USINESS
TRATEGIES FOR THE
ASE OF THE
YRAMID
* BoP Venture Assessment: Project Details*
Prof. Ted London
Ross School of Business
William Davidson Institute
University of Michigan
The following packet of information describes the three components of the BoP Venture
Assessment you will complete during this course. The three components include selecting a venture, writing a venture assessment report and the final project presentation.
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Part 1: Venture Selection ................................................................................................3
Selecting an Existing BoP Venture........................................................................3
Selecting a New BoP Venture................................................................................3
Resources................................................................................................................4
Part 2: Written Report .....................................................................................................6
Assessment of Existing Venture.............................................................................7
Assessment of New Venture...................................................................................8
Part 3: Final Presentation ...............................................................................................10
Appendix
…………………………...…………………………………………………....11
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For each team, there are three components to the BoP venture assessment:
1.
Select a BoP venture and write a synopsis

Note: The venture you select can be an existing or a new venture
2.
Present BoP venture assessment in class
3.
Produce written venture assessment
Selecting an Existing BoP Venture :
A variety of different types of revenue-generating ventures that transact with the BoP are appropriate for this assignment, including the following:
1. Multinational corporation ventures
2. Host country company ventures
3. Entrepreneurial (start-up) ventures
4. Social enterprises
5. Non-profit ventures
6. Community-based ventures
I would recommend that you avoid intermediary organizations, such as micro-finance institutions and other initiatives that primarily provide resources or advisory services to a portfolio of local enterprises. This also includes organizations that distribute BoPproduced handcrafts in developed countries. These types of organizations typically do not transact directly with those at the BoP. As such, the frameworks and tools that we develop in class will be less applicable for conducting an effective assessment.
In selecting a venture, you will want to consider the following:
1.
Amount of publicly available information to effectively assess the venture’s business model, evaluate opportunities, and make recommendations. Access to multiple sources of information is crucial.
2.
Opportunity to speak with managers involved in the venture.
3.
Access to internal documents.
Please note: You are not being graded on the on-the-ground success of the venture you select; in fact, you may pick a venture that actually failed. Rather, I will be looking at how well you understood and analyzed this venture.
Selecting a New BoP Venture :
Assessing a new venture offers some different opportunities and challenges. Below are some thoughts to help guide you in the process:
1. Be clear on the purpose and process for this exercise.
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o Although a new venture may end up being launched as a result of this project, remember that the primary goal is to analyze an early-stage BoP venture using the various tools and frameworks available to support this process. o Therefore, you should not spend all your time creating the venture or writing the business plan. You should settle on the business model you will analyze early enough so that you will have to time to analyze it and draw conclusions regarding next steps. o Stating your risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies with appropriate mitigations will help you focus on the analysis component of the exercise rather than on creating the perfect BoP venture.
2. Be aware of the short timeframe available to you. o The more easily understood the venture idea is, the easier it will be to describe. This leaves more time for analysis, which is where the most learning is gained. o Seek feedback and guidance early on in the process. Putting yourself in the position of having to communicate your idea will force you to tighten your venture description sooner than you would otherwise, and may offer valuable insights to steer your work.
3. Have fun. o Once underway, the more you can picture this venture as a real possibility, the more energized and engaged your group will become. If you can create a name, a brand, or a picture/prototype early on in the process, teams have found this can help create more motivation around the venture.
Resources
There are a number of resources available to help you identify a BoP venture including:
1.
University Resources : Many resources for choosing your venture are available on campus. The following is a list of individuals to talk with about your BoP venture assessment project.

Your teammates may have interest in or contacts with a certain BoP venture.

The TA for the class

I have introductory information on a number of potential ventures. Please feel free to see me if you want to discuss some of these. You should come prepared with some idea of the type of venture you are interested in.

The librarians

A number of student groups across campus may be looking for support in developing their model for a BoP venture.

At the Ross School and elsewhere on campus, there are faculty interested in the BoP.
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In the Appendix of this document, there is a detailed list of additional resources for identifying potential ventures
Please do not select the following ventures (as we will be studying them in class):
 CEMEX’s Patrimonio Hoy

Honey Care Africa
 Nike’s World Shoe
 Grameen’s Village Phone
 W.R. Grace’s Neemix

VisionSpring (formerly Scojo)
 Pioneer Seeds’ Hybrid Seeds
 Hindustan Level’s Wheel and Shakti

CARE in Central America

Acumen Fund
 The Mountain Institute’s Earth Brick Machine

Movirtu

Oxfam/Swiss Re partnership on micro-insurance
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Your final paper is due on the last day of class. Unless there is an emergency and we have discussed the issue, late papers are not accepted. The paper should follow these guidelines:

Approximately 20 pages, double-spaced, 12 point font.

Feel free to use diagrams, tables, and figures as you see fit. These do not count toward the page limit.

Also include a reference section that provides information on the sources of the material used in your report. This also does not count toward the page limit.

Include your team number and section in both your file names and the documents themselves. Please use a self-explanatory file name: T1, Day – Grameen Phone Final
Report.doc
General Comments

The overall objective of the analysis is to describe and critically evaluate the venture.

