Arun Maira (right), Chairman of The Boston Consulting Group in India, has written an excellent editorial in India’s prominent business daily, The Economic Times.

In his view, Inclusion is the mantra for growth in bottom of the pyramid markets.

Maira writes:

Down-sizing products and services to make them affordable is one way to tap into this potential market. The other is to accelerate the growth of incomes of people below the required income line by providing them with opportunities to increase their incomes through employment or business entrepreneurship.

Maira goes on to point out that the organizations which will succeed in these markets will be those which don’t merely down-size existing products but invest in developing innovative business models.

He gives examples of Ford and Hindustan Lever which have accelerated the growth of incomes of potential consumers by providing them with opportunities to increase their incomes through employment or business entrepreneurship.

These successful models have three common threads: compassion, innovation, and partnerships.

Reports such as The Next 4 Billion [WRI - IFC] have helped draw attention to the $5 trillion BOP market. But the onus on businesses that seek to tap into these opportunities is to move beyond the math to understanding these markets and developing innovative models.

The triple-bottom-line focused Stratus VCIII fund announced its first investment this morning, a major milestone for the firm and more good news for anyone watching the growth of Brazil's sustainable finance sector. The company, Ecosorb Environmental Protection Technology, serves as an environmental consultant to major infrastructure projects and operations.

As a timely reminder of the growing importance of this sector, Ecosorb led an emergency response team to contain the impacts of a commercial tow-ship that sunk in Porto de Santos, SP, just days before the announcement from Stratus. The company proved its value by dramatically minimizing the environmental impact of the damaged vessel, safely containing hazardous materials and working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

"This is a very strong first investment for us," says Philippe Lisbona, manager of the São Paulo-based VCIII fund, "there were three major factors leading to our selection of Ecosorb as an investee." One primary reason, Philippe explains, is the impressive growth of the environmental technologies and services sector, which has become a R$5-6 billion market.

The niche in which Ecosorb began operating, emergency response systems, was essentially created in Brazil in 2001 following regulations requiring an environmental component for new infrastructure projects. In a mere six years since, Ecosorb has become a key player in what is now a R$200 million annual market, with three strategic response units providing precision monitoring technology to minimize the impacts of any industry-related environmental disasters.

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