Feet are important to discussions of the BOP hypothesis. I’m not talking about feet as in the unit of length, but rather as those awkward appendages connected to your legs. From a base of the pyramid vantage point, which is the best foot forward?

I did some thinking about this, and decided that there are two ways to view feet through the BOP lens. The first is negative, and has to do with the penalty poor people are subject to by virtue of their poverty. We all know, for instance, that those lacking access to basic services (water, energy, healthcare) must walk long distances – a scene from the HBO movie "Yesterday," where the title character must make a day-long walk (twice) to visit a once-monthly health clinic, comes to mind for healthcare in particular.

But your feet aren’t only for walking, nor are they simply an illustration of poverty – there is another foot forward. Feet can also be powerful instruments of change at the base of the pyramid, when enabled by the right technologies. Step-action generators charge cell phones in rural Rwanda and treadle pumps irrigate Kenyan farms – there’s a whole list of so-called "leapfrogging technologies" (not necessarily foot-powered) that are covered well by Alex Steffen over at Worldchanging. Here are some reviews and updates of a few good foot-related projects that have been in the news lately: Freeplay and Kickstart.

“Shit business is serious business,” explains Otunba Gadaffi, founder of DMT, a Nigerian based mobile toilet provider.  And he is right—poor sanitation is a major problem in this burgeoning nation of over 130 million, causing an array of preventable diseases like dysentery and cholera.  In fact, an editorial published last month by the Daily Champion, a Lagos based newspaper, laments the lack of publicly available toilets in Nigeria’s cities and the unsightly occurrences that result: “…Nigerians suffer the undignified sight of citizens urinating and defecating in open spaces to the embarrassment of onlookers, foreign and local.  No sight or sign is as defining of a people's level of being as that of sane, adult Nigerians openly answering the call of nature without qualms or embarrassment. This is a daily occurrence in all major city centres in the North and South of the country.”  Fortunately for everyone involved, if Mr. Gadaffi gets his way, rogue and shameless defecators, like the ones described the Daily Champion, will have a new and private place to relieve themselves.

One of China's most popular programs right now is a reality-show called "Win in China," a sort of spin-off of the Apprentice model only with minimal shady dealings and fortunately no appearances by Donald Trump. The basic idea is that 108 aspiring entrepreneurs battle to sharpen their business plans, prove their managerial talents and even endure some physical challenges to compete for the CEO position of a company and RMB 10 million of its stock. While many readers out there might be wondering how "you're fired" translates into Mandarin (by the way, it's "ni bei kai chu le"- yes, I actually looked it up), what is really interesting about the program is that it has brought some sustainability issues to the forefront that would not have gotten much attention several years ago.