Building sustainable models for product categories for rural markets: By studying existing social innovations

Abstract

For many women in the rural parts of India, puberty did not just mark the process of becoming a woman. It brought a source of humiliation, a hurdle to education and the beginning of a bundle of health-related issues. This is a typical issue which women in the underprivileged area face. There are other such issues which affect their health and hygiene conditions in turn impacting economic and social scenarios for people of those areas. The Planning commission of India keeps introducing several reforms for the deprived, but they are not converted into the essentials that a man below the poverty line requires. The government needs the help of multinational companies in launching products for the bottom of the pyramid, which otherwise is also concerned, considering the huge scope available in terms of market – a population of 4 billion. FMCG companies with profit motives, tried exploring the market but ended up in huge losses, making them and others demotivated to enter the segment. Very few people among this population chose to come up with ideas that would eradicate poverty among their fellow men. Thus, the need for social innovations – ideas and concepts that address social issues from improving the living conditions to education and strengthening the civil society aroused. Currently very few products categories are adopted through social innovations, but the need is even more. Thus, it becomes necessary to identify existing social innovation models and construct such models for other products categories and implement them across rural markets.