IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Food Security January 2013 | Page 18

Food Security in Urban Slums by 2018

Addendum
“I encourage you to take
this opportunity to learn
from other companies and
organizations that have
made strides in creating
effective and sustainable
solutions to food insecurity.” President
Clinton

Considerations for developing a complete solution
To develop a solution, lessons learned by other companies and organizations in other industries
should be considered. IXL Center uses the innovation value chain to find growth and opportunity in
new areas. There are the bright spots around each section of the innovation value chain – market,
delivery, offering, production, and business model – that should be considered as inputs when
developing solutions for the poor (Figure 12).

Figure 12. Use the Innovation Value Chain for complete solutions

Customers in slums are able to pay for goods and services
Target profitable customers/segments
Not every customer has the ability to pay for goods and services, especially those at the Bottom
of the Pyramid (BOP) and in urban slums.70 As we are looking for business solutions, we focus on
customers who have the ability to purchase an offering (Figure 13). Companies increase profits by
targeting segments that are accessible and have an ability to pay. This may offend some observers
who object to companies choosing not to target the absolute bottom of the BOP who have perhaps
the most need. Those needing quasi-emergency aid can best be targeted by NGOs, government,
advocacy and community groups.

Figure 13. There are 4 billion customers at the BOP

Who is your target customer? NGOs and social enterprises typically target those who earn more
than US$2/day.
Version 1.0, January 2013

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