Impact of mainstreaming and commodification of cyber cafe services
Around 2007, the urban cyber cafe industry began to display signs of maturing as the market saturated and the services specific to internet access underwent a process of commodification. As it came to be perceived as no different a business than setting up a corner kiosk or hot dog stand, there was a shift in […]
Pondering the sustainability of the cyber cafe industry and its future
Jomo, who runs a traditional cyber cafe in an office building near Mombasa’s busy port district, gave us a well framed and articulate argument on the challenge of running a sustainable business given the costs involved. His key point was that the internet providers, particularly the mobile operators now actively competing with conventional ISPs, were […]
Opportunity spaces vs ideas – business development for the BoP markets
Ideas or concepts are not the same as opportunity spaces or gaps in a particular market. Exploratory user research can identify opportunities for innovation, that is, either unmet needs or gaps in the existing ecosystem which could be filled by a product or service with the intent to create and provide value. On the other […]
Influence of global communications among the BoP audience
Recently, this call for action by Infodev was shared with me and I was pleased to notice that they’ve referenced one of my former projects – the Finnish BoP project funded by TEKES and conducted by Aalto University. Now that was a challenging one to wrestle down into some kind of viable action plan but that’s […]
Internet penetration by population in African countries: mapping opportunity
Since we’re currently working on a market entry exploration study for Village Telco in Kenya, I’ve been taking a deeper look at the spread and adoption of internet use. It struck me that the landscape is actually far more fragmented than it used to be – things have been changing so fast that gone are […]
Lies, damned lies and statistics: how mythinformation can go viral for mobile data
Mark Kaigwa‘s comment on my previous post exploring the future of cyber cafes in Kenya made me take a deeper look at the data around mobile phones, internet access and of course, extremely affordable Android based smartphones. Perhaps it was not just in the urban areas that cyber cafes were facing a challenge to their […]
Exploring the market forces acting on the cyber cafe industry in Kenya
This post continues on the challenges of estimating size and value of an untapped market in the developing world – in our current case, it is the cyber cafe industry in Kenya. A critical aspect of this exercise will include assessing the impact of a variety of market forces acting on the industry in the […]
The challenge of assessing the size of an emerging market opportunity
Untapped opportunities in the developing world bring with them their own challenges for businesses seeking to invest in them. An interesting one is that of assessing the market size and value, particularly for the lower income demographic that operates primarily in the informal economy (often called the BoP or bottom of the pyramid). This snippet […]
A vacuum of information: why is there still a lack of understanding?
It is a familiar problem. A well-meaning donor gives a shiny new piece of equipment to a poor country only for it to gather dust. Parts that are expensive and difficult to replace, the need for a constant electricity supply, a lack of trained operators, unsuitability to rough terrain are all factors preventing the use […]
Spotting an opportunity in Kinshasa’s informal markets
After writing yesterday’s post on the proliferation of superficial analysis being used to exemplify emerging consumer market opportunities in Sub Saharan Africa, I was pleased to find this Afribiz article demonstrating clearly how on the ground observations can help identify spaces for innovation and new business in the informal markets: At first glance, Kinshasa might […]
