A Match Made in Heaven

In the past decades, emerging markets achieved tremendous growth rates, resulting in rising attention and investments from all over the world. However, many global and local companies are still shy on grasping the substantial opportunities arising from this development. Others decided to take the bet but failed to achieve their full potential, often because of a mismatch between their offering and local needs. My years working for a consulting firm on Africa related topics confirmed this trend as I was faced with several clients who were aware of the Africa opportunity but saw the continent as a big scary spot on the map and didn’t know where or how to start looking into it. On the other hand, many research and analyses that I performed showed that the population is still struggling with day-to-day basic issues that could be addressed by those same companies. It felt like all the ingredients for a great match were available but the recipe was missing out or was at best very fuzzy.

Human-centered design might be the mean to close this loop. This simple and efficient approach caught my eye lately as it has been gaining momentum across various fields and industries. Through a collaborative and inclusive process, it uses insights from the community as a starting block to finding tailored solutions to specific needs. It is different as a problem-solving technique in its emphasis on the discovery and interpretation phases where people and their behaviors are thoroughly observed and distilled. This method is even more relevant in an emerging markets context where people tackle their problems with very simple solutions adapted to their reality and limited resources. Using human-centered design, these solutions can be more easily scaled-up and adapted to reach a larger target, more efficiently.

Quickly stepping back and thinking through this lens, coming myself from an emerging country, Morocco, my brain is already starting to make connections between observations and possible applications. For example, one thing that pops up to my mind is how groups of people use a system called “the Wheel” to save money and finance important expenses: Each month, all members contribute a fixed sum, the total of which is given to one of them based on a draw or an agreement. What if we could find inspiration in this system to improve the bancarization rate? Another system is how independent grocery shops created an informal network to enable people in different locations to buy items for each other: The buyer gives money for a certain item to the grocery shop manager who calls a fellow manager in the desired location asking him to deliver the requested item to the beneficiary. The managers will later balance their accounts through bank transfers. Can this idea help us rethink distribution strategies to easily reach a larger pool of people?

Modern alternatives to these traditional systems exist but the fact that the latter are still used means that needs are not served in the most efficient way. A bottom-up approach like human-centered design could be the missing link between those needs and the resources available in the world. Companies and other organizations can use it as a powerful tool to efficiently address any topic in any market. If adopted on a large scale, this could generate an exponential number of sustainable and efficient solutions that can drastically improve the life of billions of people. The next question is: How can we make that happen?