I recently came across an article on CNNMoney.com about world-leading supplier of telecommunications Ericsson’s plan to provide mobile phones and internet connectivity to the Millennium Villages. It caught my attention, since it relates to a flurry of recent activity on NextBillion. We’ve seen a lot of discussion and press about rural connectivity (DesiCrew in India), wireless internet possibilities (Al Hammond’s blog on rural Brazil), mobile phone networks (M-PESA), and other technological advances (Tom Friedman’s editorial, and Rob Katz from Pop!Tech). These have now become integral to many of the most innovative and expansive solutions for providing goods and services to the poor, but through market-based models.

Ericsson is partnering with The Earth Institute and with pan-African telecom MTN to bring mobile broadband connectivity to the Millennium Villages, beginning with the village of Mayange in Rwanda, with plans to extend to all seventy-nine Villages across 10 countries, reaching approximately 400,000 people.

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What's the net impact of Pop!Tech?  I've been thinking about my time in Camden, Maine a lot lately - never more so than while I attended the 2007 Net Impact conference this past week in Nashville (see, pun very much intended.)  In all seriousness however, my trip to Tennessee prompted the following questions: what is the impact of Pop!Tech and what will it do next?

These questions are not accidental; the Net Impact conference's theme this year was, in fact, What Will You Do Next?  With 1800 attendees and up to 16 sessions at a time (!) there is no one answer from Net Impact.  Despite the wide variety of experiences among attendees, the conference managed to communicate a clear theme: get it done. 

Part of that theme stems from the fact that Net Impact attracts mostly MBA students - they are all about starting a business or at least working with organizations that address social and environmental problems.  I saw MBAs eager to be the next Claire Broido Johnson (of SunEdison) or Paul Hudnut (of EnviroFit) - two perfect examples of people who are "doing it next" through their work. 

(Side note: check out Paul's excellent blog, What's a BOPreneur? and his report from Net Impact.)

Pop!Tech, on the other hand, is just beginning to dip into the "get it done" arena.  This year's conference, The Human Impact, seemed to be a departure from previous events.  Quite a few attendees described previous Pop!Techs as gadget-fests, featuring the latest innovative products and concepts.  This year's conference, on the other hand, gave a lot of stage-time to problems, mostly environmental degradation and persistent poverty.  I'm not sure the old-school Pop!Techies were happy with this shift, even though the conference did a marvelous job pointing out the innovative tools, models, and ideas that are indeed changing the world - and featured some great "get it done" types, like Jessica Flannery and Van Jones (among others.)

From The Times of India:

When Bradley Montgomery relocated to Bangalore from California, his primary concern as a single parent was to hire a domestic hand not just to cook and clean, but also to tend to his son Aaron (11). His mother chanced upon babajob.com and within days, Montgomery hired Celine D'Silva.

The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times have also run articles on this unique form of social networking: Babajob.

Babajob.com and Babalife.com are a combined effort to provide the best social networking and job site in India and eventually worldwide. It’s based on the simple idea that everyone deserves to get a better job – even if you can’t read English and work in another’s home.

Most people find jobs through people they know – namely their extended social network – and most employers – particularly when hiring employees that work in the home, would like to hire a person who someone they trust can vouch for.

Babajob and Babalife are an attempt to digitize this process to efficiently “get the word out” and importantly provide an incentive for the folks in between an employer and employee to connect people together.

Right now Babajob.com is limited to jobs in Bangalore that generally pay under Rs 10,000 (about $250) per month.

While the concept is laudable and innovative, I sense that there could be enthusiasm ahead of time.

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