by The Fikiria Desk | Mar 25, 2020 | Consumers
Somali consumers already live in one of the world’s most sophisticated payments markets. Mobile money moves value across the country faster than cash in many richer economies, and diaspora remittances reach households in minutes. What has been missing is the...
by The Fikiria Desk | Jan 1, 2020 | Consumers
Most people will never open an account at a financial centre, yet the promise attached to one is always, ultimately, about them: cheaper capital, better services, more choice reaching further down the market. As 2020 opens with the Kigali International Financial...
by The Fikiria Desk | Sep 9, 2019 | Consumers
For the Ethiopian household, an economy that grew quickly did not always show up at the counter. Prices for basic goods stayed high, service from state monopolies stayed uneven, and access depended on queues rather than choice. On 9 September 2019 the government...
by The Fikiria Desk | Aug 5, 2019 | Consumers
For a fertiliser, the customer is a farmer, and the farmer’s question is simple: does this input arrive, does it work, and can it be afforded. A mining announcement on the Red Sea coast is a long way from that farmer’s field, but every producing mine is...
by The Fikiria Desk | Jul 7, 2019 | Consumers
Trade agreements are written for firms, but they are ultimately paid for by customers. The launch of a continental market will be judged not by the elegance of its instruments but by whether a shopper in Nairobi, Kampala or Kigali eventually pays less, waits less and...