About this topic
Platforms are a central part of digital economies.
Digital platforms have become a powerful way to connect buyers and sellers at scale. Today, there are “marketplace” platforms for nearly everything—from gig work and freelancing, to transport, retail, and agricultural goods, to entertainment and information.
Platforms are not one-size-fits-all. Not all companies treat workers the same way. Not all workers or sellers expect the same things. That’s why the best solutions are tailored, informed, and grounded in real-world context. Caribou has done extensive research on ways to make platform marketplaces more inclusive and ways to make platform business models more sustainable.
Caribou captured much of our early work on this topic in the book The Platform Livelihoods Project: Working, Selling, Renting, and Creating in the Digital Age. We’ve explored, with Mozilla, the economics of digital advertising in emerging markets. We’ve supported a learning partnership with the Gates Foundation on platforms and women’s economic empowerment. In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, we have been advancing work on social agriculture, the ways social media (and influencers) are transforming farming across Africa.
