WANTED: Innovative companies for a $760 billion market
It has been more than ten years since we first read about the base of the pyramid (BOP) and the large and virtually untapped market represented by this socio-economic segment. People at the BOP in Latin America and the Caribbean live on less than $10 a day, but they have benefited from the region’s economic growth between 2000 and 2010 and their incomes have been growing ever since. Latin America’s BOP now encompasses 406 million people and represents a market of $760 billion. A market segment that awaits for innovative companies.
The First Commandment of Social Impact Generation
By Pablo Antón Díaz, Opportunities for the Majority The first commandment for companies and organizations that aim at generating social impact is adopting mechanisms to measure it. Every line is the perfect length if you don’t measure it, and this same rule applies to impact investing. Narratives on a handful of beneficiaries can be useful and serve as great instruments for attracting new investors, but the only sure way of knowing whether your efforts are indeed being relevant in the lives of people is through systematic measurement.
Counterintuitive ideas are the right answer for sustainable enterprises
Most business models are formulated by the top of the pyramid. Many business leaders and academics write on the must haves of a successful base of the pyramid (BOP) business model. Still quite a few of those business endeavors fail. While reasons for failure vary, experience shows that the ability to observe, listen and understand the BOP’s social codes and priorities is key to successfully formulate and set up profitable, sustainable enterprises that target low-income markets.
Diversity and financial returns in higher education in Peru
How the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola revolutionizes access to higher education while still staying competitive By Bettina Boekle, Social Sustainability Specialist, IDB Would you believe me if I told you that in a large, prestigious Peruvian university, 97 percent of the students receiving a governmental scholarship self-identified as indigenous and speak numerous native languages amongst themselves? Yes, the 97 percent is real. Less and less is higher education in Peru attainable only for the upper class. Thanks to scholarship program Beca 18, Peru is offering free access to higher education for students from low-income families and remote areas of Peru. And the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL) is becoming a more diverse institution. To offer more entry points, for example to a growing emerging middle class, this week USIL and the IDB are officially launching an innovative student guarantee fund coupled with a clear implementation map around the principle of shared value.