• About
  • Profiles
  • Projects
  • Publications
Beyond Market Prices

mobile phones in trade and livelihood activities – Ghana, Uganda, India, China

  • About
  • Profiles
  • Projects
  • Publications

Boda-boda driver, Kampala, Uganda

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Jenna Burrell

The daily financial lives of the poor are, without doubt, immensely complex. Irregular, uneven income streams are frequently unable to meet recurring and emergency expenses. Savings deposits and insurance schemes are almost non-existent, and reliance on credit is high. These credit instruments in turn are multifaceted; low-income populations diversify their credit sources, from the more formal bank loans (wherever they are actually eligible for these) to semi-formal microfinance loans, to the more common, often reciprocal, informal loans that they give to and borrow from their immediate social networks. The mobile phone is slowly and steadily transforming the culture of lending to and borrowing from one’s immediate friends, family, and neighbors. Moreover, the mobile phone can be a window into the social networks of people, and more specifically, their financial relationships as well as conversations. Jackson is a boda-boda driver from Kampala, Uganda, and his call logs reveal both, his financial relationships, as well as his conversations about money. Read his full profile here.

This entry was posted in M-Banking. Bookmark the permalink

Click here to cancel reply.

Add Your Comment

Your email will not be published.

  • Recent Posts

    • Scarcity of Space in the Market
    • How to support smallholder and women farmers with ICT4Ag
    • What do RCTs of Market Information Systems actually evaluate?
    • The ‘Myth of Market Price Information’ at the CRS ICT4D conference
    • Chris Foster on ‘Thinking about market information systems’ in Rwanda’s tea sector
  • Recent Comments

    • Archives

      • July 2015
      • June 2015
      • May 2015
      • April 2015
      • September 2014
      • May 2014
      • December 2013
      • April 2013
      • March 2013
      • February 2013
      • January 2013
      • December 2012
      • November 2012
      • October 2012
      • September 2012
      • August 2012
    • Categories

      • Farming
      • Field Notes
      • Fishing
      • Infographics
      • M-Banking
      • Market Information Systems
      • Market Women
      • Other Market Actors
      • Uncategorized
    • Meta

      • Register
      • Log in
      • Entries feed
      • Comments feed
      • WordPress.org
    • Connect with us:
    • RSS
    • © 2021 A Project at the UC-Berkeley School of Information
    • Powered by WordPress