Trade in East Africa – A very short introduction to a very long history
Who were the pioneers who opened up the trade routes that criss cross the seas and deep into the interior from the ancient ports of Zanzibar and Mombasa? We don’t know who these intrepid sailors must have been, making their profit from rich Roman’s wives seeking Indian silks and spices, but the African continent’s eastern […]
Design research as a method for discovering & understanding the world around us
Variously known as User Centered Design (UCD) or Human Centered Design (HCD), the fundamental philosophy underlying the designer’s approach to problem solving is that of discovery – “figuring out how to make something that will work in this context”. Innovation, invention and novelty rarely have pre-scripted processes due to the as yet unknown, and often, […]
Leapfrogging the cookstove
Take a closer look at those LPG (cooking gas) cylinders stacked around the pole, displayed for sale. The small ones on top have a rough and ready metal fitting attached to them which converts them into stoves. However, you’ll note in the delivery cart that these small cylinders are without the addition. This makes me […]
Cash in hand
I needed to convert some euros into Ivorien francs in Abidjan last month and my colleague suggested Treichville market as the go to place. On our way there, I’d imagined it would be one of those hole in the wall currency exchange kiosks one sees in global cities from Singapore to South Africa. There would […]
Les entreprises nigérianes à l’épreuve de l’évaluation des consommateurs
Les nigérians viennent de faire un pas important vers l’amélioration de l’expérience d’achat dans le pays. A mon avis, lorsqu’on taxe les gouvernements de mauvaise gouvernance, on devrait également taxer les entreprises opérant en Afrique de manque de considération (parfois totale) pour le client. Ca peut être dû à une combinaison de manque de compétition […]
@Prepaid Africa Connecting Dots – October 2015
October was a busy month for us – The African Development Bank hosted their first Innovation Weekend in Abidjan from the 9th to the 11th of October. Our contribution was thinking about the problems we face as the starting point for new venture design. Savvy young people from across Francophone West Africa gathered to conceptualize […]
Retail ranking metrics vs Readiness for formal retail #AfricanConsumerMarket
Continuing the thoughts expressed by Yacine in the previous post, I’d like to explore these rankings and their value. We’ll use the example of Tanzania, ranked 5th by AT Kearney in their 2015 African Retail Attractiveness Index (ARDI). The ARDI states: Tanzania is starting from a low base: With only 30 percent urbanization, high poverty […]
First world trends: Financial inclusion, the unbanked, and the prepaid business model
The Economist explains just how expensive banking can be for the lower income population, even in the United States. Financial inclusion for the unbanked and underbanked must include cost/benefit analysis based on the limitations of income streams of those whom they hope to serve. The cost of ownership is often overlooked in current day literature, […]
Tsunami of change – design, brands, marketing and the mobile phone
In the 10 short months since I wrote on the market forces influencing the global mobile phone market, and the implications of the democratization of innovation whose early, weak signals I could already foresee, matters have come to a head. I had written: The locus of innovation in handset design, product planning and market strategy […]
Uncertainty and The Prepaid Economy: Time and Money
Uncertainty characterizes the entire global Prepaid Economy and is the underlying driver for decision making. Systems are unreliable Inadequate infrastructure, variability in basic services (will we have electricity this morning?), obsolete or incomplete systems; all of these, and more, are part and parcel of life in the emerging regions of the world. Will we wake […]
