Kasinomics: African Informal Economies and the People Who Inhabit Them

by G.G. Alcock

Kasinomi is a book as eclectic, mysterious and colourful as the places and people it explores. eKasi, the lokasie, the South African township, once an apartheid ghetto, is today an amazingly transformed place. This township today is an eclectic mix of mansions, shacks, spaza shops, rocking taverns, hawkers, taxis and hot wheels. In this kasi there are vibrant businesses, energetic people, a tightly networked social community and abundant hope. That is not to say there isn't extreme poverty, suffering and dissatisfaction, particularly on the peripheries in the huge shack settlements, but to paint the place as a slum is a massive mistake. Kasinomi attempts to cast a light on the invisible matrix at the heart of South Africa's informal economies and the people who live in them. Living and doing business in African marketplaces requires an ethos uniquely suited to the informal, to the invisible, to the intangible. Kasinomi will take you down those rural pathways, weave between claustrophobic mazes of shacks, browse a muti market, visit a spirit returning ceremony and save money with gogo in a stokvel among many more people and places. After almost twenty years of focusing on marketing to the informal sector, GG Alcock, CEO of specialist marketing company Minanawe, showcases a number of groundbreaking and very successful case studies in this invisible informal world. His vivid anecdotes and life experiences and how they link to understanding and inspiration for business ideas will make you gasp, laugh and shake your head in wonder.

Genres: Economics, Africa

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know modern South Africa read this. For a look into the past read it with Credo Mutwa's book My People.

[Charlie Minglez · Rating 5 out of 5]

1st week gone and 1st book done 🤩
It's always interesting to read and learn about people's experiences, the type of surroundings and how they grew up to where they are in life now and it has shaped their way thinking. The book also highlights opportunities that can be found within the township and rural communities which is a different perspective on business from the traditional office based model. It's a good read that can inspire one to great business ideas💡
#bookchallenge2021 📚
#4bookspermonth 🖖🏿
#readinggoals

[Philip du Toit · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a great read to understand the economies in the informal markets.

[Marion Roux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alcock (co-owner of a promotions company called 'Minanawe Marketing' which means 'You and I') explores, for the reader, the massive invisible economic sectors in the informal section of South Africa - the lower-income consumers. To stretch the limited cash flows there may be multiple income streams - formal and informal. There is now a huge diversity of incomes in the townships as people do not necessarily move from 'the known to the unknown' just because their finances have improved .
He discusses the value of consumer immersions. This is being fully involved with an area to gain cultural insight to promote brands. And he encourages activities that capture the imagination and offer something unique (like his company's promotion of Captain Morgan at a 'beach in Soweto' and a concrete company's product with 'King Shaka Cliff'). He promotes finding ordinary experiences and transforming them into something special for the target market.
Word of mouth is still a powerful tool in the Kasi environment, especially at social connection points like funerals, unveilings and weddings.
'Stokvels' (informal and voluntary by-invitation-only societies where members contribute an agreed monthly sum for an agreed purpose such as buying, saving, burials etc.) are explained and that their purpose is social security first.
Besides revealing opportunities to monetise the spiritual and cultural dynamics, the book also generates more understanding of these dynamics. Patience is called for if we understand 'take care of the past and the future will take care of itself', and hope for peace in SA.
Each chapter ends with a recap of an aspect of marketing to the masses in South Africa.
The social strata in the townships are:
the shack dwellers, poorest of the poor and generally jobless;
the emerging black middle class which is modernising, not westernising though. Culture remains an evolving living part of one's make-up;
and the monied nobility.
Each stratum is approached differently in advertising drives.

[Matthews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very disappointed. The name hints at a book about economics and informal markets but the book does not even have a single chart. It lacked any real quantitative analysis. The stories are long winded and focus on the personal life experiences of the author, with little focus on the economic data. The title is slightly misleading.


I did not find it insightful, because of the mismatch between the title and the content, it has to be one of the worst books I’ve read. Should have been called the misadventures of a Zulu speaking white guy or something more apt.

[Satish Antony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Amrik Cooper · Rating 1 out of 5]

A fantastic, hopeful South African story without naivety.

[Arne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It all made sense when I read the post-script: This is a distilled and collected work of Alcock's consultancy presentations.

It struck me on several occasions while reading that it felt like a very, very long brochure. And it's a massive bias but working for a beer company the conspicuous absence of SAB is strange. He makes it sound as if the only way into the informal market is through his consultancy and no one else has ever gotten a slice of cheese into a kota without his help. Again it makes sense when you appreciate that this is purely a marketing piece for Minanawe. And ironically so is this review :)

That aside, it's still an extremely interesting brochure, his insight into the South African informal market is remarkable. My single biggest take-out from the book is that I should learn Zulu. No truly deep insight will ever come from a shared 2nd language.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely my best read to date this year! A brilliant, irreverent and insightful journey into the informal economies of South Africa's high density communities. Unravelling the threads that bind rapidly changing rural lifestyles and the communities who have embraced urban life by GG Alcock whose "privileged" childhood growing up as a "zulu mhlophe" in Msinga has so uniquely prepared him for this journey. If only South Africa has a few millions more GG Alcocks. Brilliant.