Staff blogger Francisco Mejia looks at why impact measurements have not been a large part of BOP business projects to date, and describes a variety of approaches that can be used. Part one in a series.
C.K. Prahalad's seminal book “The Fortune at the Base of the Pyramid,” published over ten years ago, emphasized that innovation and fresh thinking were needed to harness the enormous opportunity represented by the BOP.
Staff blogger Francisco Mejia looks at some of the lessons companies who want to serve the base of the pyramid can learn from the business tactics of Coca-Cola.
It was inspiring to watch a recent lecture in the TED series by Melinda French Gates on the lessons that emerge from the incredible success of Coca-Cola.
Following the pledge of billions of dollars by the international community toward the recovery of Haiti, staff blogger Francisco Mejía offers some insights on how market-based strategies and private sector business models can contribute to the effective deployment of some of this aid.
On January 12, 2010, Haiti was hit by a massive earthquake. The toll was huge: hundreds of thousands died, more than a million were left homeless, billions in infrastructure were lost, the government’s capacity to respond was buried with the rubble. Three months later, the international community has pledged $5.3 billion for the next 18 months.
After the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti needs private sector investment more than ever. Staff blogger Francisco Mejia discusses why he believes the private sector will be the most effective force for rebuilding and transforming Haiti.
In a recent opinion article in the Washington Post , Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs proposed creating a multi-billion dollar “Haiti Recovery Fund,” using contributions from the international community, to support the reconstruction of Haiti.
Staff blogger Francisco Mejia wraps up his series on using "platforms" to bring BoP projects to scale with some advice on how to determine which kind of platform will work for your business plan.
In the coming years, a growing number of incoming firms will begin to associate themselves with existing platforms. As platforms allow more products and services to be sold through their networks, they will offer a growing share of products and services to majority markets. In effect, platforms may well end up being the key-holders for some product types in some specific regions.
In the seventh part of his series on using "platforms" to achieve scale in BoP projects, staff blogger Francisco Mejia explores how a growing number of microfinance institutions are branching out to offer other services to their clients.
Microfinance institutions have experienced huge growth in recent years. It is estimated that they reach around 150 million clients, two-thirds of which are considered to be poor. However, this growth has more to do with the number of institutions than with expanded reach. Microfinance as a platform is probably not as extensive as, for example, a utility-based platform, but it certainly has distinctive advantages. First, it typically reaches poorer areas, where utility grids or mobile phone networks may not exist.
In the sixth part of his series on using "platforms" to achieve scale in BoP projects, staff blogger Francisco Mejia looks at the large role construction projects play in low-income communities.
It is estimated that majority markets spend approximately US$ 330 billion per year on housing. Such spending, however, is usually not done all at once on new housing. Instead, housing expenditures are done on a piecemeal basis, with homes in a state of perpetual improvement. For example, once enough money has been collected, a family might decide to use it in erecting a new bedroom, or building permanent roofing. This investment behavior is a consequence of the absence of legal land ownership and the lack of financing options available to low-income individuals.
In the fifth part of his series on using "platforms" to achieve scale in BoP projects, staff blogger Francisco Mejia looks at ways producers of consumer goods can more effectively reach potential customers in low-income communities.
Producers of mass consumer goods – from cosmetics and garments to perishables and more – create platforms over which they tend to have limited control. This happens because they often outsource a large portion of the products’ marketing and/or final distribution to local agents. In the scaling up and effectiveness of these platforms, women play an essential role, not only as customers, but also as sellers. Saleswomen reap extensive informal knowledge about the purchasing power and reliability of the target market.
In part 4 of his series on using "platforms" to achieve scale in BoP projects, staff blogger Francisco Mejia looks at how mobile phones are doing double duty to give unbanked people access to financial services.
Currently, mobile networks cover more than 80% of the world's population, and an estimated 4 billion people – and counting – own mobile phones. In 2007 and 2008, an estimated 1.15 to 1.2 billion mobile phones were sold worldwide, the majority bought by relatively young consumers in developing countries. More importantly, thanks to mobile phones’ flexible product architecture and increasingly powerful microprocessors, mobile phones are capable of handling the transmission of not only vocal communication, but also data and services.
In part 3 of his series on using "platforms" to achieve scale in BoP projects, staff blogger Francisco Mejia describes how partnerships with utility companies can be effective.
Utility companies offer electricity, gas and water services to BoP markets. These services are quasi-ubiquitous in many urban areas in the developing world, and their adjunct platforms have massive consumer bases. On the other hand, because of higher servicing costs, their capillarity and reach is much more limited in rural areas.
