The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition

6. Development as Social Transformation

We have looked at the BOP as a viable and profitable growth market. We have also understood that treating the BOP as a market can lead to poverty reduction, particularly if NGOs and community groups join with MNCs and local companies as business partners. The development of markets and effective business models at the BOP can transform the poverty alleviation task from one of constant struggle with subsidies and aid to entrepreneurship and the generation of wealth. When the poor at the BOP are treated as consumers, they can reap the benefits of respect, choice, and self-esteem and have an opportunity to climb out of the poverty trap. As small and micro enterprises, many of them informal, become partners ...