Shampoo, saris and SIM cards: seeking entrepreneurial futures at the bottom of the pyramid
- Summary created: 2022
This research found some clear material benefits for women who participated in the entrepreneurial project. This included improvements in their incomes and their ability to make purchases for themselves or their family. There were several non-tangible benefits too such as a greater sense of self-esteem and confidence.
This summary, including its recommendations and ideas, was created by Professor Catherine Dolan and is based on original research. The original research itself was conducted in collaboration with the following researchers.
The purpose of our research was to identify whether being enrolled in ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ (BoP) projects was empowering for women. These entrepreneurial projects provide a new approach to economic development whereby markets are opened to those living in poverty. They entail multinational corporations partnering with development organisations to provide micro-entrepreneurs with products to sell door-to-door in their communities.
Insights
Participation in this scheme seemed to enhance the women’s agency, in both their personal and familiar lives in their households.
But there wasn’t any kind of collective empowerment - it was still very individual.
There were some very positive aspects for women who were enrolled in this programme.
The women weren’t simply able to improve their incomes, but they also seemed to perceive themselves as having a better status in the community.
What it means
Our research looked at empowerment from a multidimensional perspective. Meaning that we were interested to see, not simply the ability of the intervention to increase the income, but also whether or not they provided other less tangible benefits, such as autonomy, decision making or greater bargaining positions in households.
Therefore, we focussed less on whether the women had or didn’t have empowerment and focussed instead on this question of agency. Whether women had the ability to act, and make decisions about their own lives.
We looked at this in 3 ways.
1) Materially – did income improve?
2) In the realm of the household – did household position improve?
3) In the realm of the community – did community status improve?
One of the main findings was that participation in this scheme seemed to enhance the women’s agency, in both their personal and familiar lives in their households. But there wasn’t any kind of collective empowerment. It was still very much about the individual.
Overall, there were some very positive aspects for women who were enrolled in this programme. The women weren’t simply able to improve their incomes, but they also seemed to perceive themselves as having a better status in the community.
Part of that was just materially. For instance, they were able to save money, make independent purchases without prior permission from their husband, and choose to put aside money for their child’s education. We also found that they could invest their income in starting new businesses, for example, through buying livestock.
But it also changed the women’s social status within the family and community. Women found that because they were now working and bringing in an income, they were invited to celebrations or were able to host people to come their house for a meal. People would speak to them, and ask them for advice, when they wouldn’t have done before. The women would now eat at the same time as their husband and children rather than after them. All of these examples point to how these entrepreneurial projects were able to shift the women’s visibility, providing them with a sense of place and honour within their household and community.
Also in terms of the women’s social interactions, the entrepreneurial projects proved beneficial, as they allowed women to build their networks. The projects enabled the women to meet with other women and talk about their personal issues.
Suggested next steps
Firstly, we need to design these projects where the organisation is centred around the needs of the women
These projects could be adapted by letting women decide how the model is going to work and what could be sold
Another recommendation would be to incorporate women’s own production into the system for sale, as opposed to bringing in imported consumer goods
A warning for professionals working on these ‘Avon’ model schemes is to be aware of the cultural contexts in which the women will be working in
Lastly, we need to move away from the problematic discourse that those who lives in poverty are able to be transformed into business people and create a life for themselves, if they are just given the opportunity
These research findings are applicable to other forms of micro-finance and Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) projects developed by the private sector, NGOs and International Organisations across the global south
Acknowledgements
Thank you to iDE Global
These insights were made available thanks to the support of iDE Global, who are committed to the dissemination of knowledge for all.
Are you a researcher looking to make a real-world impact? Join Acume and transform your research into a practical summary.