In "The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid," the authors analyzed several markets. However, only one market - financial services - was not estimated in terms of exact size and scope.

Financial services can be a fiendishly hard thing to measure, but is at the same time a crucial tool to develop markets for BoP customers. In fact, financial markets often help other BoP markets flourish. Data measuring access and efficiency in financial markets are notoriously hard to come across in emerging countries, because most of these markets lie under the cover of informal economies.

A new publication by the World Bank, Finance for All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access, tries to give an overview of the most recent advances and conclusions about the improvement of access to financial services for the poor. It is a superb report. Superb, but very hard to read. For those who want to avoid the econometrics and statistical analysis, I would suggest reading only the Overview.

The study analyzes how financial access provides opportunities for the poor and for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Since a defining characteristic of BoP markets is their non-integration with global markets and their subjection to higher prices (monetary or not) for most of their goods, building inclusive financial systems means equalizing opportunities between BoP and non-BoP markets.

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Guest blogger Brian Trelstad is the Chief Investment Officer of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund serving the 4 billion people living on less than $4 a day. Before joining Acumen Fund, Brian Trelstad spent four years at McKinsey & Company as a consultant in the healthcare and non-profit practices and as an editor of the McKinsey Quarterly. Prior to McKinsey, he worked as a case writer at Stanford University's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and advised a number of early-stage technology companies.

By Brian Trelstad

(This article first appeared on the Acumen Fund blog.)

Yesterday's visit by President Bush to the A to Z Textile Mills factory in Arusha, Tanzania, was a tremendous boost for Africa's fight against malaria and for African economic development. A to Z is now the only manufacturer of long-lasting insecticide nets in Africa, supplying nearly 8% of the continent’s demand for these life-saving products and employing over 5,000 people.

ABE, another local company that we have supported, has a long-term supply agreement to produce Artemisia, and by the end of the year should be producing about 15% of the world's supply. ABE also employs thousands of farmers in cultivating a valuable cash crop.

As we reflect on our experience with these two malaria ventures, we think that the President’s Malaria Initiative could go further in spurring economic development in Africa with a few policy changes in the allocation of funding for malaria prevention and treatment commodities.

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