Building on the momentum of the World Resources Institute's 'Eradicating Poverty through Profit: Making Business Work for the Poor' conference in December 2004, WRI, together with the Multilateral Investment Fund and Ashoka, hosted the "Business Opportunity and Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid" conference, attracting over 300 participants in Mexico City. Representing a wide range of stakeholders from business, the private sector, and civil society, participants explored the relationship between business activity and economic development within the Mexican context. Can companies, pursuing their core ‘business’ objectives deliver important ‘development’ benefits? Are low income communities ‘real’ markets? Plenaries and workshops examined how business is, today, interacting with poor people – as customers, as suppliers, and as partners in the cocreation of products and services.


Plenary Sessions

Framing the Event
Lorenzo Rosenzweig, Executive Director, Mexican Nature Conservation Fund
Valeria Budinich, Vice President, Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, Ashoka
Mark Milstein, Director, Business Education, World Resources Institute

Keynote: Base of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profit
CK Prahalad, Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and Chief Executive Officer, The Next Practice

Discussants:
Raul Ferro, (Moderator) Chief Editor, America Economía
Manuel Arango, President of the Board, Grupo Concord and Founder, Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI)
Jaime Parada, Director General, CONACYT
Denise Dresser, Editorialist, Reforma and Professor of Political Science, ITAM

Cases of Base of the Pyramid Initiatives
Valeria Budinich, (Moderator) Vice President, Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, Ashoka
Francisco de la Torre, General Director, Amanco
Héctor Ureta, Director of Self-Housing Markets, CEMEX Mexico PowerPoint [1]
David Green, Co-Founder, Aurolab

Perspectives from a Multilateral Investment Bank
Donald Terry, Manager, Multilateral Investment Fund, Interamerican Development Bank

Keynote: Alignments for Successful Base of the Pyramid Initiatives
Stuart Hart, Samuel C. Johnson Professor of Sustainable Global Enterprise and Professor of Management, Cornell University PowerPoint [2]

Discussants:
Alberto Bello García de Vinuesa, (Moderator) General Editor, Expansión Editorial Group
Sergio Garcia de Alba, Subsecretary for SMEs, Ministry of Economy of Mexico
Arturo García, Director General, RASA S.C.
Rafael Fernández McGregor, Director of MSN Latin America, Microsoft

Base of the Pyramid Market Trends
Alejandro Villanueva, Senior Advisor to Ashoka PowerPoint [3]

The BOP Protocol
Nicolás Gutiérrez, Base of the Pyramid Chair, EGADE - ITESM PowerPoint [4]

Concurrent Sessions

In these parallel sessions focused on various key industry sectors, speakers form the business, social and public sectors went beyond presenting their specific cases serving low-income markets to address cross-cutting issues critical to the development of BOP initiatives.

Session 1: Income and Savings
Emilio Illanes, (Moderator) General Director, FONAES
Gabriel Monterrubio, Vice President, Grupo SEP
Vicente Fenoll Algorta, General Director, Fincomun PowerPoint [5]
Brayan Peralta, Assistant Vice President of Consumer Products, Visa
Gustavo Lecroix Martínez, Managing Director, Círculo de Credito PowerPoint [6]
Isabel Cruz, Director, AMUCSS PowerPoint [7]

Session 2: Connecting
Alejandro Lorea, (Moderator) Director, CESPEDES
Raúl Hinojosa, President, No Borders PowerPoint [8]
Juan Larrauri, Conectha PowerPoint [9]
Pablo Bermúdez, CEO, Voxiva Latin America PowerPoint [10]
Mário Vieira, Network Coordinator, CDI PowerPoint [11]

Session 3: Innovative Products
Steve Knaebel, (Moderator)
George Carpenter, Director, Corporate Sustainable Development, Procter and Gamble PowerPoint [12]
Midi Berry, Development Consultant, FreePlay Group
Lorenzo Rosenzweig, Executive Director, Mexican Nature Conservation Fund PowerPoint [13]
David Garza, Technology Manager, AMD

Session 4: Health
Agustín Landa, Vice-Rector for Development, UPAEP
Guillermo Krasovsky, Director General, Mi Farmacita Nacional PowerPoint [14]
Rebeca Villalobos, President and Founder, ASEMBIS PowerPoint [15]
David Green, Co-Founder, Aurolab PowerPoint [16]
Carlos Vargas, Founder and General Director, CIMIGEN PowerPoint [17]

Session 5: Housing and Public Services
Nicolás Gutiérrez, (Moderator) BOP Chair, EGADE- ITESM
Antonio Paz, Director, Campamentos Unidos
Sven Feldhaus, Consultant, IMPREMA PowerPoint [18]
Sergio Leal, General Director, Real Paraíso Residencial PowerPoint [19]
Francesco Piazzesi, President, Adobe Home Aid PowerPoint [20]


Closing Session

Inventing the Space for BOP Initiatives in Mexico
Edmundo Vallejo, President for Latin America, General Electric

Final Thoughts and Acknowledgments
Luiz Ros, Director, Sustainable Enterprise Program, World Resources Institute