ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), in order to understand more about the environment within which the research took place. It explains the region's economy, the main economic sectors and activities. The chapter addresses the core of this research, presenting further detail surrounding the specific market at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) in the region. Most countries in LAC have opened up their economies to foreign competition, de-regulated markets and privatised economic activities. Even though Latin America has an abundance of land, it differs from most other developing regions in its small share of rural workers in the labour market, and in the small share that agriculture represents in the economy. Latin America has its share of poverty, but infrastructure is often better than in other developing regions. As the majority of poor people in LAC live in urban areas, the BoP markets are more urban than rural.
