Do you have any advice on forecasting demand at the BoP?

Tips and Advice
1

Hi, I am doing another desk study of summarizing the studies on demand forecast or needs of any BoP market. I will be grateful if you would give me some tips or directions in relation to this. Many thanks for your assistance. Richard

2

Richard, I am not aware of any that demand forecasts are publicly available, but you might check the World Bank for projections such as "to meet Brazil's unmet need for housing xxx million new units will be needed by yyy year."

There are a few things out there on current (and perhaps I should put "current" in quotation marks) levels of expenditure in certain categories - The Next 4 Billion report being the original (2005 data I think). UNDP released some heat maps which also showed in some sectors the sources of the various products/services being consumed (e.g. for finance, bank vs. MFI vs. family/friends). IFC is working on updating The Next 4 Billion report now.

I'll be curious whether others know of publicly available demand forecasts!

3

Hi Beth,

Thank you for your advice. Will check the World Bank and IFC accordingly.

Richard