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

That’s the critical question the Base of the Pyramid Protocol seeks to answer. Developed by Stuart Hart and the Base of the Pyramid Learning Lab, the BOP Protocol Project is a collaborative effort to develop guidelines and business models for successful Base of the Pyramid ventures, enabling them to meet the needs of the world’s 4 billion poorest people while discovering huge new growth and innovation opportunities.

The Vision: to create inclusive, mutually beneficial business processes through which the private sector and local communities build economic, social and environmental value.

The protocol is a best-practices methodology to discover new business opportunities, create sustainable growth, and incubate disruptive innovations; the theory goes that by following the protocol’s three iterative and repeating steps (see image right), a company will discover the answers to capturing and delivering value in BOP markets.

The first draft of the protocol was developed by a diverse group of academics and practitioners and will have its first field test this summer in Kenya, through a joint project between the BOP Lab, SC Johnson, and Approtec. The target community? Kenya’s pyrethrum farmers, who struggle with a global decline for their crop of natural pesticide. A series of follow up tests and organizations are also in the works and the BOP Protocol will be released with an open source development model (The protocol will eventually be available at www.bop-protocol.org).

BRINQ will be involved in field-testing the protocol, either in the initial Kenya field trial or potential follow-ups in Latin America. We are currently taking part in the protocol draft review.

Additional Links and Resources:

• BOP Protocol Presentation (PPT)- Stuart Hart (Cornell) & Scott Johnson (SC Johnson) at WRI’s Eradicating Poverty through Profit conference in December, 2004
• Capitalism at the Crossroads - Stuart Hart’s new book on "The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World’s Most Difficult Problems"
• Base of the Pyramid Resource Center - the BOP Resource Center has more information from the draft of the BOP Protocol

Past "How to Change the World" articles:
The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid — The Model T Trap — Going Beyond Networking