Empowering Micro Retailers in Emerging Markets

In this episode, we sit down with members of the MIT Low Income Firms Transformation (LIFT) Lab: Director Josué Velázquez Martínez, Postdoctoral Researcher Sreedevi Rajagopalan, and Doctoral Student Fabio Castro. We discuss the LIFT Lab's work empowering micro-retailers and nanostores in emerging markets to lift themselves out of poverty. These retailers, while making up an overwhelming majority of retail business in their regions, are at a significant disadvantage when dealing with large suppliers and competing with large retailers—some 30% of these firms fail within 5 years of opening. Using generative AI, the LIFT Lab is helping these retailers enhance their business decision-making and supply chain capabilities to help them survive and thrive. Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider