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KasiNomic Revolution
- The Rise of African Informal Economies
- Narrated by: GG Alcock
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
Prepare for this new generation, prepare for the Afripolitan generation. A revolution is taking place in the great marketplaces of the informal sector, and it contains an unquantified scale and power as an economic engine and a way of life for the majority of our low-income populations. The KasiNomic Revolution may still be a murmur in the streets, a grassroots economic groundswell, but it is the future of African economic activity.
Kasi is the South African term for the township - a teeming conurbation of homes and businesses, entertainment venues and social meeting places. GG Alcock uses the term KasiNomics to describe the informal sectors of Africa, whether they are in the township, a rural marketplace, at a taxi rank, or on a pavement in the shadow of skyscrapers.
Brought up in a rural Zulu community, GG has learnt and shares the lessons of African culture, language, stick fighting, lifestyle, and tribal politics, along with shared poverty and community, which have prepared him for accessing the great informal marketplaces of Africa. GG Alcock is uniquely placed to uncover and share the extraordinary stories of kasi businesses in which they not only survive but excel, revealing a revolutionary entrepreneurship that is mostly invisible to the formal sector.
KasiNomic Revolution is a story of kasi entrepreneurs on one side, on the other great corporate success stories and failures in the informal economy. KasiNomic Revolution is at once a business book and at the same time a deeply human book about the people and lives of rural and urban informal societies.
KasiNomic Revolution is about the lessons of marketing, distribution, culture, and modernity in an informal African world.
What listeners love about KasiNomic Revolution
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- Andrew King
- 07-06-23
A wake up call for businesses not already operating in this market.
An extremely insightful look at a sector of the SA population that deserves improved access to affordable, value-drive products and services.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-05-23
Sleepless
This book lingered in my thoughts long after I finished it. Tested my thought process and ideas. Changed how we train and mentor . A must read, especially if you are involved in Social development.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-07-22
Brilliant
GG’s insights take me back to my roots. Thank you for beaming light on a forgotten sector that builds legacies and restores livelihoods.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-01-21
So Insightful and Inspiring
Great book, lovely stories. A wonderful insight into the economic works in our townships. A must read of anyone doing business in Africa.
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- Greta Froise
- 02-21-21
So enlightening
I really enjoyed this book. It reads like a story but is packed with amazing insights into an economy that for many of us living in South Africa is completely ignored. Lots of take-always from this book.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-15-20
Amazing, worth every minute
This book gives you insight into multiple topic and leaves you hungry for: the zulu culture, the township economy, the rural economy, marketing and GG's life. Amazing narrative. Worth every minute.
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- Lebo
- 10-02-21
Paradigm changing stuff
The book is phenomenal, it's completely change my view of the informal sector love it
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The Blue Sweater
- Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World
- By: Jacqueline Novogratz
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Novogratz
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The Blue Sweater is the inspiring story of a woman who left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty. It all started back home in Virginia, with the blue sweater, a gift that quickly became her prized possession - until the day she outgrew it and gave it away to Goodwill. Eleven years later in Africa, she spotted a young boy wearing that very sweater, with her name still on the tag inside.
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A Heartfelt Testament
- By Gallantly Rabbit! on 01-23-11
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Fulfillment
- Winning and Losing in One-Click America
- By: Alec MacGillis
- Narrated by: Danny Gavigan
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Alec MacGillis’ Fulfillment is not another inside account or exposé of our most conspicuously dominant company. Rather, it is a literary investigation of the America that falls within that company’s growing shadow. As MacGillis shows, Amazon’s sprawling network of delivery hubs, data centers, and corporate campuses epitomizes a land where winner and loser cities and regions are drifting steadily apart, the civic fabric is unraveling, and work has become increasingly rudimentary and isolated.
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Missing some important angles
- By D. Zimmerle on 08-19-21
By: Alec MacGillis
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Fast Food Nation
- The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
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To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar America. Fast Food Nation is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks about the way it eats.
