A Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy Program For Low-Literate, Poor Individuals in

Developing Economies

This program has been piloted and customized to urban and rural settings in Tamil Nadu, India. It is currently offered at regular intervals. A detailed manual is available upon request.

Generic Business Education

Localized Research

Customized Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy Education

Our Approach

Sources of Knowledge

• Experience with business education• Experience at the grass roots level• Research through numerous qualitative

interviews of buyers and sellers• Not a one size (of business education) fits

all (contexts) approach, • Combine business principles with

indigenous research

Barriers Faced By Poor, Low-Literate Individuals

• Psychological (including self-confidence and awareness of rights)

• Skill-related (skills as buyer and seller)• Financial

We attempt to address the first two.

4-Tiered Model of Curriculum Development

January to June 2003

• Broad Learning Goals• Specific Content/topics• Methods for conveying content to audience

that is assumed to be unable to read or write

• Instructional materials

Training Program

• Part 1 – Exchanges and Value Chains– A simple introduction to marketplace economics– Pictorial tasks such as

• prioritizing elements of a value chain where money is often given highest importance at the beginning of training but the customer is given highest importance as the training proceeds

• understanding the evolution of exchanges over time and the central importance of serving customer needs

– Key concepts are • exchange as the underpinning of marketplace

economics• multiple exchanges along value chains• meeting of customer needs as a key driver of changes in

the marketplace over time and of success of a business

Prioritizing Elements of a Value Chain Task requires placing pictures in order of importance

Evolution of Exchanges – Part 1

Training Program

• Part 1 – Exchanges and Value Chains• Part 2 – Consumer Literacy

– Role play with vegetable and grocery shops covering pitfalls identified through basic research

– Assessing value is a central topic

• Part 3 - Entrepreneurial Literacy– Consumer-oriented business philosophy– Evaluating business opportunities– Conducting market research– Understanding consumer decision-making– Product Design– Distribution– Promotion– Pricing– Finance and Accounting

Value Chains and Distribution – Part 3

Assessment

• Training offered since June, 2003• Assessment

– Follow-up in 3-6 months– 100% benefit through consumer literacy– 20-25% start businesses

• Training modified from 5-day program to 1-day consumer literacy and 2-day entrepreneurial literacy programs

Unique Aspects

– Conceptual focus to facilitate life-long learning– Emphasis on lived experience– Addresses an important need for generic life

skills in the economic realm; underfocused compared to microfinancing and vocational literacy

Marketplace Literacy Projectwww.marketplaceliteracy.org