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Misconceptions on Low Income Housing Markets and Strategic Implications for BoP Business Models
According to our publication ?The Next 4 Billion? yearly expenditures on housing in the BoP market is about $331.8 billion.The unmet need for housing is often equated with the need for new housing. However, these segments usually build their houses incrementally, a room at a time. This has significant implications for BoP business models.
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Low-cost housing in Mumbai: A market at the base of the pyramid?
Estimates suggest that India has a shortfall of more than 25 million low-cost or affordable houses. The result is sprawling slums that ring some of the country’s largest cities and a bewildering maze of tenement buildings in which three-generations-under-one-roof-families jostle for space and privacy in spaces of 150 square feet and above. As Supriya Menon said recently, they say it is easy to find everything in Mumbai except for a house ( BBC , 15 June). Just lik...
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Mobile Health for Development: Challenges and Opportunities
The Rockefeller Foundation, UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation recently announced the formation of the mHealth Alliance to facilitate innovation and maximize impact in the field of mobile health (mHealth), which has drawn attention to this area. The Alliance will expand the mHealth initiatives of multiple organizations around the world.
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MicroEnergy Credits Corporation: Catalyzing Clean Energy for the BoP
It is impossible to argue against the need for reliable energy at the BoP. Energy drives every facet of society, from nourishment to communication. According to the UNDP, at least 1.2 billion people suffer from energy poverty, which has profound impact on health, education, and livelihoods. ...
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- Energy
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The Base of the Latin American Pyramid
By Otaviano Canuto Thomas Trebat was right when he remarked here yesterday an enormous share of the Latin American wealth generated in recent years has piled up in the hands of a privileged few that may or may not be playing a useful role in turning the present boom into self-sustained econ...
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- Finance
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Life at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Are Environmental Technologies the Way Out?
VANCOUVER, August 1, 2007 (GLOBE-Net) ? Roughly four billion people, mostly in developing countries, subsist at the bottom of the economic and social pyramid. Here they are vulnerable not only to the risks associated with poverty, unemployment and social exclusion, but also to a host of environmental threats including poor air quality, contaminated water and climate change. Even though they live on less than US $2 per day, these people represent a huge potential market. Linking their entrepreneu...
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- Environment, Technology
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BusinessWeek on BOP – A False Dichotomy?
The latest issue of BusinessWeek, available online, features two articles about “base of the pyramid” (BOP) strategy and practice.? I’m always encouraged when BOP ideas and practitioners make it in the mainstream media, and these articles are no exception. I do wonder,...
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Consumer Credit Hits Brazil
For someone like Marcia Regina da Cruz, a Brazilian janitor who earns just over $150 per month, grocery shopping is a painfully difficult task.? What this mother of three can buy to feed her children is almost always determined by the amount of spare change she can muster on a given day.? So...
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