One of the major problems in the world nowadays is the lack of access to financing for the lower classes, and in developing countries this issue also affects a big part of the middle class. In this chapter, we will analyze innovations that have been implemented in Latin America to help solve the problem of lack of financing in the population of scarce resources, and the companies or organizations behind these innovations. We study companies that are innovative not only in their business model, their group lending work, but also in their social commitment and their integral way of attacking the problem with education and other elements. Additionally, technology has played an important role in the innovation of microfinance institution mainly for the MOP. This chapter analyzes some of the most recent and innovative strategies that microfinancial organizations, dedicated mainly to the MOP population, have created to increase access to their services, and therefore, to improve the financial inclusion of this segment of the population.

Using a series of case studies, we analyze innovative business models aiming primarily at financial inclusion of the LAC MOP segment through consumer goods purchases, simultaneously securing scalability and stakeholder´s profitability. These models simultaneously optimize social and financial returns through the interchangeable use of stakeholder’s resources and capabilities and clear alignment of their interests. Financial institutions absorb consumer goods companies into the value chain as distributors of their (financial) products and services to MoP using the company’s existing distribution channels and their established reputation. Consumer goods companies expand their offers with, for them, unorthodox financial tools and services, financially formalizing and including MOP members while increasing their customer-focus flexibility and sales.Finally, we provide lessons on how to develop inclusive businesses achieving direct developmental impacts through the provision of essential goods, services, and jobs, unlocking new forms of innovation and entrepreneurial activity critical to accelerating inclusive growth of emerging markets.

Traditional housing markets have primarily ignored both the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) and the Middle of the Pyramid (MOP), as these groups are expelled out from commercial banking given they have insufficient money to formally build their homes, so they remain as vulnerable people. This housing shortage is of particular importance in developing countries where public intervention is not efficient to solve this social problem. In this chapter, and applied to the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) nations, we show how the public–private initiatives based on innovation can help to solve this shortage of quality housing. We conclude that managers located in LAC countries have an active role in identifying social needs to satisfy them by applying innovative processes focused on reducing poverty gaps in housing from private initiatives. These creative procedures allow social entrepreneurs to adopt flexible and adjustable models to the variety of needs emerged in the different segments of the low-income market, and we show it in various cases for some LAC countries.