Our Mission

NextBillion.net is a website and blog about how business drives positive social and environmental change in low-income communities. We serve as a discussion forum, networking space and knowledge base for individuals and organizations interested in the "next billion" – the next billion people to rise from the base of the economic pyramid [1] (BOP), and the next billion in profits for businesses that strive to fill market gaps by integrating the BOP into healthy economies. Our goal is to promote the development and implementation of business strategies that open opportunities and improve quality of life for the world’s 4 billion low-income producers and consumers.

A New Approach to Development – Business Meets the BOP

While development aid and political reform are essential components in poverty eradication, equally important are business models that engage low-income communities as producers and consumers in their own robust economies. Successful business models--inherently versatile, innovative, and driven by the profit motive--can sometimes tackle development challenges more quickly and effectively than government and aid mechanisms. Innovative models that bring together the objectives of business and development to create sustainable, market-oriented approaches are the focus of NextBillion.net.

BOP, an acronym for "base of the (economic) pyramid," refers to the approximately four billion people whose incomes are less than $3000 per year (PPP), based on analysis [1] done at the World Resources Institute. BOP - a term first introduced by Professors C.K. Prahalad [2] and Stuart Hart [3] in their 2002 article, "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" - has come to designate not the poverty but the potential of the world's poorest citizens as entrepreneurs, employees and discerning consumers.

Features Available on NextBillion.net

Blogging [3]: NextBillion staff writers post ideas, analysis, opinions and questions for discussion on the front page. Readers are encouraged to comment and/or suggest stories [3]; NextBillion moderators carefully consider all suggestions.

Newsroom [3]: We review dozens of newspapers, blogs, and websites daily, creating a BOP news feed.

Activity Database [3]: Our research on projects bringing services, products, and jobs to the BOP is captured in hundreds of information capsules inside the Activity Database.

Events Calendar [3]: We keep track of upcoming conferences and other events focused on business for development; if you are organizing an event or know of one that’s not on the calendar, please suggest it to us.

Resources [3]: Find a wealth of academic case studies, publications, conference extracts and presentations, as well as links to other organizations active in the BOP community.

Our Team [3]

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Our History

NextBillion.net, launched in May 2005, is an initiative of the World Resources Institute's [4] Markets and Enterprise Program. NextBillion.net emerged from the successes of "Eradicating Poverty Through Profit: Making Business Work for the Poor [4]," a conference held December 12-14, 2004 in San Francisco, California. We have evolved to become a weblog, newsroom, database and resource center – all dedicated solely to exploring base of the pyramid approaches to environmental degradation and persistent poverty.

NextBillion.net is part of the World Resources Institute's New Ventures [5] project. New Ventures promotes sustainable growth in emerging markets by supporting and accelerating the transfer of capital to businesses that deliver social and environmental benefits at the base of the economic pyramid.

Note:

This is a community site where individuals from across the world are welcome to comment and engage in discussion. The views and opinions expressed by the users of this site do not necessarily reflect those of the World Resources Institute or its staff. For more information, please view our Privacy Statement and Code of Conduct [5].