That's actually a very good

gordman — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:18:59 -0400

That's actually a very good approach. Sure the opinions are shared, but that the analytics job, if you want to succeed you have to accept the "new" as a constant factor. A wonderful example of business success stands for Frigidaire parts manufacturer. We can learn a lot if we keep our eyes open.

A Theory of Microloan Borrowing Rates

Pienso...LuegoExisto — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:18:11 -0400

Ethan: You might also be interested in this new Columbia working paper on microfinance: http://pienso.typepad.com/pienso/2006/08/small_loans_on_.html

Selling to the Poor

Ethan Arpi — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:48:32 -0400

Today, the Financial Times covers Casas Bahia, a BOP favorite from Brazil which has also been discussed in CK Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Although the FT adds little to the debate about extending credit to low-income consumers, it still provides important exposure to businesses that are engaging the poor. Below, I have highlighted some of the more interesting points raised in the article and added some of my own commentary.

Could selling to the poor be more than just turning a profit?

Michael Klein, managing director, says one reason for the company’s success lies in something understood by his father, a Polish immigrant, when he began selling table and bed linen from a handcart more than 50 years ago: “He understood that the poor want to be treated with respect. They want to be treated as if they were rich.”

(Sure, even the poor have their pride. But being rich and acting rich are two different things.)

Consumers or citizens? Can we buy our way into citizenship?

Five decades on, with annual sales of R$12bn ($5.56bn), this is still the case. “We help people achieve citizenship,” Mr Klein says. “When one of our lorries delivers a refrigerator to a house in a favela [shanty town], it tells the neighbours that this customer is an honest person, a person of dignity and responsibility, a person with access to credit.”

(Maybe…the rhetoric is a little strong. I’m not so sure that people immediately equate a refrigerator with honesty.)

NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Selling to the Poor - Comments

That's actually a very good

A Theory of Microloan Borrowing Rates

Selling to the Poor