The Role of the Private Sector in Poverty Alleviation at the Base of the Pyramid
www.microlinks.org/sc/bop

June 23-25, 2009

Join us for this interactive dialogue on microLINKS and share your experiences, learn from others, and connect with other professionals in the field.

Introduction: Hosted by Monica Touesnard of Cornell University's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, with daily discussions facilitated by Kristin O'Planick, Tayo Akinyemi, Mark Milstein, Daniela Ochoa and Michael Goldman.  This Speaker's Corner explores the role of the private sector in poverty alleviation at the base of the economic pyramid.

As the world’s population continues to increase, so do the environmental and social strains on our global system.  Despite technological advances, the number of people living in the base of the economic pyramid are increasing.  Multilateral and non-profit organizations have traditionally been viewed as the entities best suited to respond to and address these problems.  Recently, however, companies are beginning to realize that there is an opportunity to create new business enterprises while simultaneously trying to solve these environmental and humanitarian problems.  As a result, companies are experimenting with new business models in low-income communities using both old and new technologies.  Locally-embedded entrepreneurs are also trying to respond to local needs through new business ventures.  However, it is yet to be determined which models will prove to be successful.


Daily Topics: We invite participants to join us each day to share their ideas and knowledge in the discussion forum. Topics for each day are:

• Day 1 (June 23) Roles for Private Sector Entities: The first day of the discussion will focus on the different roles and opportunities the various entities in the private sector can play. Who has the better opportunity in low income communities – multinational companies, large domestic firms, small/medium sized enterprises, or local entrepreneurs – and why?
  
• Day 2 (June 24) Technologies for Enterprise Development: On the second day, participants discuss the role of technology commercialization in enterprise development in low-income communities. How can clean technologies (such as distributed energy, nanotechnologies and IT) support enterprise development for the very poor? How critical is technology to BoP enterprise development?  Is it really necessary?  What are the challenges and how can they be overcome?
  
• Day 3 (June 25) Cultural, Political, and Geographic Limitations: On the last day, the discussion will focus on how cultural, political and geographic context have an impact on business opportunities for the base of the pyramid.   Are successful BoP enterprises replicable in other regions of the world?  What external factors contribute to their success?  What are the limiting factors?  Can enterprise overcome these challenges to create successful businesses?

What is a Speaker's Corner?
A Speaker's Corner is an online discussion designed to help practitioners share and learn from each other's experiences. You can participate by reading and posting messages directly on this page or by responding to postings through your e-mail. Speaker's Corners are organized monthly. An overview of upcoming discussions is posted on our main Speaker's Corner page. See also the frequently asked questions about virtual conferences. We look forward to your participation in this event.

Documents

Transcript    June SC Transcript.pdf     Publication Date   07/2009      
Synthesis Document    SC Synthesis Document BoP.pdf     Publication Date   07/2009      
Profitable Business Models and Market Creation in the Context of Deep Poverty: A Strategic View    profitable business model and market creation in the context of deep poverty_A Strategic View.pdf     Publication Date   06/2009      
South Africa Case Study: Building Public-Private Partnerships    Building Public-Private Partnerships.pdf     Publication Date   06/2009      

Website Link

Paul Rigterink's International Development Papers (Go)

