The Global Prosperity team often writes and talks about markets, growth, and innovation—but we don’t often discuss what truly sustains them: the jobs they create and the lives they transform.
One of the most powerful outcomes of market-creating innovations (MCIs) is the revolution it sparks in work: millions of people moving from precarious survival within the independent sector to sustainable, market-anchored employment.
The mechanism that creates sustainable jobs
Not all jobs are created equal. While any job can generate income, jobs that are anchored in market-creating innovations offer people stability, inspire a culture of innovation, and create a sense of purpose.
This kind of employment doesn’t appear out of thin air. It emerges when new markets are created—when innovators make products and services affordable and accessible for the millions who previously couldn’t consume them. And as these markets grow, so do entirely new labor forces.
MCIs transform complicated products and services into simple solutions accessible to a whole new segment of people who previously didn’t have access: the nonconsumers. In creating these accessible solutions for nonconsumers, MCIs generate jobs; and because these jobs are designed to address a nonconsumer’s struggle, they have a built-in sustaining mechanism. As long as a struggle is being addressed, there is a need for a job that addresses it. We’ve seen this across the sectors explored in our MCI research in Nigeria.
For example, in solar energy, companies like SunFi and other pay-as-you-go providers are creating opportunities for solar panel installers, technicians, and field agents who serve customers without access to electricity, or with unreliable and spotty access.
In mobility, firms like MAX are not only deploying electric vehicles, but also onboarding and training drivers (often previously informal workers) into structured employment with earning potential, training, and wrap-around support, including insurance.
In eyecare, innovative models like those pioneered by DOT Glasses and Peek Vision rely on cadres of vision screeners and eye care assistants to expand access, especially in low-income and remote communities where people may not be aware of the kind of eye care they require.
In agriculture and diagnostics, new models that bring cold-chain, last-mile logistics, and affordable diagnostic tools to underserved areas are also unlocking jobs in distribution, logistics, and health facilitation.
Each of these examples reflects a broader truth: market creation leads to the emergence of entire labor ecosystems—jobs that didn’t previously exist because the markets themselves didn’t.
Why MCI jobs matter for development
The value of these jobs goes far beyond the individual worker. They ripple outward into households, communities, and national economies.
Income growth enables families to invest in education, health, and housing, laying the groundwork for upward mobility and generational progress. The skill-building often required in MCI jobs strengthens human capital, creating a more capable and competitive workforce for the future. Formalization expands the tax base and brings workers into systems that offer protection and benefits, fostering stability at scale.
Where traditional jobs may be scarce or unstable, MCI jobs tend to emerge with purpose, offering roles designed around meeting real needs in growing markets. That’s the difference between a handout and a hand up—between temporary relief and structural progress.
Market creation vs traditional development programs
Too often, development interventions focus on short-term employment: cash-for-work programs, construction jobs tied to donor-funded infrastructure, or entrepreneurship training with no market to support it. While well-intentioned and helpful, these efforts only create temporary jobs without lasting pathways.
On the other hand, market-creating innovations don’t just create jobs—they create entire industries. They bring people into economic participation not for a moment, but for the long haul. These jobs aren’t a byproduct; they are a central feature of how market creation works. As more people gain access to essential goods and services, demand will also grow and evolve, and with it, the need for a workforce to serve that demand.
This is what makes market creation different. It doesn’t just address poverty—it restructures the economic systems that allow poverty to persist.
If we truly want to foster shared prosperity, we need to champion market creation. Market creation will create the jobs that lift families out of poverty, strengthen communities, and build the foundation for resilient, thriving economies. They may not be the jobs we see at first, but they’re the ones that make a prosperous future possible.
