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It is still not widely appreciated that the rapid spread of mobile telephony, and the only slightly slower spread of Internet services, have over the past 6 years transformed the lives of more people at the BOP than all of the world’s development projects together. More than 1.5 billion people in developing countries now have mobiles, and cybercafés even in small towns are crowded every hour they are open. This transformation has been almost entirely driven by the private sector, although development efforts played a key role in improving regulations to make it possible. The spread of ICT has empowered users—with access to livelihoods, critical market information, and other well-documented benefits—and created wealth for mobile companies.

This remarkable transformation—not yet matched in any other sector—can be attributed to two factors. First is the entrepreneurial drive of (especially) local mobile companies, who have developed and refined a pre-paid business model with voice and text messaging services available in ever-smaller units, the "sachet marketing" of ICT. The companies have also frequently developed vast networks of small resellers of their services, creating income streams for the resellers and easy availability of services for customers. They are rapidly pioneering new services, such as remittances and banking services, and perhaps before long, educational services over mobiles. Think of it as business model push.

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What follows below is an excerpt from the Energy Chapter of the The Next 4 Billion report. The chapter contains two country specific case studies. The study below, on India, provides a comprehensive preview of much of the data and analysis available in the energy chapter.

India's energy story points to trends seen consistently across surveyed countries, namely; inferior fuel source use, especially in rural areas, amongst the poorest income groups, whether for cooking or for lighting, that decreases as incomes rise; a poignant example of the "BOP Penalty." These inferior fuel sources are a risk both to the health of the poor and to the surrounding environment.

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The launch of our The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid report yesterday triggered a number of thoughts and conversations about how forces are starting to align in support of market-based approaches to alleviating poverty. First, the standing room only crowd in the large auditorium of the International Finance Corporation (private sector arm of the World Bank), largely from NGOs and development agencies, says something about the appeal of finding private sector “solutions” to improve conditions at the base of the pyramid.

Second, the hunger for hard data on BOP markets and opportunities—the essence of the report—among both large agencies and large companies was palpable. As Nariman Behravesh of Global Insight put it, there is a market for the data, because no one has had any comprehensive picture of the BOP until now. Over lunch, Mattia Romani of the Shell strategy group explained that, to a senior manager trying to decide which projects to green light for capital investment, the existence of data such as that in The Next 4 Billion could make all the difference. Jonathan Lash, WRI’s president, shared a similar experience from a recent Board of Directors meeting of an investment company—who, hearing about the report, were almost desperate to get copies. Our corporate underwriters are also anticipating the detailed briefings we have promised them on the data.

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Today's The Next 4 Billion book launch event at the International Finance Corporation was a success by any measure.  There was a full house to hear C.K. Prahalad, Nariman Behravesh, Michael Klein, and Jonathan Lash.  Books ran out (if you were there and didn't get a copy, let us know).  We will have a full recap of the day's events here at NextBillion.net tomorrow; Al Hammond has already promised to blog, and I will be offering my synopsis of the speakers and Q&A.

In the meantime, a few small articles have appeared here and there regarding the book and its data.  Earthtrends developed a set of indicators based on the BOP data inside TN4B, and put out a release highlighting them.  The WRI home page also has an article about the book and how it came to fruition (full disclosure - I wrote that).  Have you seen other articles about the book?  Other sites or blogs covering it?  Please let me know (comments below or by contacting us.)

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A quick reminder, if you may have forgotten: The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid will be released today at the International Finance Corporation.  C.K. Prahalad, Nariman Behravesh, Jonathan Lash, and Michael Klein will be speaking.  Check my post from last Wednesday for the full details; if you need an invitation, please contact us immediately.

The event starts at 11:00 am, which is when the publication's web sites will go live as well.  We have developed special content and discussion space for The Next 4 Billion.  The main publication page features the full-text executive summary in HTML, as well as chapter-by-chapter PDF downloads.  Readers can also access in-depth data tables on the BOP in 36 countries, and PowerPoint graphic presentations.  You can also order the print book (hint, hint) and read author bios.

