You're making your list; you're checking it twice. And you're not alone – its time for everyone's year-end best-of lists. I just finished browsing strategy-business’ Best Business Books 2005, where coverage ranges from strategy to marketing to globalization. (Side note: which works are on your "best books" list – comment below). Of particular interest both are the strategy and globalization essays, where C.K. Prahalad's and Stuart Hart's recent books appear:

...a rare glimpse into the future — for those with eyes to see — of the extraordinary opportunities waiting in uncharted and seemingly impassable waters.

Operating successfully in the global economy, particularly in the poorly charted reaches of the developing world, requires optimism — optimism tempered by accurate, unbiased information.

Among the never-ending stream of news stories hyping the One Laptop Per Child project, there finally seems to be a few that strike a healthy note of caution. Both Slate and CNN ran articles this week that ask some very legitimate questions:

- "If you're willing to assume that MIT can somehow keep the cost at or near the century mark, there's still the question of who will support the computers (and who will pay for that support)."

- "The fact that each laptop comes with a built-in WiFi card won't be of much use if there isn't a WiFi access point nearby."

- "Do they think these machines will last forever. What will happen when they break down?"

I just heard Jim Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, speak about "Wikipedia and Global Development" at the Institute for International Economics - co-sponsored by the Center for Global Development. For the uninitiated, Wikipedia is an online, free, open-source encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone anytime. Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales (who looks a lot like Jean Reno) has a level-headed manner as he discusses impressive projects. After a few fumbles (malfunctioning projector, his ringing cell phone) he launched into the philosophy of Wikipedia and ran down a list of the current and upcoming Wiki- projects. Following his 40-minute presentation was a 45-minute Q&A session.

"The question is not whether business has a role to play in alleviating poverty. We know that. The question is how." With that statement, Harvard Business School Professor Kash Rangan opened a gathering of academics, business leaders from around the world, and development officials to discuss more than 30 research papers on the role of business in serving low-income communities. The companies presenting or whose efforts were being analyzed include Shell, Nestle, Ogilvy and Mather India, Cemex, Intel, Kodak, ITC, Hindustan Lever, Manila Water Company, and Shorebank. Social entrepreneurs and development agencies and their roles figure into the discussions too -- nobody thinks companies can do this alone.

The discussions have been rich and sometimes passionate. We will post executive summaries of the papers in coming days, along with other insights. The conference agenda is available here.

Having worked for Nextbillion and scoured news sources every day for two months, I've been surprised at how seldom any Middle-Eastern, BOP-activity makes the news, compared to, say, Bangladesh or Uganda. (Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places? If you know good SME/BOP-related news sites for the Middle East, please let me know!)

Intrigued by this dearth of news, I started digging for MFIs in the Middle East and suddenly remembered that usury is prohibited in Islam. No wonder one hears little about micro-credit in those regions (except for one MFI in Yemen)! And yet...Grameen Bank, which states nothing about conforming to Islamic lending practice, was founded in Bangladesh, a country that is 83% Muslim. Are Islamic usury laws now simply ignored or obsolete?

The latest issue of Developments, the international development magazine published by DFID, features two good stories about how mobile technology is reducing poverty throughout the developing world.

The first points to a new study by the London Business School that researched the effects of mobile phone penetration in 92 countries over more than 20 years, and found that "a rise of 10 mobile phones per 100 people boosts the rate of growth of GDP by 0.6 percentage points a year." The poorer a country is, the bigger the positive impact becomes since - unlike more developed countries - the mobile phone isn't a replacement for a fixed line but rather is often the only connectivity option readily available.

Mobile phones are now being used to provide many of the same services computer-enabled telecenters have been set up for - namely, providing access to timely information. Small businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers use phones to get better market information, the unemployed are being connected with job opportunities, and long and costly journeys are being replaced by a quick call. Phones are also being used for money transfers, both local and international, and pilot schemes are under way to use mobile phones to deliver micro-credit loans to poor people with no other banking options.

The Milken Institute has just published its 2005 Capital Access Index

entitled "Best Markets for Entrepreneurial Finance." This index ranks 121 countries by how easily new and existing firms can access capital.

As PSD blogger Pablo Halykard points out, 17 of the lowest-ranking 20 countries are in Africa, which is the lowest scoring region of the world. Interestingly, the Middle East scores higher than Europe--but this is skewed by countries like Saudi Arabia, whose oil revenues are so high they do not have income tax, and therefore retain more capital.

Last week, Harvard Business School brought together committed scholars and corporate, non-profit and government leaders to discuss the role of business in poverty alleviation. The 3-day conference, Global Poverty: Business Solutions and Approaches, featured case studies on and empirical research of successful business models, the role of civil society and government, and the ethical and operational challenges faced by businesses who seek out poor customers.

