INCLUSIVE BUSINESS

DeLab: solutions about inclusive business
Introduction
Since 2005 Africa has attracted more investment than aid. Consumer spending
on the African continent is expected to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2020, $520
billion more than in 2008 1 . Low-income market segments account for a significant
share of this spending. In 2007, total spending by people earning less than
$3.000 per year in Africa was estimated at $429 billion, on a purchasing power
parity (PPP) basis 2 .
Inclusive Business, and its theoretical underpinning known as “Bottom of the
Pyramid (BOP) theory” (Prahalad and Hart, 2002), 3 is one of the most powerful
tools to justify the involvement of firms in low-income countries, in terms of developmental
gains and business returns 4 . Shedding light on the market potential of
billions of people living below the poverty line, Inclusive Business calls firms to
adjust their marketing and design strategies to the specific needs of people living
at the base of the income pyramid. Social transformation and massive business
returns are the consequences of firms reaching such underserved markets, bringing
“prosperity to the aspiring poor” (ibid: 1).
The importance of this topic is not just theoretical. Companies willing to face
the challenges of integrated markets, systemic value chains and globalized consumers
have to rethink the way in which to position their businesses vis à vis
more competitive markets. Innovation is the key to overcome such a demanding
situation, as well as the tough economic period that affects many advanced economies.
On this point, Italy is definitely no exception: its decreasing prosperity is
just the final consequence of a stalemate in which the industrial sector is unable to
move forward from the vicious circle of reduced access to credit and low internal
demand.
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