Where, specifically, could private businesses create real, sustainable value for low-income households in Mexico, and what would it take to reach them?
IDB
PROJECT TYPE
Opportunity Mapping and Validation
CONTEXT
The Inter-American Development Bank wanted a clearer view of where genuine innovative business opportunity existed in serving the base of the pyramid in Mexico, a population segment too often dismissed as low-value or assumed to want cheap over good. IDB needed evidence, not assumptions, about what this market actually wanted and was willing to pay for.
We leveraged IDB’s proprietary extensive in-depth market research with base-of-the-pyramid households to understand their financial behavior, spending patterns, and unmet needs. From that research, we mapped concrete business opportunities across four areas: financial resilience, including savings and insurance products that could replace informal mechanisms; education and productivity, particularly technical training tied directly to employability; health, focused on accessibility and preventive care; and home and household needs, spanning housing finance, connectivity, and nutrition. For each area, we defined target customer profiles and practical business model recommendations grounded in how households actually live and spend, not assumptions about how they should.
IDB received a detailed, evidence-based map of where private businesses could profitably serve this market, giving the institution a clear foundation for guiding future investment and program design in the region.
