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On Monday, July 19, 2010, Opportunities for the Majority held a "BOP Modeling Workshop" to teach executives from a range of companies about the elements of base of the pyramid business models.
On Monday, July 19, representatives from dozens of companies gathered in Miami for a Base of the Pyramid (BOP) Modeling Workshop organized by the Inter-American Development Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority Initiative and Dalberg Global Development Advisors. The participants came from a wide variety of sectors, including construction, manufacturing, agro-industry, financial services and business consulting. But they all shared an interest in learning more about BOP business models – that is, how companies are finding new ways of engaging with low income communities.
Opportunities for the Majority manager Luiz Ros announces the launch of the Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets. Through a workshop and a competitive application process, the program seeks to identify and nurture innovative new business models for the BOP in Latin America and the Caribbean.
I’m very excited to announce the launch of the Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets. This is an idea we’ve been developing for some time at the IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority initiative. Over the last several years we’ve worked with a range of companies on projects that engage with the base of the pyramid in Latin America and the Caribbean.
News from around the Majority Markets community: New projects, upcoming events and recommended readings, including a tool for companies developing inclusive business models, a University of Michigan workshop on evaluating impact and a series on social entrepreneurship.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development: WBSCD introduced a presentation and simulation tool, “The Inclusive Business Challenge.” This Power Point-based tool is designed to help guide companies through the process of understanding the risks and rewards of developing and launching inclusive business ventures. It was produced by the members of its 2009 Future Leadership Team, a WBSCD program that brings up and coming business professionals together, both to develop leadership skills and to deepen their understanding of the role busines
Luiz Ros, manager of the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority initiative, pays tribute to C.K. Prahalad, a leader in the field of developing business models that engage the BOP. Prahalad recently passed away at the age of 69, but his legacy will be seen for years to come.
I was very saddened to hear over the weekend that C.K. Prahalad passed away. An Indian-born management expert, businessman and professor, he could be called “the father of the base of the pyramid” thanks to his unique understanding of the needs and potential of our world’s poorest people.
An interview with Pedro Bulcão, executive director of Brazil's SINAF Group, about his company's innovative approach to selling life insurance to low-income customers.
There are many ways private companies can serve base of the pyramid (BOP) populations. These underserved communities represent a large untapped market and, as such, offer a number of opportunities to organizations willing to address their basic needs in a responsible and profitable way.
Two leading Mexican companies, Mi Tienda and CEMEX, were recognized at the IDB’s Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Cancun, Mexico, for their innovative projects that engage with low-income populations in Mexico.
On Friday, March 19, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno meet with Jose Ignacio Avalos, a leading social entrepreneur who has been instrumental in creating major nonprofit organizations that address critical needs of the poor in Mexico, including Mi Tienda, a company that supplies hundreds of small grocery stores in rural communities in Mexico.
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.
The second in a series of IDB-hosted Strategic Partners dialogues proposes a forward-looking agenda centered around the topic of market-based strategies and the results they can deliver for the base of the pyramid in the region.
The second in a series of IDB-hosted Strategic Partners’ dialogue proposed a forward-looking agenda centered around the topic of market-based strategies and the results they can deliver for the base of the pyramid in the region. Mixing strategic stock-taking with practical discussion on current issues, a lively dialogue was created that touched different topics, ranging from strategy and innovation to the role of multilateral institutions in this new space.
Only 13% of lower and middle-income Mexicans use the Internet, in many cases because computer access in rural areas is limited or nonexistent. Learn about a pilot project that is helping connect villagers in the Yucatan region to the rest of the world through affordable, high quality Internet service.
At about 2:00 pm on Thursday, July 9, I received an e-mail saying, “we are at a store and it works!” I knew exactly what this cryptic message meant and where it was coming from: a remote rural village in Yucatan, Mexico, where many houses do not have electricity and, until that moment, access to Internet was limited only to the very few who could afford a thirty minute walk and a ME$200 taxi ride to the nearest town.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the World Food Programme are working together to provide a "premix" of vitamin and mineral supplements to Haitians struggling after last month's earthquake. Find out how this effort is part of a unique opportunity for the private sector to help fight hunger.
In the weeks since the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, we have all read heartbreaking stories, like this one in the New York Times, about the millions of Haitians left struggling to meet basic daily needs. So I was heartened to see an announcement from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition regarding their collaboration with the U.N. World Food Programme.
