Profitability in Poverty

Did you realize that there are over 4 billion poor people in the world with a consolidated market of close to $2 trillion. What do we do with them? Sell products, provide services and reap profits.

An article by Allen Hammond and C.K.Prahalad, titled Selling to the Poor (summary), talks about the hidden potential in this 'poor' market. This opens up a huge market for companies along with a need for innovation and new marketing techniques. The article also gives examples of successful business models designed for the poor.

Interested? Check out Digital Dividend, an organization dedicated to identifying opportunities and seeking innovations to provide new services and products to the poor.

Here's the other side of the coin. This opportunity for profits actually helps improve the lives of the poor people. These new products and services which were earlier restricted to the middle and upper classes are now affordable to the lower classes. And with companies vying for their attention to market products, these people do end up with a better lifestyle. Isn't that a win-win situation?

This is one 'poor' coin with two 'rich' sides!