Jul 2, 2015 | 9:30 am
Ganztägig
EAWAG Dübendorf | Dübendorf
The base of the pyramid (BoP) is the largest and poorest socio-economic group, the 3 billion people who live on less than US$2.50 per day. Few companies have so far addressed the opportunities in designing and delivering goods and services to BoP customers, whose purchasing power as a group is US$5,000bn a year according to the International Finance Corporation. This potential is increasingly being recognized, and for example the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC) are is supporting a variety of initiatives in the sector, among them the Swiss Bluetec Bridge or a project to scale up the promotion of safe drinking water globally.
The event showcased initiatives from around the globe, focusing on water and sanitation services for the BOP market, including a keynote by Paul Polak (www.paulpolak.com) and several initiatives with a strong relation to Switzerland. The participants were also given an opportunity to deepen their understanding of key issues such as marketing, value chains or start-up and project financing (both in Switzerland and locally) in various thematic workshops.
Here you can download the presentations of the event:
- Chlorine dispensers: a low-cost approach to safe drinking water (Naomi Rosenthal, South Pole Carbon AG)
- Taking a water kiosk business in Senegal from pilot to scale (Renaud de Watteville, Swiss Fresh Water)
- Meeting the basic needs of the urban BoP customers (Jessica Altenburger, x-runner ventures GmbH): this link opens a new webiste with a video about the project in Lima
- Testing and scaling up business models for safe water (Urs Heierli, Antenna Technologies Foundation)
Group work during one of the afternoon workshops: supportive landscape for BOP initiatives
Other ressources:
- Website of WashTech, where the tool for technology assessment (TAF) is presented and explained
- SECO start-up fund
- Technology fund
- REPIC
- Impact HUB
- cewas
- Cleantech Switzerland
- CleantechAlps
Co-organizers:
Programme:
Click here to see the full programme (opens new window)
Event location: EAWAG Dübendorf, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland