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Development Consulting

WDI Home >> Research Initiatives >> Base of the Pyramid >> BoP Faculty & Fellows >> Development Consulting

Development consulting

We felt that the unique role development agencies can play in facilitating the implementation of BoP ventures had not been well analyzed. Working with the U.S. Agency for International Development, we focused on generating a deeper understanding of different strategies that these organizations can use to maximize their influence and impact. Our results provided actionable recommendations on how development agencies—including donors, foundations, and other socially-oriented organizations—can best target their resources to stimulate and support BoP ventures developed by multinational corporations, host country companies, local entrepreneurs, and international and domestic non-profit organizations.

WDI has a strong track record working with bi- and multi-lateral agencies and major consulting organizations on international development projects. Our Development Consulting Services team prides itself on providing its clients with honest, objective, thoughtful, and experienced technical advice that draws upon the broad knowledge base at the University of Michigan. More information is available on WDI’s website at www.wdi.umich.edu/Development.

VisionSpring

Scojo Foundation, a BoP venture creating economic opportunities in the developing world through the sale of affordable glasses, has changed its name to VisionSpring to better reflect its mission and brand for the long term.

In conjunction with its name change, VisionSpring has launched a $5 million prospectus. The prospectus represents the latest thinking in BoP ventures and nonprofit development, in which capitalization is based on the private sector equity model. The prospectus builds on VisionSpring’s commitment, as part of the Clinton Global Initiative, to more than triple the scale of its impact by 2010.

VisionSpring, a long-standing partner with WDI, has also invited Ted London, Director of WDI’s Base of the Pyramid research initiative, to sit on their Advisory Board.

For more on VisionSpring and its innovative activities, click here.