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Access resources from the 1st BASE Forum, hosted by the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative June 27-28 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Content includes video from plenary discussions, speaker presentation materials and more.
Susan Olsen of the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative lists the most important lessons learned at the First BASE Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority Initiative (OMJ) recently held its first international event on Business at the Base of the Pyramid. The First BASE Forum took place in Sao Paolo on June 27th-28th, 2011, with more than 700 in attendance and a jam-packed agenda.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 27-28, 2011, the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative held its first international conference, the BASE Forum for the Development of the Base of the Pyramid in Latin America and the Caribbean. Highlights from the event, links to speaker presentations and more follow.
On June 27 and 28, the IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority Initiative held its first major international conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The BASE Forum drew an overflow crowd of almost 800 registrants from a variety of backgrounds, including business, international development, government, and nonprofits, all eager to learn about the concepts behind base of the pyramid business models and how they are playing out at companies throughout Latin America.
The IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative is hiring a Development Effectiveness and Knowledge Specialist. Applications are accepted until June 7.
Interested in joining the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative? OMJ has a position open for a Development Effectiveness and Knowledge Specialist. An excerpt from the listing:
Staff blogger Daniel Granada, a native of Honduras, discusses the urgent need for Central America to embrace inclusive business practices to address persistent problems of inequality and violence.
On February 15, 2011, executives from many of Opportunities for the Majority's client companies spoke at an IDB workshop about their Base of the Pyramid business projects. Read on for a summary of the event, links to the speakers' presentations and more.
On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, the IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority initiative held a daylong workshop showcasing executives from many of its client companies. The event demonstrated a wide range of the Base of the Pyramid projects supported by OMJ, and highlighted what OMJ and its clients have learned about how to develop successful BOP business models.
Dr. Ashraf Ghani of The Institute for State Effectiveness discusses the important role the private sector plays on creating stability in a country, shares an interesting story from his time as Afghan finance minister about the perils of underestimating the BOP market, and more.
Recently, Dr. Ashraf Ghani visited the Inter-American Development Bank to give a presentation entitled “State-Building as Market-Building.” Dr. Ghani has a unique and wide-ranging perspective on what makes a state effective. A native of Afghanistan, he served as the Afghan finance minister from 2002 to 2004. Previously, he worked as a university professor, spent a decade at the World Bank, and was a special advisor to the United Nations in 2001 for matters related to the transfer of power from the Taliban to the Afghan people.
Companies in the food and agro-industry sectors are uniquely positioned to improve lives through their base of the pyramid business projects. At a recent conference on "The Potential of Private Sector Solutions in Nutrition," executives learned about a mapping study and about opportunities for them to get involved.
Last year, Opportunities for the Majority joined forces with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition [GAIN] and the FEMSA Foundation to carry out a regional mapping study of private sector involvement in meeting the nutritional needs of the base of the pyramid in Latin America.
At recent conference, the "Engineering for the Developing World Summit," scientists and academics heard about the important role technology can play in engaging with the base of the pyramid. Staff blogger Elizabeth Terry shares an account of one panel and looks at what the audience might do with this new knowledge.
Late last year we told you about a workshop held in Santiago de Chile for engineering professors from leading Latin American universities, which was all about introducing them to the important role technology can play in making new products and services available to the base of the pyramid.
Staff blogger Brendan McNulty discusses challenges facing entrepreneurs at the base of the pyramid, using the example of a Liberian business owner he knows.
Nothing about owning a small business in the developing world is easy.
I received some bad news the other day from Anyaa, a woman I advised while I was in grad school. She founded a bamboo furniture company in the conflict-wracked nation of Liberia in West Africa, and for several months I worked with her to increase sales and attract investors.
