Category Archives: Cyber cafe series

Impact of mainstreaming and commodification of cyber cafe services

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 4, 2013

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 […]

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The role of the cyber cafe: Assisted entry ramp onto the information superhighway to use a cliche

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 4, 2013

Monica’s cyber in the small town of Maai Mahiu, a market for a primarily rural area, is now the only such facility available. There was another cyber on the other side of the main highway, she said, but it closed within its first year of operation.  Internet access in this locale is available only through […]

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Estimating price in unexplored and untapped markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 4, 2013

In addition to estimating the size and value of the Kenyan cyber cafe industry for our client, Village Telco of Cape Town, South Africa, we were tasked with finding out what would people pay for their product, the Mesh Potato. This challenge was the equivalent of walking up to someone and asking: How much would […]

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Exploring the market forces acting on the cyber cafe industry in Kenya

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 2, 2013

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 […]

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In conclusion: Lessons from The Village Telco project in Kenya

By Niti Bhan | Published: November 24, 2011

We’ve finally reached the point in our work for Village Telco where there’s been enough time for some reflection after the intense weeks of travel and observations across Kenya.  I can cluster our learning into three broad areas: our approach, methodology and team work; Kenya’s people and the informal economy; and finally, the role of […]

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Estimating price in unexplored and untapped markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: November 6, 2011

In addition to estimating the size and value of the Kenyan cyber cafe industry for our client, Village Telco of Cape Town, South Africa, we were tasked with finding out what would people pay for their product, the Mesh Potato. This challenge was the equivalent of walking up to someone and asking: How much would […]

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At the inflection point of high growth to mature plateau

By Niti Bhan | Published: November 2, 2011

The only other cybers we’d seen this packed till now had been those in Nakuru – a veritable boom town for the industry- since in the past 5 years, the numbers had grown from 10 cybers to the current 77 not including the ones in the process of opening.  Focus Cyber in Wote, in an […]

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The role of the cyber cafe

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 31, 2011

Monica’s cyber in the small town of Maai Mahiu, a market for a primarily rural area, is now the only such facility available. There was another cyber on the other side of the main highway, she said, but it closed within its first year of operation.  Internet access in this locale is available only through […]

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Patterns of behaviour: trade offs made in time and money

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 30, 2011

This insight emerged from a conversation we had yesterday with Jane Mbithe, who manages EasySurf cyber  at the Yaya Centre. Reflecting on patterns of behaviour among her high net worth customers who often already possessed the latest laptops and broadband modems, she said it boiled down to the elements of time and money with respect […]

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Leveraging ignorance vs enabling knowledge

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 25, 2011

If someone were to purchase a mobile broadband modem but was unaware of data bundles, how quickly would 500 shillings worth of airtime disappear into cyberspace? I’ve been there – not knowing what ‘converting to data’ meant – and going through euros worth of airtime while surfing in Helsinki until the shop assistant gave me […]

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