BRINQ - Base of the Pyramid Protocol Pilot in Kenya

Please note that this webpage will be closing and moving in the near future. BRINQ is not an author nor a sponsoring member of the Protocol. BRINQ founder Patrick Donohue was part of the Pilot test in Kenya and BRINQ.com hosted this page while the Kenya pilot was underway. For future reference check the Base of the Pyramid Protocol site at http://bop-protocol.org/.

THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID PROTOCOL: KENYA PILOT

How can the multinational company become the driver of an inclusive capitalism?

The Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Protocol - a collaborative effort guided by the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, the University of Michigan Business School, and the World Resources Institute and supported by SC Johnson, Hewlett-Packard, TetraPak, and Dupont - outlines a process whereby corporations can engage resource-poor communities in the co-creation of sustainable business models that simultaneously address locally-defined needs, build local capacity, and generate new economic opportunities for all stakeholders. The first draft of the Protocol was designed in October of 2004 during a 4-day workshop at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, WI which brought together 35 leading academics, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, and corporations from the broad fields of sustainable enterprise and
development.

BoP Protocol Authors:
Erik Simanis, Stuart L. Hart, Gordon Enk, Duncan Duke, Michael Gordon & Alysson Lyppert

Read the Base of the Pyramid Protocol at bop-protocol.org

(*Note: BRINQ articles about the BoP Protocol are not official documents of the Protocol, but are perspectives from our time in the field using the Protocol.)

The Field Test

The Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Protocol is currently being field tested in Kenya as a partnership between the Base of the Pyramid Lab, SC Johnson and ApproTEC. The objective of the six-person BoP Protocol Pilot Team is to test the Protocol in close collaboration with SC Johnson and ApproTEC and the Team's local partners in Nakuru District and Kibera (see partners below). The learning and insights gained during the pilot project will then be folded back into the Protocol process and serve as the basis for a second Protocol design workshop to be held in October of 2005.

The core strength of the Protocol is its ability to create partnerships and lasting relationships between multinationals and local communities; quoting Joseph Njenga of SC Johnson Kenya "relationships should drive business". To date the Protocol pilot team has already facilitated the identification of several business opportunities for SC Johnson and local community groups in Kenya and has helped build new partnerships to develop those businesses, laying the groundwork for future collaborations and innovations.

The Project Team

Patrick picking tea near Thika, Kenya The six member field trial team represents a variety of disciplines with backgrounds in anthropology, business strategy, English, management consulting, computer science, wildlife conservation, agricultural economics, sustainable enterprise, Spanish, financial services, marketing and international development. Interests include women's issues, innovation, creative writing, tennis, rock climbing, SCUBA, playing guitar, Vietnamese cooking, and more. Languages spoken by the team include English, Kiswahili, French, Latvian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Catherine Burnett - University of North Carolina
Patrick Donohue - BRINQ
Nyokabi Kiarie - University of Michigan
Justin P. De Koszmovszky - Cornell University
Tatiana Thieme - Cornell University
Erik Simanis - Cornell University

Project Sponsors

Children of Kisumu, Kenya The Base of the Pyramid Protocol and field trial in Kenya has a number of sponsors and key partners: