File:Falzon - An enabling environment for fostering sustainable cooking energy enterprises in Rwanda.pdf

English: In recent years a paradigm shift has occurred in development towards harnessing latent entrepreneurship and leveraging the capabilities of the private sector to make markets work for the poor. The premise of this shift is that through economic development driven by the private sector the forces that perpetuate poverty in developing countries will be weakened, leading to sustainable poverty alleviation. The purported driving force for unleashing entrepreneurial capability are inclusive business models targeting the Bottom of the Pyramid, those living at the bottom tier of the economic pyramid living on less than $1 per day. Business models represent the core logic of a company, and are inextricably linked to the external environment, as businesses do not operate in a vacuum. In the external environment, barriers beyond the influence of the entrepreneur can impede the realisation of business opportunities. The role of the policy maker is thus (although not exclusively) to remove such barriers in order to create an enabling environment in which businesses can thrive. Through a case-study of sustainable cooking energy enterprises in Rwanda, the most salient barriers are articulated and potential policy mechanisms for removing these barriers and creating an enabling environment are presented.