Observed market forces acting on the changing mobile landscape in East Africa
About two years ago I remember making an observation that I couldn’t seem to see any coherent patterns anymore the way I’d been able to by surfing the net for information. Flux I called it. Everything felt like it was in transition and nothing seemed to stay steady enough to grasp, much less describe. This […]
Analysis of mobile platform business models for lower income customers by Monitor Group
The Monitor Group has released a report analyzing business models across Sub Saharan Africa meant for the BoP (Base or Bottom of the Pyramid, that is the survival markets living on $2 or less a day shown above). For comparison, the percentage of population who fall under the category of emerging middle class market (defined […]
Navigating the African market opportunity
We have not been able to ignore the constant stream of media articles this year on the ‘rise of the African lions’ echoing the tigers and dragons of Asia just a few short years ago. The first reports mentioned GDP growth rates and economic potential followed rapidly by statistics on consumption, market opportunities and now, […]
The maturing of the African mobile phone market Feb 2008 to Nov 2010
This post has been percolating through my mind for the last couple of days, its time to attempt setting it out in words for a stab in the dark at some clarity. The trigger was the recent hue and cry over Nokia’s percieved downfall as the calculated global market share for the device manufacturer dropped […]
Design ecosystem for new and emerging market opportunities
I recently had cause to discuss the design ecosystem as a holistic approach to entering a new market or addressing the needs of a customer demographic that was unfamiliar or very different. I’d touched upon this earlier this year in a post I wrote summarizing my learnings from the field when considering the markets at […]
The Telco and the BoP (January 2009)
NextBillion.net’s Rob Katz recently posted an Indian news snippet based on research that led the writer to argue that telco’s should focus on their most profitable customers, those at the top of the pyramid. The BoP (Bottom of the Pyramid), as the numbers demonstrate, are simply not worth it. Following some commentary, Rob added his […]
