Ground-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 | 134 | Founded | 3 years ago | Last Issue | 9 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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barefooteconomist.substack.comLatest Issues
🔒 The Credit File That Can’t Leave
Last month, the founder of a small asset lender walked me through what happens when a borrower goes quiet. First you call him. Then you call his spouse, then the village chairman, then the reference he gave when he signed. When all of that...
🌯 September 2026 in one idea
Before you dive into this month’s wrap, let's improve it together:
60 seconds to shape what I write next and who I build for.
Who’s reading & what are you building?
Liquidity is the symptom on the dashboard: the one number everyone watc...
📮 Why capillarity beats interoperability and postal networks matter more than ever
A year ago, almost a week, Dominique Collin from La Banque Postale invited me to contribute a chapter to Exploring New Frontiers, a book on where postal networks could go next. On Wednesday, it launched at Parcel+Post Expo in London, and I...
🐕🦺 The Network That Can’t See Itself
The advantage that keeps winning in African finance is observation. Anyone can move a customer’s money. Seeing enough of their economic life to price the risk lets you lend to them, insure them, or build something on the relationship. That...
💰 MTN Doesn't Want to Become a Bank. It wants to stop renting one.
Everyone’s watching MTN chase a banking licence and calling it “telco becomes bank”. I feel that may be the boring question here…. The interesting one is why the profit formula is flipping and what it reveals about lending in Africa, which...
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I help fintechs to reach last-mile customers using alternative channels
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