Rethinking platform businesses in the digital era

Technological advancements have provided new opportunities for entrepreneurs to view the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) segment as a potential market to offer products and services to marginalised people by creating new drivers of economic growth, improving the welfare of the poor, and making profits. The BoP market refers to the poorest two-thirds of the economic human pyramid, a group of more than four billion people, living mainly in the developing world, with an average income of less than US$4 per day 1. In such regions, there is a significant demand for essential products and services related to education, healthcare, financial services, Internet access, and sanitation, which remains largely unfulfilled. This presents a significant opportunity for platform businesses to rethink what and how they sell in these markets.