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 global prepaid economy – map
Five years is not a very long time in which to change the world.
Today’s news has not been unexpected. Jobs announces his resignation as CEO of Apple. The subsequent discussion on the ramifications and impact of this news on Apple, its future and its products – given Mr Jobs reputation as a single minded visionary who understood the interplay of business strategy, industrial design and quality engineering – […]
The mobile, the media and the money: empowering Kenyans for Kenya
If I were to go by the majority of the mainstream global media articles on the subject of the drought in East Africa, I would think that only citizens in the USA and across Europe were contributing assistance for food aid. Yet my twitter feed is full of stories of how much Kenyans have raised […]
Is Africa a multinational’s opportunity or one better served by SMEs?
It is not just about the risks in Africa, since in many cases African risk may be overpriced, which creates additional opportunities for investors who know what they are doing. It is more about the challenges of doing business in a continent in which more than 70% of the population lives on less than two […]
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 […]
Kenya’s Kadogo Economy
Charcoal seller Margaret Nyambura, a widowed mother of four, used Sh100 we had given her to shop for food and household goods that would last her family three days. Her priority was cooking oil and maize flour, which cost her Sh20 and Sh10 respectively. Each was measured in portions to fit her money. She bought […]
Looking Forward: Where Next Generation Innovation is Coming From.
As the mobile phone increasingly becomes the world’s primary source of information, thought leaders in design and development of online services and applications are looking at refining and changing design principles required for effective outcomes on this platform as compared to the World Wide Web. Their focus has primarily been the usage patterns and customer […]
