A New Market or
Development for the Poor:
Depoliticizing the Consumer
Renee Kuriyan and Dawn Nafus
People and Practices Research
Intel Corporation
Roadmap
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Argument- Depoliticization of the Consumer
The Literature
Meta View of depoliticization
The Case of M-Pesa in Kenya
With the BoP discourse
of “poor as consumers”,
there was a conflation of
consumer agendas with
national development
goals
Argument: Depoliticization of “the consumer”
• Notions of “the consumer” are rendered technical and used as
instruments of the state, businesses and individuals, particularly in
relation to development.
• Process of depoliticization associated with “the consumer”
– Abstracts individuals from the cultural frameworks within which they operate.
– Becomes tools to construct identities, develop aspirations, and delineate
boundaries between the public and private spheres.
Significance
• Creates opportunities:
– IT corporations with governments around nation building agendas
– Low income populations identity construction
– New interactions between states and civil society
The figure of the consumer raises the issue of poor people’s agency and at the same time
expands the agency of the institutions serving them to make claims about progress,
markets and nationhood.
Literature
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Ferguson’s anti-politics machine: an apolitical and technical understanding of
development enables practitioners to define development in technically solvable
ways, and abstracted from the politics not so much of the receiving country but of
the donor countries and organizations.
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Mazzarella’s “consumer as invented”: there is no pre-given consumer who lives
“out there.” The consumer is a construct that is invented and re-invented by
advertisers, marketers, and private entities that create a portrait of specific aspects
of culture that can be leveraged to encourage individuals to buy.
Methods
• 41 interviews were conducted in Kenya with government, telcos, private
sector, development organizations and consumers themselves
• Participant observation and semi structured interviews
The BoP as the consumer: The Meta
View of Depoliticization
Private sector:
• Enabled corporations
to engage with an
entire segment of
people who were
previously morally
and financially out of
bounds.
• Re-think the view of
developing countries
as the sole realm of
development
institutions and aid
organizations
The BoP as the consumer: The
Meta View of Depoliticization
Governments:
• Going beyond regulatory roles
• Actively subsidizing individual
purchase of ICTs to make use of
broadband infrastructure
• Creating opportunities for the
emergence of technology
consumers (perceived to be
contributing to national
development strategies)
• Nation states can take advantage
of private actors operating in
traditionally state-run spaces and
in effect “outsource” traditional
public services
The BoP as the consumer: The
Meta View of Depoliticization
Citizens:
• Depoliticized figure of the
consumer enables the poor to
aspire to new identities often
associated with the middle class
Case of M-Pesa:
Implemented in the
“name of the unbanked”
or the Bottom of the
Pyramid consumer
Case of M-Pesa
Case of M-Pesa: The
Consumer as
Everyone
“Our view of the ideal (M-Pesa) consumer
is one that is pervasive throughout the
population. Our volumes of customers
tend to be more low value customersand definitely the concentration is to talk
to masses, because the product is for
masses. But with our marketing we go
pervasive- we think that the service is for
everyone.” Safaricom official, 2009.
Consumer as Everyone positioned by:
• The Kenyan government as contributing to economic development for the country
• The private sector as brilliant marketing and penetration strategies for the mass market
• The Kenyan “consumer” as a service that truly understands the Kenyan psyche, needs
and constraints.
• The BoP to feel part of the larger market or population
M-Pesa for Everyone
M-Pesa shifted a conversation about who
consumers could be to one less defined
through social divides.
Nairobi Elite
The consumer is simultaneously seen as a
citizen, market segment, and a nationalist
figure of what it means to be Kenyan.
Rural poor
The Kenyan Consumer:
Look to the Kiosk
“If you want to understand the Kenyan
consumer, just look at one of the small
kiosks or shops that sell items on the
side of the road. The kiosk represents
what it means to be a Kenyan mass
market consumer. “
The Mass market:
Price
Strong Brand
Convenience
Think about Today
Small pieces
Different consumer populations blended
into one that is Kenyan
Nationhood and the
Politics of Being
Kenyan
“The role of the president and
government used to be really
special. After they allowed all the
violence to occur and different
tribes of people to be killed over
politics- they didn’t say anything
to stop the violence. That’s when
they lost it- so no one cares
anymore. Because we won’t see
changes as a population.”
Njoki, middle class woman
Nationhood and the
Politics of Being
Kenyan
Unified notion of what it means to be
Kenyan and associating that with the
consumer is appealing to the mass market,
to the private sector and even to
bureaucrats working within the
government
Digital Village: “We can’t afford to
appear to be favoring one area of the
country because of what happened
last January with the post election
violence. We have to start the Digital
village’s project in all 50 areas at the
same time.”
Nationhood and the Politics of Being
Kenyan
In effect by using the “The consumer as everyone” concept, there is an
attempt (conscious or not) by the government and private sector to
smooth over the divisions within Kenyan society.
– Implicitly promotes equity between the poor and rich as well as tribal divisions
by considering them equal consumers.
– What defines being Kenyan is a highly contested idea—but the depoliticized
consumer as everyone somehow transcends or appears to transcend those
politics and serves the function of bringing people together.
– By no means does it guarantee equity in terms of actually reaching everyone it
sets out to
Conclusion
The figure of the consumer was
used to make claims about
progress, markets and
nationhood as well as to
engage with markets, create
partners and develop new
approaches to development.
Conclusion
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Depoliticization is evident in these two examples:
– At a meta-level-- move to depoliticize away the moral aspects of poverty, and
bring agendas to the development arena
– Safaricom through M-Pesa in Kenya, an even further depoliticization that does
not leave the poor as distinct consumers, but blends them into larger national
consumption and political agendas.
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Depoliticization is never stable and repoliticizations happen in new and evolving
forms—enabling particular agendas and political positionings on an international,
national and local stage.