Your audience for the presentation and report welcomes the use of diagrams and figures (please note that these do not count toward the page limit).

Provide a complete listing of your sources (also does not count toward page limit).
Broad Objective

If you are assessing an existing venture, consider yourselves to be consultants engaged by the venture’s board of directors and management. While they want to see that you have a strong sense of the venture’s background, they are most interested in your assessment and recommendations. Indeed, they would like to hear your views on the venture’s current status and opportunities for improvement.

If you are assessing a start-up venture, consider yourselves to be its potential future managers. In addition to the venture description, you need to develop a realistic assessment that provides a balanced view of the strengths and weakness of your model. Is the venture likely to be viable? Where are the major opportunities and challenges? How can the current design be improved?
Possible Report Outlines

The following templates can be broadly applied to assessing an existing or a new venture. They should not be taken verbatim. Rather, you should plan to modify as you see fit to achieve the goal of most effectively presenting and assessing the venture. You can certainly add new sections as needed, drop ones that are not relevant, and/or redesign the ordering to best fit your particular analysis. (Note: We will also discuss this in more detail in class during the semester.)

I will weigh approximately equally (1) your effectiveness in describing the venture,
(2) your analysis of the design and implementation, and (3) your recommendations for addressing challenge and suggestions for moving forward.
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Assessment of Existing Venture
A. Venture Background and Design (33%)
Introduction

Provide background information on the need addressed by the venture.
Overview

Describe the market environment in which the venture is operating.
 Provide an overview of the venture’s value proposition and describe how it addresses the identified market opportunity.
 Describe the history/current status of the venture’s development.

Discuss the product and/or technology.
Partners and Alliances

Consider the range of current stakeholders and their roles in supporting the venture. To what degree do partnerships with these stakeholders benefit the venture and promote its goals? Examine why these partners are collaborating with the venture. (Note: Diagramming the stakeholders and their respective activities is often helpful.)
Business Model Design and Implementation
 Discuss how the design and execution of the venture’s business model. This includes exploring how resources flow among stakeholders and addressing who is doing what and why. (Note: Providing a diagram of the business model is often helpful).
 Discuss the venture’s financial model, including capitalization from stakeholders as well as revenue streams. Consider the role (if any) of subsidies in this financial model.
B. Venture Analysis (apply frameworks from the class as appropriate) (33%)
Business Performance Assessment

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the internal design (metrics, structure, etc.)?

How effective was the venture team during design, piloting and/or scaling?
Where have they done well and where are their opportunities for improvement?

Other perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the business model.

As best as you can, evaluate the venture’s actual or expected financial performances and discuss the reasons for this level of success or failure.
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Partnership Assessment

What role have partners and subsidies (development investments) played in the venture’s development? What are the current strengths and weaknesses of the existing partnerships?
Social Performance Assessment
 Evaluate and discuss the venture’s local poverty alleviation impacts.
C. Recommendations/Learnings (33%)
Recommendations

Based on your analysis of the venture’s business, partnership, and social performance, what are the opportunities for improvement? For example, are there any opportunities for greater use of partnerships and subsidized support to enhance the venture’s development?

Given this, what recommendations would you propose for each? Provide the logic for your reasoning and offer some depth for your ideas.

How would you prioritize the options you are recommending? What is the cost and benefit? How could they be funded? Discuss any options that you considered but ended up rejecting.
Learnings

Discuss key lessons learned that emerged from your assessment of this venture.
What was most interesting and innovative?

Where do you see the biggest challenges in the future?

Overall, what are your conclusions about this current status and future prospects of this venture?
Assessment of New Venture
A. Venture Background and Design (33%)
Introduction

Identify the need addressed by the venture and establish the proposed location(s) in which the venture will operate.
Overview
 Provide an overview of the venture’s value proposition and describe how it addresses the identified need.

Describe the market environment in which the venture will operate including estimates of the addressable market size.

Discuss the product and/or technology.
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Partners and Alliances
 Consider the range of activities or ‘value chain’ associated with the venture.
Identify potential partners, if needed, to fill gaps. To what degree will partnerships with these stakeholders benefit the venture and promote its goals?
Explain why these potential partners would want to consider collaborating with the venture (Note: Diagramming the stakeholders and their respective activities is often helpful.)
Business Model Design and Implementation

Discuss the proposed development and execution of the venture’s business model.
This includes exploring how resources flow among stakeholders and addressing who is doing what and why. (Note: Providing a diagram of the business model is often helpful).
 Discuss the venture’s funding needs and address potential sources of financing, including capitalization from stakeholders and revenue streams.
B. Venture Analysis (apply frameworks from the class as appropriate) (33%)
Business Performance Assessment

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the internal design (metrics, structure, etc.)?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the venture’s proposed approaches to design, pilot and/or scaling? Where have they done well and where are their opportunities for improvement?

Other perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the business model.

As best as you can, evaluate the venture’s expected financial performances and discuss the reasons for this expected level of success or failure.
Partnership Assessment

What role have partners and subsidies (development investments) played in the venture’s development? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the partnership model?
Social Performance Assessment
 Evaluate and discuss the venture’s potential local poverty alleviation impacts.

