Tag Archives: women

How informal financial services can lower the barriers to formal financial inclusion

By Niti Bhan | Published: March 9, 2018

Around 2 and a half years ago, I was on a short visit to Abidjan, the capital of Cote D’Ivoire as a guest of the African Development Bank. They were holding an innovation weekend for young women and men in the Francophone West African region who were interested in becoming entrepreneurs. David O. Capo Chichi, […]

Posted in Africa, Afrique francophone, Analysis, Banking, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Flexibility, Income, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Mama Biashara, Marchés africains, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, Retail in Africa, Savings, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, UEMOA | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Zambia’s inclusive approach to various sectors in the informal economy is worth noting

By Niti Bhan | Published: February 8, 2018

The Zambian government most recently announced that they would provide certificates to illegal (artisanal) miners in order to recognize and formalize their activities. In addition, they were being encouraged to form cooperatives – a legally recognized organizational structure – that would permit further benefits to this informal sector. Compared to the challenges Ghana is facing […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Biashara Economics, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, Frameworks, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Mama Biashara, Marchés africains, Marketing, Migrant worker, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Retail in Africa, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, urban | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Women’s Entrepreneurship Driving Emerging Future in Africa

By Niti Bhan | Published: January 25, 2018

We’ve been silent of late on this blog due to work deadlines and end of the year paperwork, however this will change. I’ve promised to write one blog post every day – even if its a few lines – for the next 30 days. I realized it was habit and discipline that was missing, not […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Afrique francophone, Business, Compétitivité, Consommateurs, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Fashionomics, FMCG, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Mama Biashara, Marchés africains, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Retail in Africa, Sub Saharan Africa | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Emerging African women entrepreneurs #informaleconomy

By Niti Bhan | Published: February 6, 2016

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), […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Business, Cashless transactions, Economy, Ecosystem, Kenya, Mama Biashara, Marketing, Mobile platform, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, Retail in Africa | Also tagged , | Leave a comment

Economic ecosystems tie the fortunes of informal sector to health of formal business

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 16, 2015

The story of Ghana’s “pillow city”, Juapong – a small town in the North Tongu District in the Volta region, offers us insight on the inter-relationship between formal industries and the ecosystem of informal businesses that spring up around them. Juapong is said to be losing its identity as the pillow capital of Ghana. A […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Economy, Ecosystem, Ghana, Indigenous & Traditional, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems | Also tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uber’s problems with women’s safety in India – my 2 rupees worth

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 23, 2015

In its mindless rush for scale, Uber leapt into the Indian market with their “hassle-free” service of hailing a car with a push of a button on your smartphone. I call this mindless because “will it scale” is an unquestioned imperative for a startup, not something that is thought through. Nobody asks should it scale, […]

Posted in Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Business Models, Cashless transactions, China, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Design, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, global, India, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Marketing, Mobile platform, Nigeria, Perspective, South Asia, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Technology, urban, User research | Also tagged , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions by Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 21, 2013

Photo Credit: India Habitat Centre, New Delhi Just over a month ago, in Kinokuniya bookstore located in Singapore’s Orchard Road, I picked up the hardcover release of Amartya Sen’s latest book – An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions – coauthored with Jean Dreze. Today, I’ve reached the point in my daily few pages of […]

Posted in Book Reviews, India, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector | Also tagged , , , , , , | 1 Response

Vignettes from Singapore’s past: Independent Women

By Niti Bhan | Published: March 17, 2013

Look up more on Samsui women , pioneering globe trotting. independent employment for women. The Samsui women were a proud and independent lot. Prostitution, opium peddling and various vices were common with other women mired in poverty. However, Samsui women chose to be engaged in hard labour with little pay instead of being lured into […]

Posted in ASEAN, Base of the Pyramid, Culture, Frugality, Indigenous & Traditional, Migrant worker, Perspective, Photography, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Scarcity, urban | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The ingenuity economy: grassroots social enterprises abound

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 2, 2011

Since I’d recently completed my review of Robert Neuwirth’s book, Stealth of Nations – The rise of the global informal economy, it struck me that what best characterizes this economic activity is captured by him here: The French have a word that they often use to describe particularly effective and motivated people. They call them […]

Posted in Base of the Pyramid, Book Reviews, Business, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Innovation Planning, jua kali, Kenya, Marketing, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, rural, User research | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment


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