In my previous post about Anand Jaiswal’s article, Erik Simanis left a comment adding one more critique to the approach to BoP markets from a producer/consumer framework. In this critique he refers to “Beyond Basic Needs Business Strategies”, an article he recently co-authored with Stuart Hart and Duncan Duke.

The article offers a very good overview of the current approach that is being developed in their Base of the Pyramid Program and that, by extension, lays the groundwork for their BoP Protocol Initiative. It is written in a clear and concise language and I would  strongly suggest anyone interested in their work to take a look at it. (And for those who want to get a better feeling of what he means, do check out Robert Katz’s interview from last April).

In his article, Simanis et al. criticize the oversimplification of the BoP term, which has ended up reducing poverty alleviation and development to the managerial terms of customer needs and product development. The talk about a “BoP market” has falsely created an image of a homogeneous market, where there is no homogeneity and where, often, there is no market either.

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The goal: Create economic opportunity for Indian villagers so they can build sustainable livelihoods in their local settings, preserve their traditions and avoid the need to migrate to large urban centers. The means: Industree, a social enterprise that promotes locally owned and operated craft manufacturing enterprises, aggregates their production and then sells it through a proprietary retail network.

Industree operates under an interesting hybrid structure. The non-profit  organization plays the  role of building the production base, building capacity amongst and transferring critical skills to the craftsmen that own and operate the production units. The for-profit, on the other hand, plays the role of aggregating production and buiding the entire supply chain that ends in the shelves.

Neelam Chibber is the leader of Industree and was one of the 16 entrepreneurs taking part at this year's Global Social Benefit Incubator, at Santa Clara University. Her vision and drive are admirable. Her integrated and holistic approach is worth praising and replicating, especially in a world where social / economical pressures seem to push larger and larger populations into cities, but simply lacks the resources necessary to make this trend sustainable.