NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - BoP, Geopolitics, and Giving the People What They Need - Comments

poverty alleviation vs. wealth creation

Tayo Akinyemi — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:08:12 -0400

Hi Lance,

Your points are well-taken. This is certainly not a distinction that I made in my blog post. Personally, I don't assume that poverty alleviation doesn't include and/or mean wealth creation. In retropsect, I realize that the terms I used have specific connotations in "development speak", so thank you for clarifying that.

Thanks

Tayo Akinyemi — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:29:13 -0400

Hi Helen,

Many thanks for writing! I'm glad that you found my posts helpful. That's very encouraging. Please feel free to contact Rob Katz for my contact information. I'd really like to chat with you further.

WRI party

Tayo Akinyemi — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:23:44 -0400

Hi Andre,

Thank you for your compliment regarding my post. I truly appreciate it! And yes, it's definitely a WRI party at Cornell.

Thanks

Andre — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:07:12 -0400

Looks like a WRI party at Cornell. Sure you'll all have a great time. Thanks for your posts. Very insightful. Shall miss them.

poverty alleviation...

lance durham — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:09:36 -0400

"Poverty alleviation" and "wealth creation" are quite different mindsets. ...If you are the type of person who cares most about "alleviating poverty", it pays to ask yourself 'which mindset is more successful at alleviating poverty'?

A "wealth creation" mindset leads one to find human needs and fulfill them in a self-sustaining/ self-growing manner; a "poverty alleviation" mindset leads one to find human needs and fulfill them in a non-self-sustaining/ donor-funded manner.

...It may well be that, although the "poverty alleviation" mindset is more noble, the "wealth creation" mindset is more effective at actually alleviating poverty. Was Adam Smith correct?

What I love about the BOP crowd is that it is more about "wealth creation" than "poverty alleviation". ...This, really, is why Prahalad's book was so refreshing for so many; finally, someone was talking about "co-creating wealth", "co-creating value". This is the language of business and Prahalad spoke it; if you want to put the trillions of capital that MNCs possess to work in the developing world, we must speak their language and show them the opportunity.

...There is a campaign in the US to devote 1% of the yearly budget to poverty alleviation. That's great, but 1% of the budget is small potatoes! Businesses and wealthy investors have far, far more than that! If 1% of their capital was at work at the BOP, then we'd really have something!

Hi Tayo, I couldn't find an

Helen — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:07:33 -0400

Hi Tayo, I couldn't find an email for you to make this more personal, but I just wanted to thank you for all of your posts on NextBillion. I've really enjoyed your perspective and struggling with you and your questions to get a better handle on BOP and entrepreneurship, etc. I'm currently a Princeton in Asia fellow so I was excited to see in your profile that you were previously in Africa. I would really like to have some experience in BOP after my time in Manila and your posts and NextBillion in general hopefully plant some seeds in my mind for future opportunities. Best of luck at business school and I hope to see more of you on here in the future! Helen

BoP, Geopolitics, and Giving the People What They Need

Tayo Akinyemi — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:12:27 -0400

Editor's note: Tayo Akinyemi will be starting the MBA program at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management this fall.

I’m leaving for business school today, so this will be my last post on NextBillion.net for awhile. Although I didn’t answer all of my twenty questions (and attempted to answer questions that I hadn’t posed originally), I truly enjoyed blogging and expanding my knowledge about all things BoP. Needless to say, I will take the remaining questions with me to business school; I have no doubt that I’ll gain valuable insight there. In the meantime, I’ll apply a very quick and dirty analysis to what remains. Also, in keeping with the inquisitive nature of this blog, I’ll throw out a few more questions and food for thought.

Is "Base of the Pyramid" just MNC neocolonialism all over again? Will MNCs behave differently in this space than they have in the past? Can power be successfully decentralized and distributed?

Potentially yes, but the concept of BoP as nouveau neocolonialism runs contrary to what BoP business development is about. Frameworks like the BoP protocol have been designed to view MNCs and BoP communities as partners co-creating mutually beneficial business opportunities. Additionally, systems and institutions are created and implemented by people, so naiveté notwithstanding; we can influence how these entities perform. As long as the basic principles are respected, it is possible that the worst case scenario may be avoided.

Must there be a trade-off between doing well and “doing good”?

How close does BoP come to closing that gap? Where does BoP fit along the public/private sector continuum?

Does CSR, Public-Private Partnership, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, venture philanthropy = BOP?

Is this really about devising a hybrid system that works better for everyone?

Certainly there are trade-offs, but it appears that the gap is closing. Pushing that boundary is the reason why I’ve chosen to focus on BoP and pursue a business degree. To me, BoP is the counterpoint in the balance between social and financial profit and promotes the notion that the pursuit of social good can be a core, not ancillary, function of business. Superficially speaking, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, and venture philanthropy seem to focus on “entrepreneurializing” socially-focused organizations and pursuits; while corporate social responsibility (CSR), public private partnerships and BoP aim to leverage private enterprise for social good. Clearly, these are only the broad strokes, and don’t capture the complexity of the similarities and differences.

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