How Innovative Companies Help Frontier Markets Grow

Efosa Ojomo, global prosperity lead at the Clayton Christensen
Institute, argues that international aid is not the best way to
develop poor countries, nor are investments in natural resource
extraction, outsourced labor, or incremental improvements to
existing offerings for established customer bases. Instead,
entrepreneurs, investors, and global companies should focus on
market-creating innovations. Just like Henry Ford in the United
States a century ago, they should see opportunity in the struggles
of frontier markets, target non-consumption, and create not just
products and services but whole ecosystems around them, which then
promote stability and economic growth. Ojomo is the co-author of
the HBR article "Cracking Frontier Markets" and the book The
Prosperity Paradox.