Category Archives: Emerging Markets

How Money Works

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Admin

Imagine this scenario. An American tourist is visiting a small village in the South of France. He arrives at a hotel and wants to checkin. The hotelier, distrusting foreigners, asks him to leave a deposit of 20 euros while the … Continue reading →

Posted in Currencies, Economics, Emerging Markets | View Comments

Recruiting: Android Lead Developer

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Admin

Deadline: 10 May, 2011 About this position Radical Finance is a startup developing next generation Android mobile software applications to help microfinance banks manage their remote field staff. The two founders have extensive experience in mobile and microfinance and have secured … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Markets, Entrepreneurship, Microfinance, Recruiting | View Comments

Free mobile payment platform launches in South Africa

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Admin

Very interesting news today, Mahala is a free mobile payment platform that recently launched in South Africa. The services promises free mobile payments for the consumer for everything. The model is actually a freemium model: although it’s always free for … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Markets, Entrepreneurship, Mobile Banking | View Comments

Mobile money for MFI’s – a blind alley?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Admin

I’m starting to hear reports from Kenya that clients are preferring to repay pay in cash rather than using M-Pesa because they don’t want to pay the fees. The main problem is cost, as mobile money is regulated and maintaining … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Markets, Microfinance, Mobile Banking | View Comments

Android phones drop below $100

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Admin

Something exciting happened today, I got a skype message from one of my friends in Kenya – he had just bought himself an Android phone for $84. The Huawei Ideos to be precise, which has low end specs (as you … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Markets, Internet | View Comments

The difference between microfinance and retail banking

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Admin

When I first went to Africa to work in Microfinance I remember being told by a rather snooty donor lady from Washington that I had no place being there because microfinance was different to retail banking so my experience was … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Markets, Microfinance | View Comments

How the Internet differs in emerging markets

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Admin

I’ve just read Tim O’Rilley’s fascinating blog post on the future of the Internet Operating System, IOS and it got me thinking about how this will play out in emerging markets vs established markets. I’ve long believed that emerging markets … Continue reading →