In South Africa it is common practice for shopping malls to charge for parking, but none have been enabled for near-field communications or NFC. For those of us who seek to live cashless the consequences are considerable.

Overcoming organisational cultures and moving towards shared meaning with Appreciative Inquiry: Kirsten Mulcahy of the Evaluation for Development practice shares experiences from two projects on the AEA365 blog.

There has been little demand for the innovative, easy to use  M-Akiba payments product in Kenya.  As economists who study savings behaviour, we at Genesis Analytics are not surprised.  

Consumers have associations with banking brands that don't always travel well in cross-border M&A activity. See the results of our Facebook survey of what a change to a bank’s identity would have on their customers' attitudes towards that bank.

Building new generation capacity is a significant investment. The timing and mix of the capacity are crucial, and carry implications for the economy. Within this context, long-term energy planning is critical. 

Diaspora bonds are in vogue, but why? Investment bankers crow that the Nigerian issue in July was “popular” and “oversubscribed by 130%”, but any issue can be oversubscribed if the pricing is attractive enough.

Banks are turning towards technology to help navigate increasingly volatile markets, but the evidence of success in this digital journey is still limited in Kenya.

A variety of products and services is intended to capture more of the consumer surplus, but there is the danger that a brand can become too stretched as the cost of servicing different segments can exceed their contribution. 

Small enterprises employ between 50 and 60% of South Africa’s work force and contribute around 34% of GDP, but they have been relatively stagnant over the past decade. Genesis worked with the World Bank and the IFC to produce "The Unseen Sector” report, an in-depth assessment of the micro, small and medium enterprise landscape in South Africa and opportunities to support the sector’s growth.

Impact investing is becoming one of the largest forces in driving social and environmental change globally. However, how one defines, measures and communicates this impact is not well defined or consistently implemented. Members of the Evaluation for Development practice examine three case studies in the African Evaluation Journal.

On behalf of the CEOs’ Initiative, Standard Bank asked Genesis Analytics to work with the largest companies in the Vaal Region and four public sector partners to prepare a joint Action Plan to bring business and government together to address the decline of the Vaal Region and prevent it from becoming the “rust belt” of South Africa. This trend mirrors the decline of manufacturing in South Africa over the past 10 years.

The Vaal Region Regeneration Action Plan is a possible partnership between business and government to turn around the deindustrialisation of the Vaal Region. The Vaal has traditionally been South Africa’s heavy industrial, manufacturing and engineering hub. However, owing to an array of reasons, which are explored in this information pack, the region has suffered from falling output and company closures.

In the next two decades, technology will redraw the manufacturing map of the world. As legacy factors such as geography and starting conditions become less important, other factors will be pivotal to manufacturing location. This establishes a clear agenda for countries aspiring to join the ranks of manufacturing exporters, writes Genesis Analytics founder Stephan Malherbe in a background paper for Oxford's Pathways for Prosperity Commission.

The SA Competition Amendment Bill was tabled before Parliament in July and was the subject of public hearings before the Portfolio Committee for Economic Development in late August.  On the basis of those hearings and further engagements with the Ministry, the Committee approved further amendments to the Bill on 16 October 2018. Download B version of the Bill, which will now be placed before the National Assembly for a vote before heading to the National Council of Provinces

The SA Competition Amendment Bill was tabled before Parliament in July and was the subject of public hearings before the Portfolio Committee for Economic Development in late August.  On the basis of those hearings and further engagements with the Ministry, the Committee approved further amendments to the Bill on 16 October 2018. Download the Committee report. 

Genesis was contracted by Airbnb to measure the economic impact of the online accommodation marketing platform on tourism in South Africa. Since its founding, 2 million guests have arrived at listings on Airbnb in South Africa, and 3.5 million across Africa as a whole, with roughly half of these arrivals occurring in just the past year.