Tag Archives: informal trade

A Unique Path to Development Seen for the Informal Economy

By Niti Bhan | Published: January 30, 2018

Just recently I stumbled over this slim book < 60 pages that analyzed existing data sources in order to frame an answer to the research question they posed: How did the informal economy―markets and the private sector―develop in the absence of legal and administrative frameworks to support it? Some of the most intriguing insights extracted […]

Posted in Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Business Models, Cashless transactions, China, Economy, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, Frugality, global, Income, Informal & Flexible, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Produits de grande consommation (FMCG), Report Review, Research, rural, Rural Economy, Savings, Scarcity, Strategy, Systems, UCSD, Value | Also tagged asia, informal economy, private sector, public planning, transformation, transition, value | Leave a comment

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Literature on Informal Cross Border Trade in East Africa

By Niti Bhan | Published: July 21, 2017

Download the comprehensive literature review (PDF) on informal cross border trade, in the context of the informal economy of the East African Community, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. This paper was supported by TradeMark East Africa during the period November 2015 to January 2016. A short extract from the preamble is given […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Design, East African Community, Economy, Ecosystem, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Literature review, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Projects and Reports, Research, Rural Economy, Sub Saharan Africa, Tanzania, Uganda | Also tagged biashara economics, Borderland Biashara, eac, east african community, icbt, informal cross border trade, informal economy, literature review | Leave a comment

Japan’s Indian Strategy for the African Consumer Market

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 22, 2016

One of the most high-profile events Kenya has hosted since independence begins this week when heads of state from across Africa and the Prime Minister of Japan Mr Shinzo Abe jet in for the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD). It will be the first time that Ticad has been held outside Japan and […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Analysis, Business, Consumer Behaviour, Distribution, Emerging Markets, India, Informal & Flexible, Marketing, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Produits de grande consommation (FMCG), Retail in Africa, Risk, South Asia, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa | Also tagged African Consumer Market, B2C, biashara, china, east asia in africa, fmcg, india, informal retail, japan, south korea, strategy | Leave a comment

Le commerce direct des produits fabriqués en Chine est-il susceptible de perturber le marché des consommateurs africains?

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 15, 2016

This article has been translated into the French by Yacine Bio-Tchané La première plateforme d’e-commerce spécialisée dans la vente directe des produits fabriqués en Chine vient d’être lancée au Togo, un pays de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Coincé tout comme la République du Bénin entre deux grands pays davantage connus, le Nigeria et le Ghana,le Togo […]

Posted in Africa, Afrique francophone, Analysis, Attractivité, Business Models, Cashless transactions, CEMAC, China, Commerce en ligne (e-commerce), Compétitivité, Consommateurs, Emerging Markets, Marchés africains, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Produits de grande consommation (FMCG), Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Technologie, UEMOA | Also tagged biashara economics, china, china africa informal trade, e-commerce, Francophone Africa, icbt, trade | Leave a comment

Borderland Biashara: Mapping the Cross Border, National and Regional Trade in the East African Informal Economy

By Niti Bhan | Published: June 10, 2016

And, we’re back! With apologies for the long delay in posting on the blog, we’d been busy wrapping up our groundbreaking design research for development programming project for Trade Mark East Africa this past month or so. As you can imagine, the last few weeks of any project suck all the bandwidth out and leave […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Base of the Pyramid, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Design, Economy, Ecosystem, Frameworks, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Literature review, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Process, Projects and Reports, Research, Retail in Africa, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, User research | Also tagged biashara, biashara economics, border, Borderland Biashara, cross border trade, design ethnography, design research for development, East Africa, Emerging Futures Lab, final report, human centered design, icbt, informal cross border trade, kenya, literature review, Trade Mark East Africa, uganda, user research | Leave a comment

The hidden cost of doing business #informaleconomy

By Niti Bhan | Published: February 4, 2016

This looks like its a low cost business operation with low barriers to entry. All you need to do is find a decent tree under which to display your wares. The reality is that these entrepreneurs have numerous fees and costs that they must pay in order to do business, regardless of how informal it […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Business Models, Economy, Expenses, Kenya, Mama Biashara, Marketing, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Produits de grande consommation (FMCG), Research, Retail in Africa, Risk, rural, Sub Saharan Africa, User research | Also tagged cash, cost of doing business, income, informal economy, informal retail, payments | Leave a comment

Cross-border mobile financial services in Africa are going to be huge

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 22, 2015

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 […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Afrique francophone, Airtime, Alternative currency, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Commerce en ligne (e-commerce), Consommateurs, Consumer Behaviour, Economy, Flexibility, Marchés africains, Marketing, Migrant worker, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, Retail in Africa, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Technologie, Technology, UEMOA | Also tagged africa, cross border mobile financial services, cross border trade, informal economy, interoperability, mobile, mobile futures, mobile money, payments | Leave a comment

Africa’s world trade: Informal economies and globalization from below by Margaret C. Lee

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 7, 2015

The entire text of Professor Margeret C. Lee’s work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Licence. Clicking on the cover will take you directly to the PDF. Chapter 3 takes the reader through a journey to different countries of Africa, including Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Book Reviews, Business, China, Consumer Behaviour, Economy, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Ghana, global, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Marketing, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, Retail in Africa, South Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, User research | Also tagged book, china africa informal trade | Leave a comment

How I Use My Phone – Extracting consumer insights from purchasing patterns

By Niti Bhan | Published: June 23, 2015

The Mobile Experience Center of the Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria conducted a survey series – How I Use My Phone – where they looked at phone use among university students, white collar professionals, blue collar workers and market traders*. I’ve screen-capped the section on airtime purchase patterns from each infographic to analyze a little […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Airtime, Analysis, Assumption filter, Consumer Behaviour, Emerging Markets, Income, Innovation Planning, Mama Biashara, Marketing, Mobile platform, Nigeria, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, urban | Also tagged airtime, biashara, buyer behaviour, calling, frequency, mobile phones, prepaid economy, Purchasing patterns | Leave a comment

Introducing Mama Biashara

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 29, 2015

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) released a women’s report with some eye opening figures. Simply put, African women lead the world in being their own boss. Mama Biashara’s business activities may perhaps be more driven by livelihood need and few alternatives but she’s not sitting around looking for a handout either. Pillar of the informal […]

Posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Business, Economy, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Mama Biashara, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research | Also tagged biashara, informal markets, informal retail, market women, prepaid economy, women | Leave a comment