Can multinationals make money out of serving the world's poorest people? In his classic book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid , C.K. Prahalad insisted they could. However, companies have been told little about what they need to do to succeed. How could returns justify the costs and uncertainties of such investments? In practice, the needs of companies for profits and of millions of poor people for products, services and jobs are not coming together at the hoped-for speed and scale.

Problems arise when trying to follow the traditional advice that businesses must: first, build resources and competencies to create and meet demand even though market-supporting institutions are largely absent; and second, form joint ventures with local pro-poor organisations that have objectives and competencies different from their own. But success is not impossible, as two cases from Bangladesh demonstrate.