Balancing Profit-Making with Social Value Creation: Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons Learned

Corporate businesses and investors are increasingly aware about the potential source of profit and rich institutional ecosystem that can be ‘tapped’ to facilitate engagement with Base of the Pyramid (BoP) markets in developing countries. To be successful by making a profit from these markets and combining this by making a positive impact on poor communities means adapting a specific business approach that is not replicable from formal economies. The literature shows that corporate businesses and investors who engage with the BoP must consider investing time and money in special partnerships with local stakeholders (preferably in informal economies), making use of innovative payment methods, and taking into account gender issues to increase impact, while accepting a lower return on investment (Ngoasong et al., 2015).