What role will subsidies (development investments) and in-kind partner support played in the venture’s development? Are there any opportunities for greater use of subsidized support to enhance the venture’s development?
C. Recommendations/Conclusions (33%)
Recommendations
 Based on your analysis of the venture’s business, partnership, and social performance, what are the opportunities for improvement? For example, are there
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any opportunities for greater use of partnerships and subsidized support to enhance the venture’s development?

Given this, what recommendations would you propose for each? Provide the logic for your reasoning and offer some depth for your ideas.

How would you prioritize the options you are recommending? What is the cost and benefit? How could they be funded? Discuss any options that you considered but ended up rejecting.
Learnings

Discuss key lessons learned that emerged from your assessment of this venture.
What was most interesting and innovative?

Where do you see the biggest challenges in the future?

Overall, what are your conclusions about the future prospects of this venture?
Note: Whether you are assessing a new or an existing venture, you should ensure that your assessment moves well beyond description. If you are assessing a new venture, you should settle on a venture business model fairly early on so that you can devote sufficient time analyzing the venture and providing recommendations for further enhancement.
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Teams will present a summary of their report to the class. During the semester, I will further review the presentation format and answer any questions you might have. In addition to making a presentation, you should also plan to do the following:

Bring one hard copy of the presentation to class and give it to me before you present.

Before your presentation, please post the final version on the class site . Include your team number and section in both your file names and the documents themselves.
Some presentation suggestions:

Be concise in your description of the venture

Ensure you allow sufficient time to provide a complete venture analysis and offer your conclusions and recommendations

Be aware of the time limit for the overall presentation and practice in advance
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BoP Project Resources
Updated by Lauren Miller (2010), Colm Fay (2011), Arianne Tjio (2012)
Selecting a BoP venture with sufficient information is critical to the success of student projects. The resources listed below are intended to help students understand the general social venture landscape as well as to identify potential ventures for the final group project.
Funds
Impact Investment funds invest in social enterprises that generate financial, social and/or environmental returns.

Aavishkaar: www.aavishkaar.in

Acumen Fund: www.acumenfund.org

Agora: www.agorapartnerships.org

Ashoka: www.ashoka.org

Dasra (India) www.dasra.org

E+Co: www.eandco.net

Echoing Green: www.echoinggreen.org

First Light Ventures: www.grayghostventures.com/firstlight.htm

Grassroots Business Fund: www.gbfund.org

Grey Ghost Ventures: www.grayghostventures.com

IGNIA Fund: www.ignia.com.mx

Inter-American Development Bank: www.majoritymarkets.org

Omidyar Network: www.omidyar.com

Root Capital: www.rootcapital.org

RSF Social Finance: www.rsfsocialfinance.org

Sparkseed: www.sparkseed.org
Foundations
Many foundations engage in BoP related activities including research, program-related
investments (PRI) and venture philanthropy that provides funding to social enterprises.

Calvert: www.calvertfoundation.org

KL Felicitas: www.klfelicitasfoundation.org

Rockefeller: www.rockefellerfoundation.org

Skoll: www.skollfoundation.org
Incubators
Incubators around the world provide a variety of services to support the development of viable and sustainable social enterprises.

Global Social Benefit Incubator: www.scu.edu/sts/gsbi/
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
Idea Village: www.ideavillage.org/IVEC/

Unreasonable Institute: www.unreasonableinstitute.org

Village Capital: www.vilcap.com
Competitions
Many social enterprises participate in competitions to fundraise, increase awareness,
network and solicit feedback on their business model.

Dell Social Innovation Competition: www.dellsocialinnovationcompetition.com

Global Social Venture Competition: www.gsvc.org

Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition: www.foster.washington.edu/gsec

Oikos International Case Writing Competition: www.oikosinternational.org/academic/cwc

Skoll Awards for Social Enterprise: www.skollfoundation.org/skollentrepreneurs/

The New Heroes: www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/

William James Foundation Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition: www.williamjamesfoundation.org
Websites/Blogs
Multiple organizations publish research related to the BoP, including:

Ayllu: www.iumap.org/mainsite

Beyond Profit: www.beyondprofit.com

BoP Source (social network): www.bopsource.com

Business Fights Poverty: www.businessfightspoverty.org
 Cases from the UNDP’s Growing Sustainable Business
 Cases from the UNDP’s Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative: www.growinginclusivemarkets.org

Center for Health Market Innovations: healthmarketinnovations.org

Change.org: Social Entrepreneurship: socialentrepreneurship.change.org

Cornell University BoP Knowledge Network: http://bopnetwork.ning.com

Development Gateway: www.developmentgateway.org

International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery: www.ipihd.org

MIT Press – Innovations Journal: www.mitpressjournals.org

Next Billion: www.nextbillion.net

Social Edge: www.socialedge.org

Stanford Social Innovation Review: www.ssireview.org

WBCSD-SNV Alliance: www.inclusivebusiness.org

WBCSD (in particular, look at its Development initiative): www.wbcsd.org

WDI: www.wdi.umich.edu/ResearchInitiatives/BasePyramid/
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