By MBUGUA NJIHIA
As the year closes, you may want to take some time
out and figure out where to place your bets as an investor, set shop as
an entrepreneur or look to acquire. The following four trends may help.
FinTech will continue to see an upswing in
entrepreneur and investor interest on the personal and small business
financing front. Non-deposit taking start-ups have emerged, that use
hitherto ignored sources of data to create credit risk profiles upon
which they can advance loans on their platforms without having to ever
meet the client.
Others are providing tools to help small and
medium-sized businesses to collect revenue and, over time, build a
business cash flow profile that has opened up a new line of business
around unsecured cash advances at rates that are more favourable than
banks.
Block chain
The attention given to bitcoin over the past year
through big dollar investments, marketplace jesting and court cases has
only served to increase interest in its origins and possible disruptive
properties.
Block chain tech as proven by the creator(s) of
bitcoin cryptocurrency will continue to drive disruption across many
industries, bringing efficiency, trust and immense cost savings.
The smart contact discussion will probably find its
way to the august House as the various scandals around misappropriation
and theft of funds have stirred up a pubic and political outcry.
Initiatives such as Open Ledger spearheaded by the
Linux Foundation with early commitments from technology and financial
service powerhouses confirm the value of distributed ledger systems.
Retail experience
Retail will grow up and innovate around
personalising the consumer experience using data to better position and
recommend products and services.
Traditional big name retailers will take on
e-commerce players with their own online properties to mitigate the loss
of revenue from lost foot traffic and margin attrition. We will also
see more investment and interest in the logistics sector that handles
fulfilment.
Fulfilment, more so for day to day household consumables, is yet to raise a clear market leader despite the obvious opportunity.
Personal data
The power of personal data will become more visible
to the consumer. The social media craze has seen a large majority of
consumers chase followers, likes and other vanity metrics positioned as
important by the owners of the platforms. As online activity and relationships start to factor as a parameter on
matters that have a direct economic benefit we will see consumers get
picky on who they connect with or engage online. It will become evident
that your network is your net worth and many relationships will be
culled.
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