Democratizing diagnostics by design
I began developing my approach for diagnostic study of unstructured problem spaces in complex adaptive human systems in earnest more than a decade ago. The roots of my interest in this work, however, go back more than 35 years to my final year of engineering back in Bangalore (Bengaluru). It strikes me, on reflection, […]
Applying the Systems Test to the Regional Informal Economic System
If the informal economic system, as seen in east Africa, is a system, and there are social practices at both the rural end of the interconnections and flows that comprise the functioning of the system, then taking a systems approach to food security would facilitate not only the increase in stocks i.e. the yield of […]
The 5D’s of BoP Marketing: Touchpoints for a holistic, human-centered strategy
Original version published January 2009 in Core77 – as you will note, it requires an overhaul of the details to make it more robust against the passage of time Progress in the social mobile field will come only when we think more about best practices in the thinking and design of mobile projects and applications, […]
Time to update the 5D’s framework for inclusive business design after 12 years
Two things have happened since I first published The 5D’s of BoP Marketing: Touchpoints for a holistic, human-centered strategy in Core77 back in January 2009. One, Core77 overhauled their site design and broke my article rather badly. Its layout and formatting makes it virtually incomprehensible. On the other hand, the 5Ds framework has apparently held […]
Sensemaking in extreme conditions for enhancing resilience: Literature Review
Here, I want to explore themes of resilience and sensemaking together in extreme conditions. For now, I have considered the systemic shock of the global pandemic as an increase in volatility, complexity, and uncertainty of operating conditions, from the perspective of the informal urban food system in Nairobi, Kenya. Therefore I have deliberately excluded literature […]
Situating one’s rant within business model typology for rural and low income markets
After yesterday’s post on stripping out social considerations to allow for a pragmatic economic assessment of viability prior to investing in infrastructure for service delivery to rural customers, I looked up literature on the general theme. Site selection as a keyword brought a slew of articles focusing on GIS technology, primarily from the lens of […]
Is a business inclusive if its doing business in rural Africa? Why modeling economic capacity matters
Whether a business thinks of itself as inclusive or not, it must consider the sustainability of revenue streams and their expected duration, prior to committing themselves to infrastructural investments in rural locations of the global South. Those that position themselves as inclusive businesses – regardless of size, must consider the value being created for their […]
Looking back at 2020 from Mama Mboga’s eyes: The Pandemic as Natural Disaster
I am moved today by my work to look back at this agonizingly long year of separations and losses and delays for peoples around the world. Uncertainty and complexity have both increased, and economic volatility has become the order of the day, regardless of the development status of the region or location. More people in […]
Closing the Circle: Can integration of the flows in the post consumption ecosystem of Global North & South aid resilient recovery for all?
It was in July 2009 that I first attempted to visualize the significantly large subsector of informal recycling that fed the informal industrial ecosystem with re-processed ‘raw’ materials for their manufacturing output. The first draft was based on what I’d seen and documented in The Philippines, and in India, during the fieldwork for the ‘prepaid […]
Half a year, 2020 : The Remote Resilience and Recovery Project
I have umpteen drafts saved, of posts I began writing since the last published one on 29th February this year, and never finished. 2020 has outdone itself in its impact on all of human society, across our entire planet. I have been active on Twitter, where my literature reviews, in service of the pivot I […]
