Blue Ocean Strategy

After most of the Metafari participants have left for Dar es Salaam, we decide to return to the beach. Since this used to be the Sunday procedure for Ruth and Odd, they are very much in favour for this suggestion and we ask Sture if he can pick us up in his boat again. This time the dolphins get really close and we can hear them breathe. According to Ruth, one of them seems to have a cold. And being trained nurse, she should know :-)

Slowly the small island comes into view. The water is so blue and clear. I come to think of the Blue Ocean Strategy. The whole of Tanzania is to some extent a blue ocean, with lots of people earning not much, but more and more. Of course, the tobacco industry has used the blue ocean strategy for many years, since Europe and the US have started to pay attention to not encouraging the young to start smoking. However, lots of interesting developments are happening with respect to the mobile phone industry. There are quite a number of telecom towers already and more are on their way.

When we visited the Masai, Leif asked how the mobile phone helps them to be more Masai. They replied that since it is always important to know about the weather in order to move the cattle to the appropriate place, the mobile phone is an excellent tool to get that kind of report a little quicker than before. One of the Metafarers comments that it appears like the mobile phone helps the settled Masai to keep their customs, but they also help us to become more like nomads, more like the Masai.

Another interesting development is the sudden ban of plastic bags. Although this from an environmental perspective probably is excellent, they hadn’t really thought about that this is the normal way in Tanzania to package milk. Maybe this is a blue ocean opportunity for TetraPak? Perhaps in collaboration with Arla?