This report shows how entrepreneurs can serve the poor as clients and customers, and can also include the poor as producers, employees and business owners. It gives many examples of firms that - by doing business with the poor - are generating profits, creating new growth potential and improving poor people’s lives.
The report draws on 50 specially commissioned case studies of businesses that have successfully included the poor, despite the constraints, and created value for all. The case studies identify five broad constraints:
Despite these challenges, a growing number of businesses are operating successfully in poorer markets. The examples in this report span a wide range of countries and industries. Each featured business developed a specialised solution set, allowing it to succeed in its local context according to its unique objectives.
Yet the case studies reveal certain common patterns. Entrepreneurs respond to constraints by working around them or by removing them. To do that, they use five core strategies:
• adapting products and processes
• investing to remove market constraints
• leveraging the strengths of the poor
• combining resources and capabilities with other organisations
• engaging in policy dialogue with government
These strategies are consistent with the local context and objectives of each business. A critical added ingredient is the entrepreneur’s ingenuity. The report presents tools and examples to stimulate and guide that ingenuity, highlighting constraints, strategies and specific solutions for developing inclusive business models.