Synthesis of the Prepaid Economy Project
The impetus for the Prepaid Economy project came from field observations during other projects which focused on the design and development of products and services for those at the BoP. It was noted that the majority of the BoP lived on irregular incomes derived from a variety of sources, while few business models or payment […]
Stories from Malawi: how to barter your phone for 4 goats
Photo credit: John Lumbe, Malawi, March 2009 John Lumbe reports on how the barter system works in his home region in Malawi: It has never been simple to determine the trade. It mostly goes with agreement of the parties entering the contract. Like the one I talked about in my blog post, happened in the […]
Inspired by pay as you go fresh water
Gines Patag, The Philippines, February 21st, 2009 Right after my recent post where I wondered if business models and payment plans for those who live on irregular and unpredictable incomes could be designed to be as adaptable and flexible as the informal economy, I came across this snippet today that gives much food for […]
Coming soon: more stories from Malawi
Our friend, John Lumbe, who blogs at Ambitious and has his own Flickrstream, will be helping the Prepaid Economy project remotely from Malawi. Studying at the Malawi College of Accountancy, John is working his way through school. Expect to hear from him over the next few months, in the meantime, here is a short story […]
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 […]
