Editor's note: Tayo Akinyemi will be starting the MBA program at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management this fall.

I’m leaving for business school today, so this will be my last post on NextBillion.net for awhile. Although I didn’t answer all of my twenty questions (and attempted to answer questions that I hadn’t posed originally), I truly enjoyed blogging and expanding my knowledge about all things BoP. Needless to say, I will take the remaining questions with me to business school; I have no doubt that I’ll gain valuable insight there. In the meantime, I’ll apply a very quick and dirty analysis to what remains. Also, in keeping with the inquisitive nature of this blog, I’ll throw out a few more questions and food for thought.

Is "Base of the Pyramid" just MNC neocolonialism all over again? Will MNCs behave differently in this space than they have in the past? Can power be successfully decentralized and distributed?

Potentially yes, but the concept of BoP as nouveau neocolonialism runs contrary to what BoP business development is about. Frameworks like the BoP protocol have been designed to view MNCs and BoP communities as partners co-creating mutually beneficial business opportunities. Additionally, systems and institutions are created and implemented by people, so naiveté notwithstanding; we can influence how these entities perform. As long as the basic principles are respected, it is possible that the worst case scenario may be avoided.

Must there be a trade-off between doing well and “doing good”?

How close does BoP come to closing that gap? Where does BoP fit along the public/private sector continuum?

Does CSR, Public-Private Partnership, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, venture philanthropy = BOP?

Is this really about devising a hybrid system that works better for everyone?

Certainly there are trade-offs, but it appears that the gap is closing. Pushing that boundary is the reason why I’ve chosen to focus on BoP and pursue a business degree. To me, BoP is the counterpoint in the balance between social and financial profit and promotes the notion that the pursuit of social good can be a core, not ancillary, function of business. Superficially speaking, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, and venture philanthropy seem to focus on “entrepreneurializing” socially-focused organizations and pursuits; while corporate social responsibility (CSR), public private partnerships and BoP aim to leverage private enterprise for social good. Clearly, these are only the broad strokes, and don’t capture the complexity of the similarities and differences.

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Usually people at the BOP cannot afford to pay for insurance or health care. When they fall ill, they end up spending all their own money on surgery, doctors’ appointments, tests – they simply cannot afford health care. Micro-insurance offers an alternative approach to this problem. At affordable premiums, people at the BOP can have access to health care. However, few people in the BOP know how insurance in general even works.

The Micro-Insurance Academy (MIA) based in New Delhi trains and advises micro-insurance units serving the poor. This organization contacted the NextBillion team letting us know that they are launching an Innovation Contest in ideas of how to explain to the people in the BOP what health insurance is and how it works. MIA writes,

As (micro) health insurance is difficult to explain, the MIA invites proposals for innovative, intuitive and original ideas to explain the value proposition of health insurance for poor people and grassroots groups. Proposals could include good stories, anecdotes, games, simulations, picture-stories, scripts for video clips or short movies and the like, to explain insurance to persons with no prior insurance experience.

The prize of the competition is €1,000, and a jury of seven people will select the winning proposal among the submissions received by the deadline: August 31.

NextBillion encourages our readers to participate in this competition. Micro-insurance is a good way for people in the BOP to have access to health care. And if they do not understand in a clear way how micro-insurance – or insurance in general – works, then they will be missing out. This is the perfect opportunity to contribute in capacity-building strategies for the BOP, and at the same time compete for a financial prize – besides, who doesn’t need some extra money?