Description
There has been immense worldwide excitement about the potential of "Base of the Pyramid" (BoP) businesses to help the world's poorest societies escape poverty. Unfortunately, many BoP firms have been locked in a "survival trap" that keeps them small, inefficient, and unprofitable. Here, Eric Kacou identifies breakthrough techniques and approaches that are helping BoP businesses grow rapidly, successfully, and profitably. Drawing from his immense on-the-ground experience in many of Africa's most challenging business environments, he identifies business models and techniques that have been proven in the field. Kacou dissects the "survival trap”"mindset that drives companies to seek short-term fixes that breed dependence and mistrust--and shows how companies can overcome it. Next, he takes readers inside the Rwandan metamorphosis: the economic miracle that CNN's Fareed Zakaria has called Africa's biggest success story. Drawing on Rwanda and other global examples, Kacou shows how to address the needs of all four core business stakeholders: customers, owners, workers, and future generations. Readers learn how to build trust, focus on the right products, develop "collaborative clusters" that improve competitiveness, and provide more effective leadership. He concludes with an integrated set of recommendations for local entrepreneurs, global businesses, governments, and international organizations: recommendations that can truly launch a "virtuous cycle" of prosperity creation.
Table of Contents
Foreword xvii
Part I: Foundations or Why Mindsets Matter
Prologue: Transformation in BOP Markets: Learning from Rwanda 1
Chapter 1: Identifying the Problem–And the Solution 5
Chapter 2: Rwanda’s Metamorphosis 27
Chapter 3: Why Mindsets Matter 37
Part II: Solutions to Escape The Survival Trap
Chapter 4: A Framework to Escape The Survival Trap 59
Chapter 5: Foster an Archimedean Mindset 81
Chapter 6: Build Trust 101
Chapter 7: Focus on Solutions 119
Chapter 8: Operate Efficiently and Sustainably 139
Chapter 9: Enable Prosperity Ecosystems 157
Chapter 10: Seek Intelligent Capital 179
Chapter 11: Bridge the Leadership Gap 199
Part III: Integration
Chapter 12: Insights on Mindset Change from Public Health 221
Chapter 13: Societal Innovations Through Mindset Change 239
Chapter 14: Rwanda's Homegrown Solutions 255
Epilogue: A Call to Action: Embrace Entrepreneurial Solutions for Prosperity 271
Bibliography 285
Index 293
