The following BoP-related cases have been written by faculty or students while working for or in collaboration with the BoP Learning Lab™ Network.

Building a Sustainable Venture: The Mountain's Institutes Earth Brick Machine
John Buffington and Ted London (2005)
The Mountain Institute (TMI), an international non-profit organization, received a patent for a machine that makes environmentally friendly bricks from dirt, allowing for low cost construction of housing and other structures. TMI saw this technology not only as an environmental win but also as a tool for economic development in emerging economies, and as a vehicle for serving the housing needs of the poor at the base of the economic pyramid. This case study explores TMI’s plans and challenges as it considers different structures and business models for launching a for-profit enterprise.

Distributed Solar Energy in Brazil: Fabio Rosa's Approach to Social entrepreneurship
Yerina Mugica and Ted London (2004)
Approximately 25 million people in Brazil do not have access to electricity. Fabio Rosa, a local social entrepreneur, is aiming to fill this need through innovative distributed solar energy systems.

A Development Bank's Success with Micro-finance: Banco do Nordeste's Credi
Amigo Yerina Mugica and Ted London (2004)
An estimated 15.7 million people in Brazil work in the informal economy as micro-entrepreneurs, outnumbering formal sector entrepreneurs by more than three to one. Of these informal micro-entrepreneurs, 93% run profitable businesses. However, 84% of these micro-entrepreneurs do not have access to credit. In November 1996 at a meeting in Fortaleza, the World Bank and Banco do Nordeste, a development bank formed to support growth in northeastern Brazil, decided to initiate a collaborative process to jointly implement a local development program based on the idea of micro-credit.

Self-sustaining Micro-finance Programs to Help Brazil's Poor: ABN AMRO Real Microcredito
Yerina Mugica and Ted London (2004)
An estimated 15.7 million people in Brazil work in the informal economy as micro-entrepreneurs, outnumbering formal sector entrepreneurs by more than three to one. Of these informal micro-entrepreneurs 93% run profitable businesses, 84% of whom do not have access to credit. It is estimated that 50% of these micro-entrepreneurs would apply for a micro-credit loan if they had access to banking services. This figure represents a potential of US$ 3.7 billion per year in loans. Recognizing a potential market and seeing a service that could both help the community and be self-sustaining, ABN AMRO's Brazilian subsidiary Banco ABN AMRO Real launched Real Microcredito in July 2002, in partnership with ACCION, a non-governmental organization specializing in micro-credit worldwide.

Vodacom's Community Cell Phones
Jennifer Reck and Brad Wood (2003)
Vodacom Community Services, a program of Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular phone company, is a successful example of how business and government can work together to achieve significant social and economic goals.

PRODEM FFP's Multilingual Smart ATMs for Microfinance
Roberto Hernandez and Yerina Mugica (2003)
PRODEM FFP is a private financial fund that has developed a strong competitive advantage in serving the bottom-of-the-pyramid market in Bolivia by developing solutions based on proprietary technology that lowers costs, better meets existing customers' needs, and makes its services accessible to new customers.

Sustainable Development for Rural Connectivity: The N-Logue Model
Joy Howard, Chris Simms and Erik Simanis (2001)
n-Logue has created a for-profit business model to tap into the latent demand for connectivity in rural India. This case study describes the business model and identifies key strengths and challenges.

The Monsanto Company: Quest for Sustainability Case Study and Teaching Note
Erik Simanis and Stuart Hart (2000)
Explores the strategic drivers and implications of Monsanto's sustainability-driven transition from a chemical concern to a life sciences entity. The case can be employed in a strategy course or a specialized elective on strategic environmental management and sustainable development, and in either one or two class sessions. It allows for discussion along four primary axes:

• the strengths and weaknesses of Monsanto's sustainability-driven corporate strategy, both in terms of developing and industrialized economies;
• views on sustainable agriculture and emerging drivers;
• the escalating importance of broad-based stakeholder engagement and the growing power of civil society; and
• the process by which a strategic vision is conceived, communicated, and institutionalized.

Expanding the Playing Field: Nike's World Shoe Project
Heather McDonald, Ted London, and Stuart Hart (1998)
In 1998, Nike began the development of the World Shoe Project, a footwear line designed exclusively for emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This case documents Nike's attempt to enter the footwear market in China, as led by Tom Hartge, Director of Emerging Market Footwear. It provides students a view of the many strategic and internal challenges faced by multinational companies attempting to create a foothold in emerging markets, and investigates the sustainability issues surrounding market entry into the bottom of the pyramid. The case is appropriate for use in a core strategy course, an international business class or a specialized elective on sustainable enterprise, at the M.B.A. or executive levels.