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The word "cool" has many connotations and it seems to be one of those colloquialisms that exists in every culture - "chido" (spelling?) if you're passing through Mexico, Brazilians use a variety of expressions; "legal" and "maça" are two common equivalents. The meaning or definition changes drastically from place to place as well; I remember when I was traveling around Brazil and the popular theme song to the number one novela at the time was written by Michael Bolton.

Michael Bolton was thus in many ways at the height of cool if you happened to be in Goinia in 2001. I doubt Mr. Bolton would have ever gotten the same treatment in the US. Despite the cultural rift over songs like "Can I Touch You...There?" I did find in Brazil that sometimes cool is universal, and I'm not talking about Coca-Cola commercials. Brazilian icon Gilberto Gil embodies this concept in every language everywhere - there is a reason that the man who helped turn his nation's musical sensibilities upside down with the advent of Tropicalia is now the country's cultural ambassador. So when you see this icon of "legal" holding up a sustainably made, FSC-certified guitar, you have a feeling that a genuine trend has just taken off.

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Discussions of base of the pyramid (BOP) markets have, until now, relied principally on business case studies and rough estimates of market size. On Monday, March 19, WRI and the NextBillion.net team (in conjunction with the IFC) will launch our publication, The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid. "The Next 4 Billion" uses household survey data to measure the empirical size and scope of BOP markets.

The launch event by invitation only and will include remarks from BOP experts including:

• C.K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
• Nariman Behravesh, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, Global Insight, Inc.
• Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute
• Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development and IFC Chief Economist
  

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I take pleasure in introducing three gentlemen who exemplify the spirit of innovation in rural India. These innovators demonstrated their ideas at the Rural Innovators event at Engineer 2007 - the national level symposium of NITK Surathkal.

Annasaheb Udgavi is a farmer from Sadalga village in Karnataka. Aged 80, he hasn't received any formal education and yet has a good grasp of basic science and engineering. He is highly enthusiastic and enjoys helping solve people's problems through his ideas. His Chandraprabha Water Gun (Rain gun) is an innovative sprinkler, which washes away white flies and Aphids from the tobacco plant. The sprinkler system is also useful in irrigating sugarcane.

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"Growing Inclusive Markets" is a new multi-stakeholder initiative, led by the United Nations Development Programme, which strives to identify and examine the vast unmet potential at the base of the world economic pyramid-the population of 2.7 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. Truly inclusive economic growth depends on embracing the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) not only as consumers with unmet needs for goods and services, but also as drivers of growth, innovators and producers of wealth. By identifying the BOP's needs, and exploring how meeting those needs can bolster development as well as private-sector bottom lines, the initiative will inform policy decisions and provide valuable incentive for private-sector engagement.

We are currently looking for an expert with a track record of publication on the BOP to do a 10,000 word BOP literature survey for this Initiative. Preference will be given to candidates who have published in academic journals on the topic. Interested candidates should submit their resume with writing samples to the programme manager of the Initiative, Sahba Sobhani at sahba – dot – sobhani (at) undp – dot – org.

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Unitus, Inc. is a Seattle, WA based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization creating innovative solutions to global poverty using a venture capital model. Unitus also has offices in San Francisco and Bangalore, India and relies on innovative financial instruments and the resources of individuals and foundations to fulfill its mission. Unitus dramatically accelerates the growth of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and demonstrates that MFIs can be run as profitable, large-scale, poverty-focused businesses with links to formal capital markets. It has been named one of the most innovative nonprofit organizations by Fast Company magazine for two years in a row. In addition, Unitus was named one of the best places to work in Seattle by Seattle Metropolitan Magazine.

Unitus is hiring a Chief Operating Officer.  See the attached job description (click "Read More" and scroll down) for the full details, including how to apply.