Mediaboss Marketing

Ted London wants to shake up business-as-usual by convincing companies that the worlds poorest people represent a market ripe for the picking.

Weve moved past the question of whether businesses should serve the poor, says London, a professor at University of Michigan and one of the first to champion the potential at the so-called 'base of the economic pyramid.' They already do. The question is how can they serve them better. Thats where were trying to make an impact.

The base of the pyramid, or the BoP as economists call it, includes the 4 billion people who each have a per capita income of less than $3,000 a year. Although this population may not be in the market for a beach house or a Ferrari, its sheer size offers economic possibilities still relatively untouched by business.

Since the mid-1990s, social enterprises have attempted to pair profit and social impact, but traditional industry has had marginal success. The stereotypes that accompany the BoP, such as the lack of purchasing power parity in developing countries, have made it less enticing. So how can companies be convinced of the enormous opportunity that marketing to the BoP represents?

London, who heads the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, helped launch the "BoP Roadmap" in October, including a set of guidelines for companies looking to invest in this portion of the market.

The guidelines cover a wide variety of issues, from creating global training networks to providing guidance on global impact assessments, each working to support BoP enterprises more effectively.

Global Envision caught up with London to get a closer look at what this tool means for the future of social enterprise.

Global Envision: In 2013, the University of Michigan hosted the first BoP Summit. How did this event influence creating the roadmap?

Ted London:The idea was to create a forum where we could talk openly about both our successes and challenges. What do we still need to figure out to get to where we need to be in the next five to 10 years?

If you go to an event and you hear someone talking about inclusive enterprise or pro-poor business, you generally only hear about how great things are going. And what we were seeing was enterprises starting to make the same mistakes that had been made years before. People werent really learning and there wasnt a sense of development.

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Marketing to the worlds poorest: How social impact and profit can go hand in hand