Category Archives: Sub Saharan Africa

Infrastructures of inclusion and informality: who drives the design of sociotechnical systems?

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 25, 2021

A recent Debate (Development and Change, Vol 52, No. 4) on the infrastructures of inclusion, informality and the social contract expands the notion of infrastructure beyond the tangible and the technological, to the systemic and economic, as well as societal structures and processes that are intended to facilitate inclusion. As Kate Meagher says in her […]

Also posted in Design, Innovation Planning, Literature review, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Systems, Technology, Value | Tagged , , , | 1 Response

Time to update the 5D’s framework for inclusive business design after 12 years

By Niti Bhan | Published: June 10, 2021

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 […]

Also posted in African Consumer Market, Base of the Pyramid, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Frameworks, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Marketing, Perspective, Retail in Africa, Strategy, User research | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Contextualizing design of remote interventions for local food systems resilience strategies in literature

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 26, 2021

I began my academic explorations on this blog a couple of months ago with a post on the power of sensemaking to transform the context and frame of reference, and thus provide a means for empowering one to make decisions for a decidedly unknown near future, where increased uncertainty and volatility have become the norm. […]

Also posted in Design, East African Community, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Literature review, Mama Biashara, Perspective, Process, Strategy, waymarkers, Work in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Will Africans lead innovation in resilience tech for sustainable lifestyles on a shoestring?

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 14, 2021

A Tanzanian startup offering a smart hydroponics kit for urban farming in limited spaces that costs around $500. Reading about the system yesterday – invented by founders Praygod Japhet and Dickson Mallya – I was moved to create a hashtag #resiliencetech on Twitter. Something about the topic made me feel that I should be keeping […]

Also posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, East African Community, Emerging Futures, Emerging Markets, Innovation Planning, Mobile platform, Perspective, Systems, Tanzania, Technology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Strategy Tools for Value Creation by Including Informal Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 8, 2021

There is a lot to unpack in the title of this post and not all of it might happen here today. Consider this the amuse bouche of my current thinking and writing, with the unexpected side effect of releasing the first faint sounds of music that’s been long hidden in my keyboard. The phrasing of […]

Also posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Design, East African Community, Economy, global, Literature review, Perspective, Research, Strategy, Work in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sensemaking in extreme conditions for enhancing resilience: Literature Review

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 27, 2021

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 […]

Also posted in Africa, Analysis, Biashara Economics, Business, Flexibility, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Literature review, Perspective, Research, Retail in Africa, Risk, Systems, urban, Work in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobile telephony and low income customers: Market conditions drove product development and pricing

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 25, 2021

Many who were around and as obsessed by the entry of mobile telephony in the global South during the early years of this century will recall this eyecatching graphic used to illustrate the announcement by Cameroonian researchers Victor and Irene Mbarika that can now be pointed to as the moment Africa’s mobile revolution was born: […]

Also posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Airtime, Assumption filter, Biashara Economics, Economy, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Literature review, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Rural Economy, Strategy, Work in Progress | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Situating one’s rant within business model typology for rural and low income markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 24, 2021

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 […]

Also posted in Biashara Economics, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Frameworks, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Literature review, Marketing, Perspective, Retail in Africa, Rural Economy, Strategy, Work in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is a business inclusive if its doing business in rural Africa? Why modeling economic capacity matters

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 23, 2021

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 […]

Also posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Distribution, East African Community, Economy, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Income, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Marketing, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, rural, Rural Economy, Strategy, Systems, Technology, User research, Work in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Theoretical background for contextualizing User Agency in Participatory Processes

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 12, 2021

Scandinavian participatory design practices are not distinguished by particular methods but rather by political commitments to societal concerns and relationships with participating users and communities. Pelle Ehn writes:`In the interest of emancipation, we deliberately made the choice of siding with workers and their organisations, supporting the development of their resources for a change towards democracy […]

Also posted in Africa, Analysis, Assumption filter, Design, Design Methodology, Frameworks, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Literature review, Mobile platform, Perspective, Research, Systems, Technology, User research | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment


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