Head of Market Insights & Strategic Initiatives | Facilitating the Adoption of Innovations in the Rural Indian Market | Davis Scholar.
The last mile distribution sector is rapidly evolving but there's still a big problem: many last mile consumers across the globe don't have access to important products and services. The guest article written by the Global Distributors Collective (GDC) and Spring Impact dives deep into innovative approaches and pathways to scale impact in the last-mile distribution sector, offering invaluable insights for organizations committed to making a difference in emerging markets. So, how do last-mile distributors (LMDs) approach scaling their solutions? They typically follow two main pathways. 1) The first involves scaling up solutions to reach more individuals affected by the problem, whether locally, nationally, or internationally. 2) The second pathway focuses on systemic change, aiming to reduce the size of the problem itself. Strategic partnerships play a pivotal role here, as organizations collaborate to deliver solutions collectively. Essmart is highlighted as an example of the latter pathway in the article. In 2022, we forged a strategic partnership with One Acre Fund to enhance access to essential agricultural products for rural farmers in Bihar. This partnership allowed us to deepen our focus on rural end customers, predominantly small-scale farmers, and pilot a shop-enabled farmer model in North India for the first time. Additionally, we’ve taken a distinctive approach by not only tackling access but also promoting product adoption through customized market research tailored for the rural Indian market. Leveraging our extensive network of rural retail shops, FPOs, and millions of end-users, we're well-positioned to provide unique insights for those that seek to push their innovations into the rural market. 💡 Curious to learn more about our approach to scaling impact? Check out the link shared in the article to revisit a recent panel discussion I had the pleasure of hosting, where we discussed our pathway to scaling via market research in more detail.
The last mile distribution sector has gained significant momentum. But as Russell Lyseight at the Global Distributors Collective (GDC) and Emma Colenbrander at Spring Impact point out, there is still a huge discrepancy between the size of the problem (i.e., last mile consumers’ lack of access to beneficial products and services) and the distribution solutions that currently exist. They explore several approaches last mile distributors can use to close this gap. https://lnkd.in/g5wXetfg #distribution #LastMileDistribution #LastMile #EmergingMarkets #LMICs #distributors #BusinessDevelopment #RuralDevelopment #GlobalDevelopment
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