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6.4.6.1 Product Development
In the development of a pilot with a business champion, we often notice that after
initial needs assessments and market research are conducted, the existing product
portfolio of the business champions does not match the needs and wants of the local
BoP consumer market. This means that 2SCALE will work with the business champion on developing a completely new product or will adapt the existing product in
such a way that better suits the needs and wants of BoP consumers.
These processes can be quite time consuming and require a significant investment of resources from the business champion. But equally, they can provide a
breakthrough for the company in entering the BoP market. In these cases, the market insights collected are used to shape the idea for a new product, and the product
is subsequently further developed.
Sometimes this means that external expertise is needed, especially on the technical side. For example, a food technologist (i.e., through the Dutch “Programma
Fig. 6.3 Key trade-offs in the BoP-focused distribution models
N. van Dijk et al.