Five business interventions to achieve social impact, financial sustainability and scale

June 2012

BoP Innovation Center & Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

This report serves as a starting point for the business interventions developed in the 2SCALE program.

Improving food and nutrition security through better availability,accessibility, and utilization of food and food products is a complex challenge. After all, it involves a sector where key activities (such as the production, distribution and consumption of food and the identification of food markets) are largely in the hands of private enterprises. Involved as consumer, producer or entrepreneur, for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) population, interventions by the privatesector in the food value chain can increase the income of the actors in the chain, increase the availability of food products, make food products more affordable, or increase the – nutritious – quality of food. Interventions will ultimately contribute to improving the availability of and access to nutritious food and food products.

Reducing poverty and hunger has been a firm goal of development cooperation, but has produced limited results. Recent focus has been on increasing the involvement of the private sector in trajectories aimed at addressing major social challenges. The private sector alleviates poverty not only by contributing to overall economic growth, but also through providing poor people with employment, services and products, increasing choice and reduced prices. In return, these people become valuable consumers as well as employees, suppliers and distributors for the organization.

The agricultural sector is the key driving force for economic growth in most developing countries. Higher productivity and improved performance will increase farm incomes and the well-being of the farmer community. The BoP Innovation Center was engaged in a study to broaden the understanding of possible strategies to engage the private sector in food security and improving nutrition at the base of the pyramid (low-income groups).  Key lessons were identified in terms of barriers to growth, scaling processes and objectives, adequate business models and customer needs.

For this study, a database of initiatives was built and experts in the field were consulted to assess the most relevant intervention strategies. An objective assessment selected the most promising interventions in terms of social impact, financial sustainability and potential to scale. A thorough case study was realized on the selected interventions and recommendations were derived on how to engage the private sector in the field of food security and nutrition improvement.

The public report aims to disseminate the most innovative approaches to food security and nutrition and. Based on the best practices and the business interventions, we challenge the private sector to engage in inclusive innovations the provide access to food and improved nutrition at the Base of the Pyramid.

Read more and download the report here.

Sector: sustainable food

BoP region: worldwide

Role of the BoP Innovation Center: manage and execute the project, capture and share learnings, engagement of private sector organizations

Contact person: Eric Wildschut ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )