Applied Research
The evidence base for economic transformation in township and rural economies.Applied Research at Axon generates the evidence base for economic transformation in township and rural economies. It informs how the Fellowship is designed, how sector engagement is structured, and how the institution measures its own impact.
Work across the unit is organised around the questions the institution needs answered — labour market demand, sector pipelines, licensing requirements, and the outcomes of each fellowship cohort.
Our research is applied: it exists to test whether Axon's mandate is being met and to identify where the institution needs to adjust. Findings are published and made available to funders, regulators, and the broader sector.
Six programmes define the research work at Axon.
Applied Research Programme
The Applied Research Programme is the umbrella under which Axon's evidence work sits. It draws on the disciplines of econometrics, machine learning, and data science to build models that explain labour market demand, fellowship outcomes, and the wider economic environment the institution operates in.
The Programme is guided by three principles: evidence must be independently verifiable, every claim must trace back to source data, and findings must be actionable — not merely descriptive.
Outputs are published and made available to funders, regulators, the board, and the broader sector.
STEP Programme Research
STEP — the Sustainable Township Ecosystem Project — is a research-led programme that de-risks formalisation of the spaza economy. It convenes communities, local government, and industry experts in structured sessions that function as field research. The consolidated evidence informs the design of the Franchise Enterprise Programme (FEP) and the training, security, insurance, and supply structures that support it.
The research output of STEP is a comprehensive report that drives FEP design decisions — what agents offer, where they operate, and how they are supported. STEP is research, not commercial trading. The FEP agents that follow are legally separate entities.
STEP is funded through Axon's Public Benefit Organisation status. It operates as a distinct research and education programme within the broader Axon structure.
Sector Research
Axon fellows are formed into four sectors. Applied Research studies each of them — the labour market demand, the licensing regime, the skills gap, and the pipeline of practitioners required to serve communities currently under-served by institutional finance.
Compliance Leadership
Regulatory demand, FSCA requirements, and the compliance function in financial services institutions operating in township and rural markets.
Financial Services
Advisory, wealth, and the distribution of financial products into communities the formal sector has historically excluded.
Real Estate Portfolio
Valuation, asset management, and property practice in areas that formal valuation methods have historically struggled to serve.
Financial Technology
Systems, engineering, and the digital infrastructure that supports financial services delivery in fragmented environments.
Fellowship Capstone Research
Every Axon Fellow completes a capstone research dissertation in the final phase of the programme. That research is original, supervised, and defended before a panel — the same standard applied at postgraduate level.
Capstone research covers the same thematic ground as Applied Research itself: labour market analysis, sector dynamics, enterprise development, and the interface between financial services and township or rural economies.
The capstones together form a growing body of evidence about how financial practice actually operates in the markets Axon serves — evidence produced by practitioners, not observers.
Knowledge Hub
The Knowledge Hub is the data and analysis function of Axon Enterprise. It receives data from every other part of the institution, polishes it until it holds, and generates the models and reports that guide decisions.
Work is sequential. Raw data is received, cleaned, analysed, and reported on. Each stage depends on the one before it — models built on unpolished data produce unreliable reports, and reports built on unreliable models mislead the institution.
Four stages define the pipeline: data acquisition, data integrity, applied models, and strategic reporting. Read the full Knowledge Hub page for detail on each stage.
Research Outputs
Applied Research produces a defined set of outputs each year: quarterly board papers, annual impact reports, funder reports, fellowship cohort analyses, sector briefing notes, and public data releases.
Every output is written for a specific audience, and every claim traces back to source data. The work is to make the same evidence do all of those jobs without distortion.
Published materials are available through the Research Publications page and are openly accessible to funders, regulators, and the sector.
Partner with us
Axon partners with organisations, sector bodies, and academic institutions to research the issues that shape township and rural economic transformation. If you have a research question that fits our mandate, or a dataset that could contribute to the sector's evidence base, we are interested in hearing from you.
Our fellows are also available for applied research partnerships with host employers and sector partners.
Get in touch