NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

The most popular buzzword at the 2015 BoP Global Network Summit was “BoP Ecosystem” (a participant tracked 32 counts of the term in one panel). Heads nodded in agreement as decision makers and industry experts made strong cases for working together to achieve scale and multiply impact. Unfortunately, at the time there were less than a handful of examples that could truly illustrate complex and interconnected networks in action that operated beyond silos and facilitated mutual interests.

Fast forward to 2018 and the landscape has changed, as these partnerships and platforms are very much an emerging reality. One such partnership is Driving Impact Venture Action (DIVA), which brings together corporations, impact investors, and philanthropic organizations such as Novozymes, DSM, Pillsbury, and WBCSD to support corporate impact ventures for the SDGs. Another example is the Barefoot College “Solar Engineers” platform, which has been replicated in Honduras in partnership with the Government of India and UNDP’s Small Grants Programme, directly demonstrating Sustainable Development Goal 17 in action. There are many more such partnerships and platforms being sought and developed to serve the billions of underserved today.

The 3^rd BoP Global Network Summit has been designed to catalyze and support such partnerships to build BoP ecosystems through its focus on three core strategies – BoP Circular Economy, BoP Platform Engagement and BoP Market Engagement. About 200 participants from 15+ countries will be coming together April 18 – 20 in New Delhi, India to contribute to an action agenda that will continue beyond the convening. Rather than discussing innovation in isolation, (optional) field experiences have been built in to co-create solutions. And rather than primarily consisting of talking heads, 15 working groups have been carefully curated based on ongoing efforts, to lead workshops and bring to life some of these strategies. Find out more, and register, at: http://www.bopglobalnetwork.net/summit18/

Note: Early bird registration ends Feb. 28 and NextBillion will be raffling off two free tickets to the event through the NextBillion Notes e-newsletter subscribers in the coming weeks. Subscribe to NextBillion Notes for your chance to win.

Chiropriya (Priya) Dasgupta is the director of strategic initiatives at Enterprise for a Sustainable World.