Melinda Gates gave me some great advice today. “If you want to penetrate impenetrable markets,” she said, “ follow the model of a pro – Coca Cola.”
In the remotest parts of Africa where homes have dirt floors, there is no electricity or running water, there is Coke. She goes on to suggest that the NGO’s working to spread health care and sanitation could take a page out of Coke’s business model. 1.5 billion servings of Coke are drunk every day on this planet. That’s a lot of penetration. Their business model has three main components:
1) collect real-time data – translate and adapt your offering continuously
2) develop local entrepreneurship talent – it is innate to us all, no matter a person’s economic status.
3) market – to a desire not a need
Three bricks to help build a solid foundation for long term success. Any business venture could use those same three building blocks. Mine did (sometimes). (more…)
