Will Direct Access to China-made Goods Disrupt Trade in West Africa’s Consumer Market?
The first e-commerce platform for direct trade of China made products has just been launched in the West African country of Togo. Squeezed together with the Benin Republic between the larger, and better known countries of Nigeria and Ghana, Togo is a small francophone country of around 7 million people. Per the article: “We want […]
The Kenyan informal sector’s well-trodden paths of upward mobility
Studying the dynamics of the informal economy of a particular region in Western Kenya has been an eye opening exercise in questioning one’s own assumptions and frameworks. Other times, I noticed answers to questions I’d never even thought of asking (an outcome of holding implicit assumptions). One of these was career paths and ambitions. The […]
Africa’s rise might strangle the informal trading sector in the “middle income trap”
Ruth, who was briefly introduced in a photo caption is currently facing this middle income trap. She can’t gather enough together to scale and the banks want to skim 18% of the profits of the top, usury, thy name is inclusion. Mrs Felice is facing this dilemma as her container from China will now make […]
Emerging African women entrepreneurs #informaleconomy
At the other end of the high tech geeky startup spectrum increasingly providing a platform for African women is the informal retail and wholesale trade sector. Like their West African sisters, the women traders I met in the border market of Busia, Kenya (next door to Busia, Uganda) and its nearby environs (~ 5km radius), […]
Future scenarios for sub Saharan Africa’s opportunity and market
When you look at selected sub Saharan African markets from the perspective of being a micro-SME up here in Finland, you discover just attractive they can be. This is Team Finland’s futures based report on four most promising (defined by size, growth and ease of doing business) countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. Using […]
Cross-border mobile financial services in Africa are going to be huge
Analysis Mason has an excellent article on the next big thing in mobile money across the African continent – cross border payments. I covered the emergence of these services, through regional operators as well as partnerships based on interoperability earlier. This is what I asked for: Mapping it all I’d love it if someone could […]
Why I’m cautious about most mobile platform consumer research in Africa
StanChart’s price tracker rolled out in Nigeria is a great example of where and how mobile phones can really add value in understanding the African consumer market and add substantially to its scarce database. What concerns me however is the increasing promotion of the ubiquitous cellphone as the means to gather consumer insights for all […]
Book Review- Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden
After a gap of 6 years and many more journeys looking at Africa through the lens of design ethnography, I sat down to re-read Richard Dowden‘s Africa this past weekend. It moved me to want to write so many times during the read, it’s a wonder I made it through the book before starting this […]
New data shows “middle class” label misleading; skews market analysis
Anyone familiar with the literature and handwringing around the size of the African middle class that’s an ongoing sidebar to the emergence of the continent’s economies, will appreciate the FT’s analysis of recent research results. The global middle class is both smaller and poorer than previously thought, according to a new study, with hundreds of […]
@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 […]
