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. 

The passing of the Movable Property Act has the potential to significantly improve the acccess to conventional collateral for Kenya's 153 000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

African-focused private equity funds have benefitted from market beta to deliver attractive returns. With these passive forces dissipating, leading firms recognise that they need to change focus.

Our work in health, agriculture, infrastructure, financial systems, market systems and evaluation and learning has one purpose: to accelerate Africa's development process.    

Bank branches are far from being coffee shops, but some buzz of activity is definitely needed to create a positive customer experience.