Interesting stuff. We are also looking at how BOP startups are progressing toward becoming investible by innovative private equity players, to augment the approach of partnering with big companies. We will be talking about that a lot at our conference in SF this fall, where we will bring together investors and entrepreneurs working on fair trade, digital inclusion and base of the pyramid approaches.
Interesting stuff indeed. You mention a report by Ashoka suggesting that large corporations have tapped 20% of the BOP market. This seems surprisingly high. I’d be interested to see some of the research that supports this conclusion. Could you please specify which report your article refers to? Thanks in advance.
Joshua,
Interesting article. I wish you’d address the issue of investments a little more though. In fact, I would like to hear from Kevin Doyle Jones on his research or observations of social businesses focused on the BOP market acquiring funds from investors.
Our business recently attended the USF Biz plan competition. We presented all the elements of a biz plan incl. high margins, huge market potential, innovative product, etc. But the investors in the room, shot us down telling us that we are not venture fundable and that we should go to the Gates foundation for money. How can a for-profit business acquire funding from the Gates Foundation?
We are now looking for Angels to invest in our for-profit social business looking to market an innovative product to 600 million dollar-a-day farmers in the developing world.
COMMENTS
BY Paul Lamb
ON March 13, 2008 01:48 PM
Joshua: Well said, and I couldn’t agree more. Here is a piece that reaches similar conclusions, albeit focused on the US market:
Bridging the Last Mile of the Digital Divide: Community-based Innovation
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9062481
BY kevindoylejones
ON March 14, 2008 12:18 PM
Interesting stuff. We are also looking at how BOP startups are progressing toward becoming investible by innovative private equity players, to augment the approach of partnering with big companies. We will be talking about that a lot at our conference in SF this fall, where we will bring together investors and entrepreneurs working on fair trade, digital inclusion and base of the pyramid approaches.
BY cecilechuret
ON March 25, 2008 04:50 AM
Interesting stuff indeed. You mention a report by Ashoka suggesting that large corporations have tapped 20% of the BOP market. This seems surprisingly high. I’d be interested to see some of the research that supports this conclusion. Could you please specify which report your article refers to? Thanks in advance.
BY Mitesh Gala
ON April 30, 2008 02:19 PM
Joshua,
Interesting article. I wish you’d address the issue of investments a little more though. In fact, I would like to hear from Kevin Doyle Jones on his research or observations of social businesses focused on the BOP market acquiring funds from investors.
Our business recently attended the USF Biz plan competition. We presented all the elements of a biz plan incl. high margins, huge market potential, innovative product, etc. But the investors in the room, shot us down telling us that we are not venture fundable and that we should go to the Gates foundation for money. How can a for-profit business acquire funding from the Gates Foundation?
We are now looking for Angels to invest in our for-profit social business looking to market an innovative product to 600 million dollar-a-day farmers in the developing world.
BY Ashok Khosla
ON May 16, 2008 06:08 AM
Some additional thoughts on the same subject:
http://www.alliancemagazine.org/free/html/jun07b.html