Discussions

Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid ID: 39339

Subject	Views	new	Posts
Geographical, Political and Cultural Welcome to our third and final day of our discussion focused on the Cultural, Political, and Geographic Limitations of BoP enterprise development. We raise this as a topic, because our experience in ...	454		28
Technology in the BoP Welcome to the second day of our discussion on the role of the private sector in poverty alleviation. Today we will turn our attention to the role of technology commercialization in enterprise ...	383		9
Re: Closing Remarks [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Thanks! Formatted by: Brandon Szabo ::::::::::	274		1
Forum Survey As mentioned in my the closing remarks, you will find the link to the forum survey below.  Your feedback is integral to improving the Speaker's Corner experience and guiding us as we seek to ...	237		1
Closing Remarks Dear all, On behalf of the microLINKS team, I’d like to thank our excellent facilitators for this discussion forum– Monica Touesnard,  Kristin O'Planick, Mark Milstein, Michael Goldman, ...	268		1
Recap of June 25 Speaker's Corner Discussion Today's discussion invited dialogue pertaining to the cultural, political, and geographical limitations of BoP enterprise development, paying specific attention to the question of why certain regions ...	277		2
Re: What's the private sector's role in the BoP And a belated introduction, as I've been traveling the last 48 hours:I live in Kathmandu, Nepal, and am a journalist and the founder of BOP Source , the first social network for the BOP. I write for ...	247		1
Re: Geographical, Political and Cultural Regarding the intersection of marketing and social networks for the BOP - check out BOP Source . We created a platform to directly connect the BOP with companies who want to hire them in the process ...	229		1
Re: BoP [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Hi everyone,I am a writer for NextBillion.net and started BOPSourceto directly connect the BOP tocompanies that want to hire and designproducts and services for the BOP. We are the first social ...	229		1
Re: Clean technology commercialization [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Howdy,I agree. However, mobile phones are an example of a technology developed for the first world that trickled down to the BoP. When I look at innovations that were developed specifically for the ...	280		1
Re: Geographical, Political and Cultural [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyr... Lindsay,The URL is http://home.comcast.net/~prigter/site/Disruptive technologies that I discuss and use in Colombia are :Business Process ReEngineering,micro-irrigation,moringa,mayan breadnut and ...	245		1
Clean technology commercialization As Chen mentioned in his email, the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise recently hosted a forum focused on the intersection of clean technology and BoP enterprise development, an area of ...	248		4
Recap of June 24 Speaker's Corner Discussion Today's discussion invited an exchange of views into the role of technology commercialization in enterprise development in low-income communities. Once again this raised numerous thought provoking ...	286		1
Strict Requirements Building infrastructure in rural India is downright daunting. How do you build millions of structures simultaneously throughout India? No heavy equipment is available. Engineers don’t hang out in ...	265		4
RE: Technology in the BoP [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Dear Saulo and Ben,I would first like to thank Monica and other participants for what has been a stimulating and engaging dialogue.By way of introduction, my name is Giselle Leung and I work at a New ...	317		2
Re: Some questions on BoP research [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Java,I have always been interested in disruptive innovation and have put several of my papers on this subject on my website at http://home.comcast.net/~prigter/site/  (http://home.comcast ...	243		1
What's the private sector's role in the BoP Welcome to the online discussion about the Role of the Private Sector in Poverty Alleviation at the Base of the Pyramid hosted by Cornell’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise.  I am Monica ...	1024		49
Attachments It is great to see the quality of the dialogue. In some postings participants refer to attachments. Unfortunately, the system does not enable attachments to be sent directly to participants. ...	228		1
Technology, Private Enterprise and Root Causes Monica...     First of all, thank you for this forum and thank you to everyone participating for a rich commentary.   Apparently, I had technical problems yesterday and it is doubtful tha ...	253		1
Recap of June 23 Speaker's Corner Discussion Today's discussion sought to examine the role of private sector organizations within the BoP space: their advantages and disadvantages, their distinguishing features, and, perhaps most importantly, ...	336		5
Re: What's the private sector's role in the BoP [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Role of Private Sector in Poverty AlleviationRole of Private Sector in Poverty AlleviationThank you Kristin I like your question of* "Why isn't a profitable business that serves one community very ...	244		2
Value Creation For The BOP Market Hello from Kansas City! The private sector is extremely good at creating value for their shareholders and customers. The private sector is excellent at problem solving, innovation and new produ ...	381		6
RE: What's the private sector's role in the BoP [Discussion Forum: Bottom of the Pyramid] Dear Yousuf. Great question.I work for a large international NGO and I wonder if an organization like World Vision that operates in a community context, primarily rural over the organization's history ...	250		2
Re: What's the private sector's role in the BoP Role of Private Sector in Poverty AlleviationInvolving the Private Sector creating partnerships with the public sector can be a win-win situation to achieve poverty alleviation projects more efficient ...	242		1
Who is best placed to succeed in the BoP? Hello everyone, Great conversation so far. I'm Kristin O'Planick and I'll be helping Monica to facilitate today's conversation. I'm currently an MBA candidate at Cornell University and my background ...	263		1
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