Base of the Pyramid

I just learned about the BoP conference scheduled for September 9-11, 2007 on the campus of the University of Michigan. I doubt I will be going, but it sounds like an interesting event. I went to a CSRI event at the Kennedy School of Government featuring Professor Hart back in April. I made some notes about it here.

Prof Hart and C.K. Prahalad argue that ignoring the 4 billion people that live in relative and outright poverty are ignored as part of a sustainable future at businesses' peril. After all, that's a pretty big market in need of affordable, simple, and reliable solutions to basic needs the developed world takes for granted.

Take a look at Unilever's success capitalizing on a portion of this market with Lifebuoy soap in India and draw your own conclusions.