Why are so few organizations selling beneficial products at the base of the pyramid (BoP) successful? This is not simply a story of companies failing, and it is one with a dramatic consequence as low-income people do not benefit from products that can improve their way of life. Instead, they continue to drink unsafe water, cook on stoves that emit fumes that kill over 1 million people per year, light their homes with dangerous kerosene lamps, and fall ill from a mosquito bite. Based on a multiyear field research program conducted in 25 countries, we argue that having a specific mindset about BoP customers is consequential to an organization's success. Many organizations start with the assumption that BoP customers lack money, knowledge, and jobs. By contrast, successful organizations start from the assumption that customers can and will pay if they are provided with a satisfactory solution to their needs and are reassured about the level of risk involved. We detail the different practices that follow from this mindset change in the areas of value proposition, communication, and distribution and show how these practices can make or break the organization's financial sustainability.

Case A describes how Rodrigo Baggio in 1995 developed the first computer and citizen schools in Brazil to address the problem of digital exclusion. By 2005 the CDI network included almost 1,000 schools throughout Latin America. However, with the rapid growth came quality control problems and organisational complexities. In addition there was increasing competition from the government and from the private sector. Rodrigo and his team needed to re-assess the positioning of CDI while grappling with the complexities of managing a large network-based organisation. Case (B) continues CDI's story and presents the challenges that Rodrigo and his team faced in 2008 and are still dealing with at present. There are now 80,000 privately run cybercafés and 6,000 government Telecentros in Brazil. The CDI team needs to develop new mechanisms for improving the sustainability of the CDI network and empowering the network members. They also need to rethink CDI's added value to society in the context of an increasingly crowded market with competing solutions.