A presentation I delivered to Bangalore's midtown rotary club: "2.5 billion consumers globally living under the most extreme conditions on the planet are still waiting for products and services to address their most basic needs. Earning less than $2.50 per day, this Bottom of the Pyramid represents $2.2 trillion in purchasing power and has been inaccessible to the private sector until now. Come discuss the journey to now, today’s smartest models, and the promise of the future."

1. In Search of the Fortune at the
Bottom of the Pyramid
Abeer Desai
abeerdesai.com

2. Agenda
1. The Journey
2. Today
3. The Future
abeerdesai.com

3. The Journey
abeerdesai.com

4. Social Entrepreneurship an
evolving concept
Individual Corporation Startup
An entrepreneurial Harness the profit motive Development is a
approach to changing to effect change within bloated industry to be
social beliefs. the context of a business. disrupted like any other.
abeerdesai.com

5. Trends
Flatworld
Collapsing cost of:
Information processing
Communication
Transportation
Boosts Allows more decision
1. individual reach 2. makers to get
and productivity acquainted with
to allay low global issues.
market density.
abeerdesai.com

6. Microfinance
“The shot that rang out across the world”
$358M IPO
13 times over subscribed
$1.6B valuation for 600M customers
Proof of financial viability of the market
But emphasizes the risk of straddling two worlds.
May 8th, 2011
HYDERABAD: For years they were hailed as messiahs reaching much-needed
finance to the poor in the remotest of India's corners. But today, they have been
reduced to the status of villains, no better than moneylenders profiteering at the
expense of the poor. abeerdesai.com

7. Today
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8. Example: Product: d.light
Cost-effective, hardy solar
products built specifically
for BOP conditions
abeerdesai.com

9. Example: Service: Rang De
Peer-to-peer microlending
with on-ground lending
expertise.
abeerdesai.com

10. Example: Funding: Rubicon Property
% of every deal goes to
well construction. Firm
success judged by how
many wells get constructed.
abeerdesai.com

11. Example: Dual Core: Toms
Non-profit donation model
sustained by for-profit
operations.
abeerdesai.com

12. Example: VC: Acumen Fund
Invest patient capital in
cutting edge, scalable, high
impact social ventures.
abeerdesai.com

13. The Future
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14. Production as the path?
BOP as producer first, consumer second.
> Direct
intersection of
profit and purpose
> Overcome
literacy chasm
> More wealth for
consumption
abeerdesai.com

15. Impact Investing
Impact investments are investments
intended to create positive impact
beyond financial return.
November 2010 Report
Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset Class
Investment opportunity between
$400B and $1T over next
decade for profit opportunity of
$183B and $667B.
Critical bottleneck is intermediation.
abeerdesai.com

16. Principles
1. Social mission comes first (just like any
other great company)
It is the basis of brand equity and stakeholder relationships.
2. Scale is essential
Create “information intensive commodities.”
3. Rational consumers (in extreme situations)
A different approach for a different culture. Marx had it half
right.
4. Profit is the means, not the end
abeerdesai.com

17. The Future: Bangalore
Bangalore:
“The Silicon Valley of Social Innovation”
1. High domestic consumption
2. Entrepreneurial population
3. Easy access to customers
4. Culture of innovation
5. Capital density
Think of (low-tech) platforms:
An innovation that permits
3rd parties to build an
ecosystem of applications.
abeerdesai.com