Nextbillion.net has added information about the event to our Conference Resources section. The Harvard conference page details the topics and speakers for all seven panel sessions, and includes links to abstracts for more than 30 papers presented. Powerpoints will be added soon.

This is my second posting about Islamic banking. I hope to share some information about practices that few people hear about, but are pertinent to doing business in the Muslim world--especially regarding microcredit.

For a loan to conform to Islamic law, it must be riba-free; "riba" is usually translated simply as "usury," and literally means "an increase, addition, expansion or growth which is non-trade related e.g. a loan, advances." . The purpose of such a law is to prevent the burden of charging interest rates on loans. In order to extend credit fairly, but remain profitable institutions, Islamic banks use 3 different methods for risk-sharing and profit-sharing. :

WRI's latest What Works case study, Thamel.com: Diaspora-enabled Development, is now available through the NextBillion.net Case Studies page. The report documents a Nepal-based marketing and development company that has tapped the resources of the diaspora to create new opportunities for Nepalese workers, generate cultural value, and help move local businesses in a new direction

The company has five mutually reinforcing business divisions. The most lucrative and well known is the Gift Shoppe, an online portal which sells gifts to the Nepalese diaspora that are then procured and delivered locally to family and friends still living in Nepal. The IT Chemist division helps local entrepreneurs start their own e-commerce sites, while the export division helps them sell items overseas. Thamel Remit provides remittance, insurance and other financial services, and Thamel International replicates the company's successes globally.

With international remittance flows to the developing world set to top $167bn this year, a newly released report by the United Nations shows that remittance flows to the African continent, averaging US$17bn per annum between 2000 and 2003, have surpassed Foreign Direct Investment during the same period.

While official aid remains atop the list of external finance flows to Africa, worldwide remittance flows are more than double official aid, and governments, NGOs and the private sector alike are beginning to capitalize on these transfers as a driving force for growth.

What do your local Chinese restaurant’s delivery service and MIT’s advanced cryptography department have in common? The answer: Peppercoin, an innovative payment platform allowing consumers to use credit or debit cards for small transactions -- thus eliminating merchants’ need for those annoying $10 minimums on credit card purchases (e.g. last night’s sesame chicken, when I had to order egg rolls to get over the $10 hump).

Peppercoin has been around since 2001, the result of two MIT professors’ efforts to commercialize their revolutionary payment protocols (Verisign and Zero Knowledge Proofs). As it stands, high processing and customer service costs discourage merchants - both online and physical - from accepting issuers’ credit and debit cards for small purchases. Peppercoin aggregates small transactions to increase efficiency and lower merchants' cost. Furthermore, the service lies wholly on the merchant side, making it invisible to consumers – so I can buy my sesame chicken with a credit card, no up-sell egg rolls necessary.

I was reminded again this morning by PSD Blog of the Global Social Benefit Incubator, "an intensive two-week residential program that enables successful technology innovators to scale their endeavors and achieve sustainability." The two-week in-residence program (July 29 - August 12, 2006) carries a value of US $20,000, claims a lofty goal: to enhance social entrepreneurs’ ability to scale their ventures. Past participants have gone on to win international recognition and receive venture funding. The application process (due January 15, 2006) is understandably difficult, but worthwhile. Good luck!

Over the past few weeks, we have been working with the NextBillion.net team to upgrade some of this website’s features to make it easier for you to access the content you need. The most recent addition, and probably the most obvious, is the improved RSS integration with NextBillion.net.

RSS lets you subscribe to have all new content posted to a particular website sent to a newsreader where you can read it. What this means is that you can subscribe to all your favorite news sites and blogs and check them all just by going to one place, your newsreader.

WRI's latest What Works case study, Thamel.com: Diaspora-enabled Development, is now available through the NextBillion.net Case Studies page. The report documents a Nepal-based marketing and development company that has tapped the resources of the diaspora to create new opportunities for Nepalese workers, generate cultural value, and help move local businesses in a new direction.

I recently spoke with Bal Joshi, founder of Thamel.com, and Bob Granger, his partner in Thamel International. They shared their thoughts about the company, where it's heading, and the value it adds to Nepal and other countries looking to tap the resources of the diaspora to enable local economic growth.

1. In your opinion, what is the most innovative aspect of the Thamel.com model?

Bal: My father used to tell me in business, “tel k hernu, tel ko dhara hernu!” Direct translation: “identify the source of the oil, not just the end product!” In plain English, “follow the money.”