- Pretoria, South Africa: Themba, CEO Who Can't Collect
- Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya: Mariam, Microentrepreneur Who Must Choose between Feeding Her Children and Feeding Her Business
- Santiago, Chile: Jaime, International Executive Who Has to Please Everyone
- Kingston, Jamaica: Lisa, Business Leader Whose Industry Is Struggling
- Abuja, Nigeria: Ijeoma, Government Leader Who Can't Help Feeling Like a Beggar
- Washington, DC: Rob, Development Partner Can't Work Self Out of Job
- The Core Problem: Caught in The Survival Trap
- Getting at the Essence of The Survival Trap from a Stakeholder's Perspective
- BoP Markets as the Biggest Untapped Business Opportunity
- The Case of Africa: Islands of Opportunity in a Sea of Challenges
- The Solution
- Why Business Must Lead BoP Nations out of The Survival Trap
- Building Partnerships That Transcend The Survival Trap
- Practical Solutions for Escaping The Survival Trap
- The Approach
Washington, DC: Rob, Development Partner Can't Work Self Out of Job
Rob has had the "development bug" for as long as he can remember. His dream has always been to work himself out of a job.
After a stint in government, Rob traveled the world as an economic development consultant. He fondly remembers traveling to remote parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe to talk about business strategy and entrepreneurship.
Thirty years later, when the new USAID administrator asked him to head its economic transformation department, Rob saw this as an opportunity to revolutionize the development conversation. At long last, he controlled the purse strings.
Rob has always believed that money was not the problem in development. Now, he knows. After injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into key initiatives over the past two years, the program review his team just completed suggests even more money is needed.
As he contemplates the next phase of his program, Rob knows something has to change. While he has some radical proposals such as enforcing a definite deadline for all his programs, he begins to wonder whether he will have the political know-how to maneuver his way out of this bind.