ABSTRACT
The main difference between Base of the Pyramid (BoP) projects and development projects is that companies work continuously together with the poor and the projects are never completed—as is often the case in development projects. A decentralised organisational structure of a company fosters the emergence of BoP ventures, although coordination and commitment from the top is important in any case. Power relations play a role within BoP projects, especially if they are located in communities where social structures are rigid. The target group is more broadly defined than in the BoP literature or in the official poverty lines defined by development actors, but it is in line with more extensive concepts such as the Human development index or the United Nation Millennium Development Goals. The input of the BoP is always combined with the knowledge of the company, and capacity building was necessary as the knowledge of the poor alone was not sufficient.
