En these times of sobriety, should we prefer James Bond or MacGyver? On the one hand, a pompous and expensive secret agent, who employs the equivalent of an SME to build sophisticated toys which will be used only once, probably before exploding. On the other, a clever adventurer, saving the world using only his Swiss army knife and duct tape.
What is certain is that the second knows how to do well with little. In this, the television hero of the 1980s is a pioneer of what is called management “frugal innovation”. The concept, presented as a strategic imperative for companies, in a context of ecological transition, designates in innovation management the fact of doing the best… with the least possible. The frugal innovator is often penniless.
This notion of frugal innovation also finds its origin in emerging countries, forced to compete in creativity to find their place on large markets, and more particularly India. It derives from the colloquial word jugaadmeaning “diversion” in Tamil, and often equated with being creative or resourceful.
Mobile payment M-Pesa
Franco-American entrepreneur Navi Radjou, born in Pondicherry (India), theorized frugal innovation in the early 2010s, based on the concept of jugaad. It highlights that the product or the organizational solution “frugal” must respond to a need as simple as energy, education or health, by acting on the existing value chain to adapt it to the target audience.
For example, by developing the M-Pesa mobile payment system via a basic telephone, which has enabled millions of Africans to access certain banking services, as an alternative to the latest smartphone and its 1,754 functionalities which were financially inaccessible.
The frugal product can be built through the reuse of materials: this is the case, for example, of the Jerry Do-It-Together, a computer made with reused computer components, assembled in a twenty-litre container, which aimed to reduce the digital divide in Africa in particular. In France, during the Covid-19, we can cite the “diversion” of Decathlon diving masks, converted into respirators for hospitals. This idea did not come out of nowhere: since 2016, the sports giant in France has had a project team dedicated to frugal innovation and jugaadto respond to its desire to offer basic products that can reach as many people as possible.
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