BoP Enterprise Development: A Growth Business

Jerome Peloquin — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:07:31 -0400

The MFI, although a potential entry point for many, is often a one way revolving door to economic dependency. The greatest opportunity is always at the bottom of any market. However, building micro enterprise is all about capacity development access to both human capital and investment capital is necessary before any micro enterprise can scale up, acquire resources, build a tangible asset, and provide decent jobs for the community. Our Ladder of Prosperity transforms the current ad hoc model for supporting poor enterprise...by partnering and linking with the MFI one can identify promising growth businesses at the bottom of their development cycle, and through effective on-site incubation, provide the needed training and development, guidance and mentoring needed for an emergent business asset. Then, linking the enterprise to appropriate financial resources a sustainable and vibrant commercial infrastructure can begin to emerge. We will openly share our model with anyone. Go to: www.microventuresupport.org and download our Position Paper on The Transformation of Micro Fianance.

Guest Post: Platform Strategies for Scaling

Francisco Noguera — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:04:29 -0400

Guest blogger Francisco Mejía is a Principal in the Opportunities for the Majority Office at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), based in Washington DC. He currently leads the preparation of various transactions involving the financing of BoP projects in leading and innovative companies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining the Bank, Francisco was the Director of the Center for Economic Development at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, the leading economic think tank and research institution in Colombia, and consulted for various international organizations.

Autor's note: The views expressed in this blog contribution do not necessarily reflect those of the IADB.

In this post, Mejía responds to Allen Hammond's series on taking Base of the Pyramid models to scale. This week, NextBillion.net will publish responses from a number of BoP experts and practitioners, followed by a concluding post from Hammond.

By Francisco Mejía

The "sector approach to scale" that Al Hammond is advocating is entirely consistent with the fact that needs are "sector specific": we all have housing, health or education needs. And it is also consistent with the idea that scale can be achieved by taking advantage of the notion that similarities in sector specific market conditions and industry structures might validate "easy" translation of business models from one place to another.

But this approach has shortcomings, one of which we could dub the "lost in translation" challenge. If one tried to replicate the CEMEX Patrimonio Hoy self-construction model from Mexico to Chile or Argentina, one would find that in those markets, self construction is virtually non existent.

(This post continues past the break; click "Read More" to continue)

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BoP Enterprise Development: A Growth Business

Guest Post: Platform Strategies for Scaling