Slums – Beyond the perception

Personally, I am not very fond of the term, slums. I think it is loosely defined term for a type of informal market. However, with all their problems and challenges there is a lot to learn from slums from a business perspective.
Entrepreneurism – slum areas are highly entrepreneurial, with a high degree of business activity. [...]

The informal market

Robert Neuwirth writes about the informal economy in Lagos, Nigeria, and its importance to the local economy. Local governments mostly view these informal markets in a negative way, even though they contribute significantly to the economy.
Some interesting points:
The demand for economic activities takes over everything as bridges are transformed into informal markets. The informal sector [...]

Key distribution issues in emerging markets – Updated

Channel strategy – companies must map out a clear channel strategy and identify which channel the selected distributor will service. A poorly defined channel strategy can severely damage any distributor roll-out. It is critical that companies understand how channels function and operate. One size does not fit all.
Selection criteria – companies need to understand the [...]

Within arms’ reach of the retailer and consumer

In a competitive environment, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies are increasingly forced to get within arms’ reach of the retailer and consumer. CPG companies that have a Route-to-Market strategy that includes a direct focus on mom-and-pop stores are the most successful in reaching the “base of the pyramid”.
The buy-in-bulk mentality is unlikely to have a [...]

Two-tier distribution in emerging markets – telecom and electronics

What is a two-tier distributor? They buy from manufacturers and sell to resellers.
What are their competitive advantages? Two-tier distributors can expand the retail footprint in emerging markets. They normally sell a diverse range of brands and control a large percentage of the local distribution in the telecom and the computer industry. Two-tier distributors understand local [...]

Sri Lanka Distributor Issues

Sri Lanka is currently waking up from years of civil war. There is a sense of optimism in the air and the country is most certainly open for business. In September I spent two weeks in the country and also had a chance to review a FMCG company’s distributor network.  I jotted down a few [...]

Guinea distribution

Guinea Conakry has seen better days. Political instability and an uncertain economic outlook have not helped consumer confidence in this West African country. I have spent the last two weeks assessing a FMCG company’s distribution capability. The data tell an interesting story.

Wholesalers – like most of markets in Africa, FMCG companies rely heavily on wholesalers [...]

Ethiopia’s inclusive distribution model

Arriving in Ethiopia in 1998 the local Coca-Cola operation  was hardly an operation to search for best practices. Today, the picture looks very different. Harvard University (download PDF) recently conducted research on the Coca-Cola Ethiopian manual distribution center (MDC) and published a report on the model. The Ethiopian MDC project, launched in 1999, is today viewed as [...]

10 ways distributors can add value to your business

Knowledge- they know their customers and distribution area very well and can provide you with valuable customer insights.
Provide credit- many distributors provide credit to smaller outlets and they have the ability to collect regular payments.
Stockholding- [...]

Village Billboards and supply chain

Erik Hersman blogs about Zach Lutische, a man with an interesting concept envisioned for rural Kenya.
“The concept involves putting up a network of rural billboards around Kenya, using them as a way to gather and create a nexus point for community information. Anyone in the village can put up a notice, news or advertisement on [...]

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