The Barefoot Economist
Hugo PachecoGround-level intelligence on financial inclusion technology and emerging market fintech written by someone who's built agent networks across 9 African countries, not watched from a distance. Home of the Agent Network OS.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 125 | Founded | 3 years ago | Last Issue | 9 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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barefooteconomist.substack.comLatest Issues
🧩 The Non-Consumer
I remember watching a customer hand over an extra thousand shillings to an informal mobile money agent. Everyone around me saw an expensive transaction. I saw the cheapest insurance policy in the market.
Nobody argued about the fee. Nobody...
🌯 July 2026 in one idea
The buyer names a number. The market marks it up at the counter, a thousand shillings at a time. The accountant logs it as a cost. Everyone can price this network except the person who spent years building it. In a month thick with raises,...
🏷️ The Network That Couldn’t Price Its Own Product
I have spent enough time behind agent counters to know the tell.
Ask an agent how business is going, and they rarely answer with money. They answer with volume. Busier than last year. More people through the door. Queues on grant day that...
🪙 The Shadow Price of Reliability
Market day, East Africa. Two mobile money agents sit thirty metres apart on the same strip. Same operator branding, same laminated tariff poster fading in the sun. One has a queue eleven deep. The other is idle. I stood in that queue long e...
🏗️ Africa built financial infrastructure but booked it as an expense.
African agent networks are managed as operating expenses: commissions to optimise, churn to tolerate, headcount to announce. Next decade will reward them as infrastructure assets. Here's the proof.
A founder called me a few weeks ago. He b...
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| Subscribers | Engagement | 68 | Monthly Web Visits | ||
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| Accepts Sponsors | Estimated Cost per Ad | ||||
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The writers behind this newsletter.
I help fintechs to reach last-mile customers using alternative channels
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