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Uncritical alarmist rant
- By Mark Freeman on 12-23-03
By: Eric Schlosser
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Cheap
- The High Cost of Discount Culture
- By: Ellen Ruppel Shell
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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From the shuttered factories of the rust belt to the look-alike strip malls of the sun belt---and almost everywhere in between---America has been transformed by its relentless fixation on low price. This pervasive yet little examined obsession is arguably the most powerful and devastating market force of our time---the engine of globalization, outsourcing, planned obsolescence, and economic instability in an increasingly unsettled world.
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You Get What You Pay For?
- By Roy on 07-26-09
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Vanishing New York
- How a Great City Lost Its Soul
- By: Jeremiah Moss
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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New York City has long been a destination for rebels and rule breakers, artists, writers, and other hopefuls longing to be part of its rich cultural exchange and unique social fabric. But today, modern gentrification is transforming the city from an exceptional, iconoclastic metropolis into a suburbanized luxury zone. Blogger and cultural commentator Jeremiah Moss leads us on a colorful guided tour of the most changed parts of town lovingly eulogizing iconic institutions as they're replaced with soulless upscale boutiques, luxury condo towers, and suburban chains.
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A compelling story, but the narration???
- By S. McGee on 11-30-17
By: Jeremiah Moss
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In-N-Out Burger
- A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
- By: Stacy Perman
- Narrated by: Loren Lester
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the untold story of the renegade burger chain that evokes a passionate following unlike any other. In fast-food corporate America, In-N-Out Burger stands apart. Begun in a tiny shack in the shadow of World War II, this family-owned chain has steadfastly refused to franchise or be sold. It is a testament to old-fashioned values and reminiscent of a simpler time when people, loyalty, and a freshly made, juicy hamburger meant something.
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Flowery Promo Piece
- By Melissa on 02-22-10
By: Stacy Perman
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Empire of Things
- How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
- By: Frank Trentmann
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 33 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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What we consume has become the defining feature of our lives: our economies live or die by spending, we are treated more as consumers than workers and even public services are presented to us as products in a supermarket. In this monumental study, acclaimed historian Frank Trentmann unfolds the extraordinary history that has shaped our material world, from late Ming China, Renaissance Italy and the British Empire to the present.
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An exhaustive attempt to get the story right
- By John on 03-09-16
By: Frank Trentmann
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Richistan
- A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich
- By: Robert Frank
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The rich have always been different from you and me, but this revealing and funny journey through Richistan entertainingly shows that they are more different than ever. Richistanis have 400-foot-yachts, 30,000-square-foot homes, house staffs of more than 100, and their own "arborists". They're also different from Old Money, and have torn down blue-blood institutions to build their own shining empire.
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Ho Hum....being rich is work!
- By Scarlett on 06-16-07
By: Robert Frank
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Small Data
- The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends
- By: Martin Lindstrom
- Narrated by: Ricco Fajardo
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Martin Lindstrom, a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, harnesses the power of "small data" in his quest to discover the next big thing. Hired by the world's leading brands to find out what makes their customers tick, Martin Lindstrom spends 300 nights a year in strangers' homes, carefully observing every detail in order to uncover their hidden desires and, ultimately, the clues to a multimillion-dollar product.
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Fascinating!!
- By Fact addict on 03-08-16
By: Martin Lindstrom
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Indonesia, Etc.
- Exploring the Improbable Nation
- By: Elizabeth Pisani
- Narrated by: Jan Cramer
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Bewitched by Indonesia for twenty-five years, Elizabeth Pisani recently traveled 26,000 miles around the archipelago in search of the links that bind this impossibly disparate nation. Fearless and funny, Pisani shares her deck space with pigs and cows, bunks down in a sulfurous volcano, and takes tea with a corpse. Along the way, she observes Big Men with child brides, debates corruption and cannibalism, and ponders "sticky" traditions that cannot be erased.
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Bill Bryson channels Margaret Mead
- By John S. on 09-01-14
By: Elizabeth Pisani
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Country Driving
- A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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