What's in a name, a brand, a catchphrase? In some sense, everything. But a brand/name/phrase is only as good as the content behind it. So when U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon recently declared 2008 to be "the year of the 'bottom billion'," I paid attention - after all, Ban's declaration has the force of the U.N. behind it.

Upon hearing this statement, my first thought was actually a question: if 2008 is the year of the 'bottom billion', does that preclude 2008 from being the year of the 'next billion' as well?

I thought a lot about this, and came to believe that 'bottom billion' and 'next billion' need not be mutually exclusive. My conclusion is based partly on data: if there are 4 billion in the base of the pyramid, then there's room for both a bottom AND a next billion. (I cringed when thinking about this - these data are quite daunting when thought about in this way.)

Beyond numbers, however, there is a case to be made that 2008 should be the year of both the bottom and the next billion. In fact, as we argued in The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid, these two elements of the BoP couldn't be more different - and they merit different approaches.

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Yesterday, as I rode the metro home from work, I browsed through the obituaries section, as is my daily habit.  While reading the newspaper, however, I came across a news obituary relevant to my work, and to NextBillion.net.  I had not heard, but P.K. Sethi - an Indian surgeon and the mind behind Jaipur Foot - died January 6 of a heart attack.  To Sethi's family go our condolences.

Some may be wondering why Sethi's obituary is newsworthy on NextBillion.  For long-time BoP watchers, the answer is easy: Jaipur Foot.  The project, Sethi's brainchild, was the subject of a 2003 case study by C.K. Prahalad and a team of University of Michigan MBA students.  In it, they described how Jaipur Foot

created a low-cost prosthesis that it fits on sixteen thousand patients annually, allowing their return to their chosen professions in the fields and cities without loss of income or productivity.

You can find the full case study at the old XMAP site, or read about it in the context of other world-class BoP healthcare models.

If anything, we should celebrate Sethi as a pioneer - one who saw the BoP as a market worthy of high-quality innovation, service and attention.  He may belong in the same class as Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy - founder of Aravind Eye Hospital - whom we remembered similarly on this site back in August of 2006.