: Where Next Generation Innovation is Coming From.
As the mobile phone increasingly becomes the world’s primary source of information, thought leaders in design and development of online services and applications are looking at refining and changing design principles required for effective outcomes on this platform as compared to the World Wide Web. Their focus has primarily been the usage patterns and customer […]
The African Experience Matters for Next Generation Mobile Web
Ever since Steve Song put up this image of the undersea cables linking Africa to the rest of the world, I’ve been thinking about what it might mean. When a landlocked country like Botswana which was totally dependent on slow and expensive satellite links for accessing the net is able almost overnight to slash connectivity […]
Semacraft Announces Africa Innovation Tour June 2011
As Africa gets connected to the world wide web, there is an increasing hunger for relevant content and services in local languages. This has led to the rise of developer communities congregating in openly shared community spaces where new applications, software and technology can be nurtured and incubated. The mobile phone is the platform of […]
