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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.
Staff blogger Claudia Martinez says that while many companies are starting to really understand the concepts behind base of the pyramid business models, there are still a few that don't quite "get it" yet.
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.
Opportunities for the Majority investment officer Susan Olsen talks about the challenges of finding housing solutions that work for low-income families, and spotlights a new "rent to own" concept that has caught her attention.
At the IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, we are particularly concerned about finding solutions that provide more dignified housing options for the BoP. After all, the home is the basis for all economic and social life in the family unit. If living conditions aren’t adequate, children are more susceptible to respiratory illnesses from dust stirred up off dirt floors, or fumes from kerosene lamps and gas stoves.
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:
Luiz Ros, manager of the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, talks about his roots in Brazil and his hopes for the upcoming BASE Forum in Sao Paulo.
Luiz Ros has been manager of the IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority Initiative since 2008. Before coming to the IDB, he worked on sustainable enterprise investments at the World Resources Institute and directed community projects at Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment.
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.
Three leading impact investors joined the IDB as co-lenders to an innovative savings and loan cooperative in rural Ecuador. Get the behind-the-scenes story on how the deal came together.
The Jardín Azuayo cooperative of the Paute region in southern Ecuador is an amazing example of success coming out of tragedy. In 1993, a landslide and flood devastated the area and the rural people were left to rebuild their homes and their lives. Three years later, in 1996, community leaders formed a savings and loan cooperative designed to let each village manage its own reconstruction, according to its needs and priorities.
