Tag Archives: data

The Quiet Digital Revolution: Indigenous Innovation in Intelligent Information Systems

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 13, 2018

Big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are the buzzwords of the day, along with the obligatory blockchain and bitcoin. Much is being written on their potential to solve Africa’s problems, or India’s challenges. In turn, each has been promoted as the next big thing to address poverty and its discontents. Yet, we note, that […]

Posted in Assumption filter, Cattle, Design, Ecosystem, India, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Livestock, Perspective, Research, rural, Rural Economy, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Technology, User research | Also tagged big data, data intelligence, india, indigenous innovation, kenya, research, satellite, social development, systems, technology | Leave a comment

How do we make a business case for an innovative concept given the data scarcity for the African mass market?

By Niti Bhan | Published: March 12, 2018

Anzetse Were writes some thoughtful points on the challenges facing private sector innovation in Kenya, and Africa. Two of her points caught my attention, in particular: With regards to the private sector, an interesting point raised is that innovation targeting it must have a business case for adoption otherwise the innovation won’t be absorbed. Innovation […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Analysis, Business, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Innovation Planning, Marchés africains, Marketing, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Retail in Africa, Risk, Sub Saharan Africa | Also tagged African Consumer Market, consumer insights, innovation, market analysis, marketing strategy, pricing | Leave a comment

Key Competitive Advantage for Frontier and Emerging Markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: June 16, 2017

There’s a nuance, I’ve discovered, in the application of user centered design methods for entering the frontier and emerging markets of the developing world where a significant proportion of economic activity is confusingly labeled “informal”, rather than unformal as the case tends to be. In more advanced consumer market contexts, where there are umpteen data […]

Posted in Assumption filter, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Innovation Planning, Perspective, Strategy, User research | Also tagged assumptions, design, diversity, perspective, stereotypes | Leave a comment

Prepaid Mobile: The Business Model that Empowers

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 15, 2017

It feels like a long time since I last pondered the nuances of the prepaid business model, until I came across some words written by Indian social media researcher Swati Janu. She documented her observations on the infrastructure of insecurity from the tenements of New Delhi. There’s value in reflecting on how our understanding only […]

Posted in Airtime, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Economy, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, Income, India, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, User research, Value | Also tagged affordability, aspirations, biashara economics, cellphone, india, mobile, prepaid business model, price, smartphone | Leave a comment

Detailed breakdown of Uber’s business model in Kenya puts spotlight on weaknesses

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 25, 2016

Latiff Cherono has just published an indepth analysis of what exactly it takes for an Uber driver in Nairobi to cover the cost of doing business. Here’s a snippet, In this post, I try to understand the root cause of the disconnect between how the customer (who defines the value), Uber (the service that controls […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Analysis, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Design, East African Community, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Income, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Technology, Uganda, urban | Also tagged africa, analysis, biashara economics, business model, costs, East Africa, operating environment, uber | Leave a comment

Africa’s Middle Class: Development economics and marketing demographics conflating the holy grail

By Niti Bhan | Published: September 12, 2016

The most developed nation on the African continent, south of the Sahara desert, is considered to be South Africa with its financial and transportation infrastructure and systems, a legacy from history. In the first decade of the 21st century, the black middle class – known as Black Diamonds in marketer jargon – came into prominence […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Analysis, Assumption filter, Consumer Behaviour, Economy, Emerging Markets, FMCG, global, Income, Marketing, Perspective, Research, South Africa, South Asia, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa | Also tagged africa, African Consumer Market, african middle class, analysis, bourgeoisie, informal bourgeoisie, middle class, research, south africa, statistics | Leave a comment

Poverty is Dynamic and Flexible, Just like the Informal Economy: Evidence from India

By Niti Bhan | Published: September 8, 2016

…the concept of poverty today is fundamentally different from that of poverty three decades ago, and that safety nets need to be tailored to meet the needs of a society in transition.~ The Hindu, 2 Aug 2016 When quantitative data provided by the India Human Development Survey (the first large panel survey in India) provokes […]

Posted in Analysis, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Ecosystem, Frameworks, India, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, Rural Economy, User research | Also tagged biashara economics, Emerging Futures Lab, evidence, flexibility, informal economy, robust methodology, seasonality | Leave a comment

Is Uganda’s rural, informal economy helping people climb over the poverty line?

By Niti Bhan | Published: January 20, 2016

I stumbled across this dataset on the World Bank’s open data website yesterday, and couldn’t resist making a table to convey the message. Uganda’s poverty headcount halved in the decade between 2002 and 2012. Their statistics are rated well enough that this doesn’t seem to be too far off the mark. In the three years […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Assumption filter, Economy, Income, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, rural, Rural Economy, Sub Saharan Africa, Uganda | Also tagged agriculture, informal economy, poverty headcount, rural economy, uganda | Leave a comment

Dynamic vs Static Metrics: Attributes for an African Measure of Competitiveness

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 7, 2015

For analysts everywhere, the challenge of considering each economy in its own right seems to be far too much trouble, and so they tend towards sweeping generalizations which lump all metrics under one label – “Africa”. Some find even that far too exhausting and aggregate Africa along with Europe and the Middle East. These regional […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Business, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, Frameworks, Informal & Flexible, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa | Also tagged African Consumer Market, analysis, attributes, dynamic income, dynamism, informal sector, measurement, metrics, prepaid economy, research, static income | 1 Response

Questioning Convention: Comparison Metrics for Competitive African Markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 6, 2015

Taking the question of appropriate and relevant metrics by which to assess competitiveness (rather, attractiveness) of the emerging African consumer markets further, I decided to dig up some analytical infographics to compare and contrast their approaches. Urbanization is a current favourite, and here are two similar looking visuals from two different perspectives. The first is […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Analysis, Assumption filter, Emerging Markets, Frameworks, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, South Africa, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa | Also tagged Africa, comparison, competitiveness, conventional wisdom, metrics | 1 Response