Development loves acronyms. Development loves alliteration. It loves to dumb down, distil and disseminate decidedly dodgy diatribes of development determinants.
The area of private sector development is no different. It too likes alliteration. It starts with a “P”, and we need look no further. If the alphabet is our development tool box, then the only tool we need, it seems, is a P.
A decade ago I was told that just 5 Ps were needed to reach the poor at the bottom of the pyramid. I note today that another 4 Ps are required if inclusive business is to be proactively pro-poor. Well, we purveyors of M4P will take your 5 Ps and your 4 Ps and we’ll raise you. Here goes:
- Product: what don’t the Poor have, but need to Progress out of Poverty?
- Price: what does the Product cost, what can the Poor afford, and how can the gap be closed?
- Promotion: how do we get the Poor to understand the Product, and see the Price as economic in order for them to want to Purchase?
- Place: how and where best to sell the well-Priced Products the Poor now wish to Purchase?
- People: how do we ensure that those People Purchasing the well-Priced Products are indeed those Poor at the bottom of the Pyramid?
- Pilot: well, we start with a Pilot of course because we want to learn, don’t we?
- Passion: helping the Poor isn’t a business, it’s a vocation and every vocation needs Passion, doesn’t it?
- Perseverance: development is hard, we shouldn’t be put off Prematurely; we should have Perseverance.
- Partnerships: concerned with sustainability, we want to Pilot Passionate Public-Private Partnerships that Persevere once we’ve all Parted the Picture.
- Pat on the Back: development needs symmetry. 9 Ps simply isn’t enough. We need at least 10 Ps to be credible. Hence, our final P – is the Pat on the Back we’ll all deserve once we’ve delivered on the Previous 9 Ps…!
Clearly the Problem with M4P is, it doesn’t have enough “Ps”. It’s time to re-brand. Goodbye M4P. Hello Progressive Pro-Poor Poverty Pathways – the 10Ps Approach.
I’m not taking the P out of M4P. I’m putting it back in…!