Mr. Wells is a specialist in environmental and low income, “base of the pyramid,” markets with long experience in Mexico and Latin America. He was instrumental in introducing the concept of base of the pyramid markets as an important business opportunity to Mexico in 2001 when he organized the first conference in Mexico on Business Opportunities in the Base of the Pyramid with the Monterrey Institute of Technology. Subsequently, he worked with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to develop and promote its “Opportunities for the Majority” initiative under which the IDB provides financing to business ventures that address the economic and social needs of Latin America’s “majority” in an ethical and responsible manner.
A hallmark of Mr. Wells’ approach has been the involvement of local entrepreneurs in base of the pyramid markets. With that objective he has worked in Mexico and Peru to prepare local small businesses to participate in market economies. Mr. Wells is an active participant in the Base of the Pyramid Learning Laboratories in the United States and Mexico, and he was a member of the multi-stakeholder group that developed the Base of the Pyramid Protocol. In 2007 he developed and conducted the first comprehensive training course in Mexico on business opportunities in the base of the pyramid applying the concepts. Mr. Wells is a native Spanish speaker and has worked with businesses, multilateral financial institutions and governments throughout Latin America.
He is a graduate of Harvard College and holds a Master’s degree from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has also completed all the requirements except the dissertation for a doctorate in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.