May21
The Next 4 Billion
by ClarissaToday I was in Washington D.C. and stopped by the World Resources Institute (WRI) offices to catch up with Rob Katz. Rob is a researcher at WRI and actively covers BOP markets and emerging technologies that promote change within those markets.
The majority of the world or approximately 4 billion people are low income with limited means or resources. This market segment is known as the base of the economic pyramid. Recently WRI published a book called The Next 4 Billion which includes BOP household expenditures, standardized purchasing power, market insights and strategies that work for commercial companies serving the BOP. Considering aggregate purchasing power of the BOP exceeds $5 trillion dollars it’s no wonder people are starting to pay attention. That’s a lot of cheddar! 
The Philippines has been an innovator in delivering BOP commercial services. The book has a case study on Smart Telecom as just such an example. Not only did Smart pioneer airtime distribution allowing SMS airtime transfers of units as small as $0.03 but they also launched mobile money remittance. These services have increased telecom access for low income Filipinos nationwide with carriers in other emerging markets following Smart’s lead and providing similar services to their customers.
