Tag Archives: Social Media

Connectivity, Communication, and Commerce: The 3 Cs of Africa’s Smartphone Led Future

By Niti Bhan | Published: February 25, 2018

Recent headlines touted the decline in marketshare being seen by smartphones on the African continent, and the concurrent increase in sales of basic devices. Yet a closer look shows that this shift might only be numerical due to the opening of new markets in heavily populated DR Congo and Ethiopia – first time buyers are […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Airtime, Analysis, Assumption filter, Business, Business Models, Commerce en ligne (e-commerce), Consumer Behaviour, Emerging Markets, Informal & Flexible, Marchés africains, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Technology | Also tagged africa, commerce, communication, connectivity, mobile | Leave a comment

Collapsing the sustainable agricultural value chain of commodities with a single tweet

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 29, 2015

Tony Addison of UNU-Wider, in Helsinki, just tweeted this photograph, expressing his pleasure at seeing Rwandan coffee at his favourite coffee shop, Roastery. I retweeted it and within minutes, Josh Kariuki proudly tweeted that his neighbourhood Gachatha coffee, from Nyeri county in Kenya, was being sold far away in Helsinki, Finland, by name. The next […]

Posted in Africa, global, Kenya, Mobile platform, Perspective, rural | Also tagged coffee, customer, farmer, finland, global village, kenya, sustainable agricultural value chain development, vcd | Leave a comment

Upward Mobility is Changing Base of the Pyramid Consumer Aspirations

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 5, 2015

I’d observed earlier that upward mobility wasn’t simply about increasing incomes, but also a change in mindset, world view and values. Aspirational consumer behaviour trickles downward faster, as strivers seek to emulate the status signals sent by those they perceive as “arrived”. The emerging middle class numbers may indeed be uncertain, as statisticians debate over […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Consumer Behaviour, Emerging Markets, global, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Technology | Also tagged Africa, aspirations, base of the pyramid, emerging middle class, internet, LPG, shift, smartphones, technology adoption curve, upward mobility | 1 Response

A tale of two Africas

By Niti Bhan | Published: July 14, 2013

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. By the middle of the year 2013, the continent of Africa finally put her foot down and said to the world that enough is enough, “We’re taking over the reins of our future and giving voice to our own story.” Ghana and Kenya […]

Posted in Africa, Assumption filter, Culture, Emerging Markets, Mobile platform, Perspective, Sub Saharan Africa, Technology | Also tagged africa rising, emerging markets, international development | Leave a comment

Mobile phones, social media and the Maasai: Time to refresh the image

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 9, 2012

At first, I did not know what these two young men were upto during an enforced halt on our way to Kisii at the end of February this year. The road had been blocked by the local community demonstrating about land rights just a few kilometres outside of Narok, in the heart of Maasailand and […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, rural, Sub Saharan Africa, Technology, User research | Also tagged maasai, masaai, masai, mobile phones, modern, not what you think, rural africa | Leave a comment

In conclusion: Lessons from The Village Telco project in Kenya

By Niti Bhan | Published: November 24, 2011

We’ve finally reached the point in our work for Village Telco where there’s been enough time for some reflection after the intense weeks of travel and observations across Kenya. I can cluster our learning into three broad areas: our approach, methodology and team work; Kenya’s people and the informal economy; and finally, the role of […]

Posted in Analysis, Business, Cyber cafe series, Design, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Kenya, Mobile platform, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Projects and Reports, Research, rural, Strategy, Technology, urban, User research | Also tagged Africa, assumptions, cyber cafe, data, design, design planning, email, facebook, human centered, informal economy, internet, internet cafe, kenya, lessons, mobile phones, patterns, sub sahara, user research, village telco | Leave a comment

Socially networked mystery shopfront

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 11, 2011

We spotted this closed shopfront just before entering Mtwapa – a midsize town about 10km from Mombasa, when returning from a day trip north to Kilifi today. There was no signage to tell us whether it was a cyber cafe or internet center of some sort. But we’re sure they are extremely networked socially.

Posted in Cyber cafe series, Emerging Markets, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Projects and Reports, rural, Technology, urban | Also tagged brands, global, kenya, logos, online, village telco | Leave a comment

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