Contributor

Guest author

Summer School "Developing Inclusive Business", July 14-16th by BoP Innovation Center and Nyenrode Business University

15. Jun 2014

If I would ask you today: what are the most successful innovations around? Most likely names like Facebook, Apple or Candy Crush would come to your mind. Less likely you would name d.light, affordable renewable energy for low-income people, M-Pesa, the most successful mobile money transfer system for the unbanked in Kenya, or JITA, an innovative way of reaching the unreachable in Bangladesh. The former create needs in over-saturated markets, the latter create new markets to address stringent social needs.

Paraphrasing Steve Jobs, the main question for any professional dealing with innovation is: “Do you want to change the world, or spend your life selling apps in the App Store?” We have, in other words, lost track on what innovation should do: solve real problems and address real needs.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon of serving saturated markets. One that strikes me can be found in business schools, where too often students are taught that the only reward is a financial one. Simple metrics, including the euro or dollar sign, influence MBA rankings like the one of the Financial Times enormously. Looking from this angle, a great number of meaningless mobile apps are extremely successful and resonate in the minds of young professionals.

It is changing though and the BoP Innovation Center, in cooperation with Nyenrode Business School, offers a 3-day summer course based on the BoP innovation cycle on July 14-16th on campus in the Netherlands.

The major themes of the course are:

  • Inclusive Business Innovation
  • Market Understanding and Marketing
  • Last Mile Distribution
  • Financing
  • Partnering

During the course you will have the opportunity to develop your own inclusive business and receive feedback from experts in the field. This program is designed for company representatives at the technical or middle management level, and ideally suited to those who have little experience with inclusive business but are tasked to create solutions or are interested in working in the area.