From the category archives:

Economy

Words, Images and Music

February 22, 2010

For a couple years now, I have been mulling over a project that combines photography and word, collected widely and presented in publishable form (kind of like this). This project has always taken a back seat to current realities, although a few people have heard the concept. At the core, it plays on the power [...]

1 comment Keep reading →

Launch Week: Saving Darfur

February 9, 2010

I’ve decided that this is Launch Week on Cashewman. Yesterday was Ethical Ocean, a new online store for ethically sourced goods. Check it out everyone! I sense this one has some nice moment already.
Today it’s Saving Darfur: Everyone’s Favorite African War, a book by journalist Rob Crilly. I’ve been following Rob’s blog and tweets for [...]

1 comment Keep reading →

Excessive Packaging from Creative and Lexar

January 5, 2010

Two recent purchases.
First, this Lexar SD card. The packaging is 28 times the size of the product. Many consumer electronics segments are becoming commodified. Memory tops that list: there’ s little to differentiate Lexar from Sandisk and others beyond branding and advantages such as packaging design. I understand the need to convert browsers to purchasers [...]

7 comments Keep reading →

Phone Power

January 3, 2010

A powerful, reoccuring theme for me recently recently has been the growing importance of mobile technology. This is as profound a shift in many parts of the developing world as it is in the richer nations. Mobile adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa is ocurring at staggering rates. The International Telecommunications Union puts out a report each [...]

2 comments Keep reading →

‘We need to educate them on…’

December 1, 2009

I’ve heard this used more than a few times.
I’ve heard it in development: ‘We just need to educate them on the benefits of clean water, then they’ll buy our pumps.’ ‘If only they’d understand how immunizations can help them be healthier, they’ll come in and get them.’
I’ve heard it in marketing: ‘We have a killer [...]

9 comments Keep reading →

Skoll:Emerge in Tweets

November 30, 2009

It’s been a hectic and wonderful day at Skoll:Emerge, a one-day conference for student social entrepreneurs. Let’s call Skoll:Emerge a qualified, hopeful hit. Good interaction with students, some interesting panels and a couple dynamite mainstage speakers (Caroline Casey especially). All for a student-friendly price. It’s been a haze, so I’m going to try something new [...]

0 comments Keep reading →

Relative Emergencies

November 18, 2009

What is an emergency? This question came to mind the other day when a friend posted about fuel shortages in Ethiopia. Mark has been trying to get to work and home, but there seems to be a regional shortage of fuel (benzine).

“There’s a crisis right now in Ziway. Well, wait a sec. There are [...]

0 comments Keep reading →

Rwanda’s Paul Kagame: The Benevolent Dictator?

November 9, 2009

[B: Manpreet Singh seems to have scored both the first guest Shot of the Day and Guest post on Cashewman. He is currently completing his degree in Medicine at Cambridge, and works with clean burning stoves as a way of combating pneumonia among children in Rwanda. Fascinated by Kagame but lacking the knowledge, I asked [...]

5 comments Keep reading →

Are My Online Purchases More Rational?

November 4, 2009

I’ve been shifting a lot more of my shopping online. Time is scarce. Convenience and price are paramount.
What I find interesting is that I believe this is making my consumption more rational. I’m less taken by emotional connection, because I’m not actually touching, feeling and listening to or smelling a product before purchase. I’m not [...]

0 comments Keep reading →

A Better Bednet Approach

October 26, 2009

It’s easy and often justified to be critical of aid and development. I do it. Others do it. But sometimes it helps to remind ourselves that it can work well. Take this example, of a market generation project to set up a mosquito net industry in seven countries (via Alanna Shaikh).
“In a decade-long initiative to [...]

2 comments Keep reading →

← Previous Entries