A woman’s work: one widow’s story
Widow Lady in blue, Dastkar workshop, Ranthambhore, January 1st 2009 I was widowed at a young age. My in-laws were very poor and could not afford to support my three small children and myself but I refused to go back to my maternal home (in shame). I would somehow find a way to bring them […]
Migrating back to the village
Master craftsman, Dasktkar Ranthambhore, India January 1st 2009 I used to work in Jaipur but recently came back to my home village because its cheaper, my Rupee stretches further. Yes, I was very lucky to get this job in my profession, I am being paid less in Rupee amounts than I had been making in […]
Alternatives to that kilo of wheat
Khari Baoli, Old Delhi, India January 9th 2009 Since we can’t all take our sack of wheat along when going shopping, some alternatives must be found. It seems that there’s an observable rise in alternative currencies occurring across the developed world, where perhaps, unlike the villages of India or elsewhere, simple barter using food grains […]
Airtime airlines – literally paying as you go
From Wired comes news of this innovative business model and pricing strategy just announced by a new South African airline, here's a longish snippet describing how it will all work, if they manage to get things off the ground, so to speak: Taking a cue from the cellphone industry, an upstart South African airline is […]
Barter economy: rural farming community, India
Raawal Village, Rajasthan, India, January 4th 2009 This tiny shop (with a little more stuff inside) is one of a dozen or so little shops in this village of 3000 people, mostly farmers. Narsi Meena, the shopkeeper is the only one for whom this is his sole source of income. You see, my local guide […]
Subsistence farming: managing on two harvests a year
Photo credit: Goverdhan Meena, January 3rd 2009 We have two harvests a year. One near Deepawali (Oct/Nov) and one near Holi (March). This one is our expensive one, I've planted wheat, mustard and horsegram. Wheat take 5 parts of water compared to 2 parts for mustard and only one part for the lentils. The cost […]
Emergency loan when the wheat mill broke down
This is the source of one man's income. Its a flour mill, where wheat is ground into flour. In the village, there is no supermarket where one can go and pick up a 5lb sack of flour. One has to harvest one's wheat field first, then take the golden grains to the 'chakki' to be […]
Purchasing consumer durables : the story of one man’s mobile
This multilingual phone belongs to a young man working with an environmental NGO. It is his 5th phone in 5 years but two were simply week long flings. He was the first person in his village of 3000 people to buy a mobile phone 5 years ago – the Nokia 1100 for a grand sum […]
About Emerging Futures Lab and Team
Emerging Futures Lab Founded in November 2007, the Emerging Futures Lab (EFL) is a small multidisciplinary team that aims to increase the understanding the people at the base of the pyramid across the developing world in order to improve the success rate of new ventures, products and services intended to serve this market in a […]
Project 1: Payment strategies for irregular incomes at the BoP
What insights can we derive from observing and understanding how those at the BoP currently manage their household budgets to inspire new transaction models or pricing strategies for businesses wishing to serve the poor more effectively, yet profitably? The focus of our exploratory and user research in the field will be to understand the challenge […]
