BoP Learning Lab – Retail sector

Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch Business School will host a Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Learning Lab session with a focus on the retail sector on Thursday 9 April 2009.

The BoP Learning Lab aims to provide sources of inspiration and to be the toolbox with which the Southern African business community can maximise its social impact at the base of the pyramid. Spread over four continents, the BoP Learning Labs represent a “consortium of leading thinkers and practitioners interested in exploring new business opportunities in low-income communities that would benefit business as well as the local community”.

The lunchtime session on the 9th, the third for 2009, will feature presentations by Woolworths and FNB:

Woolworths has established itself in South Africa as “the difference” when it comes to retail. This seems to go further than the shopper’s experience. Even though Woolworths is decidedly a high income segment brand in South Africa, new procurement practices are constantly tested to include the BoP into the value chain of the company. Through his presentation, Kenneth Carden, strategy analyst within Woolworths, will develop the company’s integrated approach to socio-economic transformation.

David Milligan, FNB Commercial Banking, will describe the work being done by the bank to design and market Enterprise Development Solutions adapted to low income SA entrepreneurs. South Africa’s oldest bank, First National Bank is one of the largest financial institutions in the continent.

DATE: Thursday 9 April 2009
TIME: 12:30 – 14:00
VENUE: Open Innovation Studio, 27 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town

For more information, please visit www.bop.org.za. For bookings please e-mail us.