“Collaboration with local partners and civil society actors has become an undisputed part of comprehensive and effective international development cooperation. However, the question of how to deal with the old economic elites in the process of social transformation has not yet received due attention. How can the economic elites themselves be transformed in societies in transformation? Will they be capable and willing to act as promoters of a rule-based market economy?” These are issues that were discussed at the “Transforming Fragile Societies ‚Äì What Role for Economic Elites?” event on the 16th of February in Munich.
 
SOLARKIOSK CEO, Andreas Spiess, was invited by the BMW Foundation, to represent SOLARKIOSK as a speaker at the Munich Security Conference focusing on changing “society undergoing ‘elites’ disruptive business models at the Base-of-the-Pyramid.” Together with the panelists Elsie S. Kanza, Head of Regional Strategies – Africa, World Economic Forum and Abdallah Al Dardari Senior Advisor, The World Bank, they tackeled these questions with the knowledge and expereince they have collected through out their careers.
 
Andreas discussed how the SOLARKIOSK business model is directly targeting rural “Base of the Pyramid” communities in developing countries, which rural areas are mostly neglected by infrastructure and investment programs. Whereas the “old economic elites” mainly focus on urban and industrial centers / sectors, SOLARKIOSK scalable commercial approach impacts rural communities where unemployment is up to 40% and more and the youth lacks tangible educational and economic perspectives. Andreas explained how a profitable business can be build with last mile distribution, energy and connectivity.
 
“I am always pleased to see how much interest and appreciation SOLARKIOSK receives at high level events like Davos and MSC. People are excited to learn that our customers may have small pockets, but they are many, and they like to spend their money at SOLARKIOSK as we are the trusted brand for sustainable products and solutions at the last mile. And it does not stop here. We are also buying local produce, often prolonging the value chain at the local farmers through agro-processing, buying at fair price without and reselling directly to other wholesellers. This “push and pull” makes SOLARKIOSKs¬¥s value proposition truly intriguing.”