Almost all development interventions into Africa are framed into acronyms. eMKambo will not give examples because there are far too many acronyms to mention and you know what we mean. Although they are designed to make programmes easy to remember, most acronyms turn development interventions into slogans. As if that is not enough, acronyms have Read more about If acronyms were a solution, poverty would be history in many African communities[…]

While a supermarket chain can have a customer care department responsible for answering queries and harvesting feedback from diverse customers, informal agricultural markets in major African cities have different ways of gathering customer experience. They use their collective knowledge to maintain customer service for diverse commodities. Each market can have more than 100 years’ worth Read more about How informal economies harness and institutionalize customer experience[…]

Capitalism may be accused of misleading many African countries into limiting the valuation of their resources to tangible assets such as buildings, minerals, land and wildlife. However, failure to account for intangible assets like local experiential knowledge, wisdom, trust, relationships and emotional richness cannot be blamed on capitalism or modernization. While they are ambitious to Read more about Formulae for valuating intangible assets long overdue in Africa[…]

In African countries where agriculture is a major socio-economic activity, policy makers and development agencies seem determined to move economic activities from agriculture to manufacturing. The whole discourse around value addition suggests a strong desire to get rid of informal marketing of agricultural commodities and convert all commodities into manufactured products which can be bought Read more about How the informal economy tackles the middle class trap[…]

Climate change and unstable agricultural markets in developing countries are forcing agricultural actors to rely on constant experimentation. Historical knowledge is no longer enough for decision-making as contexts are always shifting. The level of complexity is such that farmers, traders and financial institutions cannot fully depend on individual meticulous planning. There are so many copycats Read more about Using experimentation to balance short term agricultural gains with long term value creation[…]

Over the past few years, financial authorities and development organizations in Africa have become fond of ‘financial inclusion’ as a process of involving many people in banking services. Unfortunately, such a notion reduces everything to money when focus should be on understanding socio-economic dynamics. Progress is less about money but more about grasping socio-economic ecosystems. Read more about Why ‘financial inclusion’ may not be the correct terminology[…]