The Base of the Pyramid Model & sanitation
There are a large array of enterprises in Africa bring to help improve sanitation, many which operated by large transnational corporations, small enterprises and entrepreneurs.
In this blog I will try and explore a range of examples
Corporate social responsibility really started to make movement in the 1970s, you might be wondering what does this mean ?. It is when companies are aware of their social impact and try and create policies and agenda within the company to make a difference and help. Many companies find that it is a great boost to there brand image as the public are more willing to use there products or services if they are socially responsible. Here is a great news story about it
By the early 2000 this has developed and corporations are now focusing on the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) model.
Now you may be wondering what BoP is - it includes the people at the bottom of the pyramid and are those who earn below 2 dollars a day. This BoP market is being focused on by corporations or and entrepreneurs who want to create a new business opportunities by offering a service or products to this group of people living on under $2 a day. Thieme T (2015)
In Prachald C.K 2005 book he mentions that these businesses are profit seeking and the market is huge there are 4 to 5 billion people that fall into the BoP bracket, if companies get it right and offer the correct product for the market; people who live below 2 dollars a day will pay for it will be a success for them. The key is to adapt your product to the market, for example people who earn under $2 per day will not be able to afford to buy a large bottle of soap, they have an unstable income so will only buy something when they have the cash on that day. Companies like Unilever have adapted and now offer products in small single serve packets therefore making them item more affordable.
People have had enough of poor sanitation and people are organising protests to highlight to the world the issues. In Mcfarlane c & Silver 2017 paper it mentions how for protestors the issue is a very political one and it is down to urban political and racial inequality. The SesKhona peoples right movement group dumped sewage waste at the international airport in Cape Town to highlight the issue, they ended up in in Jail for two years. I think shows how far governments don't want anymore protests and for the issue to go away. Click here to read more.
Human waste and sanitation is now seen as a big business opportunity as people want low cost improvement solutions where public services fail them and are willing to pay if the service is right
Unilever
An example of this BoP business model is Unilever which is leading this market with their lifebuoy brand. Its aim is to improve sanitation by getting people to wash their hands by using soap which will prevent thousands of children dying every year from diarrhoea disease. Below is a great short clip showing what they are doing.
Lifestraw
The original life straw was produced in 1999 and is a water filter that is claimed to remove 99.999999 % of waterborne bacteria and 99.999 of waterborne protozoa. Since coming to market it has been constantly improved over the years here is a short clip that explains what this company is about and how does the product work which could help with improving sanitation for millions of people.
Is this product any use for countries in Africa ?
There is a great paper by Elsanousi Salwa et al 2009 that explores the impact of Lifestraw use in a camp in Sudan. It was found that out of the 647 participants of the study no house had a latrine and sanitation were poor, four months before providing people with life straws 15.3 % of people reported having diarrhoea and after the number reduced to 2.3 %. The number of new cases also reduced dramatically, before the implication of life straw 56 people came to the clinic suffering from diarrhoea, in the four months period after this reduced to only 6 cases.
This study therefore found that it is effective in reducing cases of diarrhoea disease in a short term study. In another study by Naranjo J and Gerba C 2011 found the water after purifying with this device exceeded requirements as a water treatment device and no dangerous bacteria was detected in the water after treatment.
The issue I have with these companies is that although they are helping improve sanitation in africa they are not social enterprises they are out there to make profit for themselves and the ceo's which isn't necessarily ethical.
What is a Social Enterprise then >
A social business is created to find a solution to a social problem, they are not out there to see to maximise profit as all money made is re invested. To be financially stable there model is a no -loss no - dividend one. Thieme T (2015)
This will be explored more in the next blog.
In this blog I will try and explore a range of examples
Corporate social responsibility really started to make movement in the 1970s, you might be wondering what does this mean ?. It is when companies are aware of their social impact and try and create policies and agenda within the company to make a difference and help. Many companies find that it is a great boost to there brand image as the public are more willing to use there products or services if they are socially responsible. Here is a great news story about it
By the early 2000 this has developed and corporations are now focusing on the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) model.
Now you may be wondering what BoP is - it includes the people at the bottom of the pyramid and are those who earn below 2 dollars a day. This BoP market is being focused on by corporations or and entrepreneurs who want to create a new business opportunities by offering a service or products to this group of people living on under $2 a day. Thieme T (2015)
In Prachald C.K 2005 book he mentions that these businesses are profit seeking and the market is huge there are 4 to 5 billion people that fall into the BoP bracket, if companies get it right and offer the correct product for the market; people who live below 2 dollars a day will pay for it will be a success for them. The key is to adapt your product to the market, for example people who earn under $2 per day will not be able to afford to buy a large bottle of soap, they have an unstable income so will only buy something when they have the cash on that day. Companies like Unilever have adapted and now offer products in small single serve packets therefore making them item more affordable.
People have had enough of poor sanitation and people are organising protests to highlight to the world the issues. In Mcfarlane c & Silver 2017 paper it mentions how for protestors the issue is a very political one and it is down to urban political and racial inequality. The SesKhona peoples right movement group dumped sewage waste at the international airport in Cape Town to highlight the issue, they ended up in in Jail for two years. I think shows how far governments don't want anymore protests and for the issue to go away. Click here to read more.
Human waste and sanitation is now seen as a big business opportunity as people want low cost improvement solutions where public services fail them and are willing to pay if the service is right
Unilever
An example of this BoP business model is Unilever which is leading this market with their lifebuoy brand. Its aim is to improve sanitation by getting people to wash their hands by using soap which will prevent thousands of children dying every year from diarrhoea disease. Below is a great short clip showing what they are doing.
Lifestraw
The original life straw was produced in 1999 and is a water filter that is claimed to remove 99.999999 % of waterborne bacteria and 99.999 of waterborne protozoa. Since coming to market it has been constantly improved over the years here is a short clip that explains what this company is about and how does the product work which could help with improving sanitation for millions of people.
Is this product any use for countries in Africa ?
There is a great paper by Elsanousi Salwa et al 2009 that explores the impact of Lifestraw use in a camp in Sudan. It was found that out of the 647 participants of the study no house had a latrine and sanitation were poor, four months before providing people with life straws 15.3 % of people reported having diarrhoea and after the number reduced to 2.3 %. The number of new cases also reduced dramatically, before the implication of life straw 56 people came to the clinic suffering from diarrhoea, in the four months period after this reduced to only 6 cases.
This study therefore found that it is effective in reducing cases of diarrhoea disease in a short term study. In another study by Naranjo J and Gerba C 2011 found the water after purifying with this device exceeded requirements as a water treatment device and no dangerous bacteria was detected in the water after treatment.
The issue I have with these companies is that although they are helping improve sanitation in africa they are not social enterprises they are out there to make profit for themselves and the ceo's which isn't necessarily ethical.
What is a Social Enterprise then >
A social business is created to find a solution to a social problem, they are not out there to see to maximise profit as all money made is re invested. To be financially stable there model is a no -loss no - dividend one. Thieme T (2015)
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