Citadel eyeing slice of $2.3trn market
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
With the global economy turning on its head in the past year, private sector investors have the unprecedented opportunity to participate in a rapidly growing consumer market comprising the world’s 3.7 billion limited-income earners.
“The billions of individuals who claim the smallest pool of the world’s wealth represent, collectively, a rapidly-growing consumer market, an underutilised productive sector, and vast entrepreneurial energy,” said Hisham El Khazindar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Egypt-based investment firm Citadel Capital.
According to a report compiled by the World Economic Forum, globally, 3.7 billion people are largely excluded from formal markets. This group, earning $8 (Dh30) per day or less, comprises the “base of the pyramid” (BOP) in terms of income levels. With an annual income of $2.3 trillion a year that has grown at eight per cent in recent years, this market represents a substantial growth opportunity.
Even in the context of a global economic downturn, the WEF expects this market to witness continued growth. If growth was to continue at the rate of eight per cent per year, by 2015, the aggregate income pool of today’s BOP could increase to approximately $4trn.
