The fifth issue of Innovations: Technology|Governance|Globalization arrived in my mailbox today.  Simply put, get a copy.  As usual, editors Phil Auerswald and Iqbal Quadir - along with publisher Nick Sullivan (of You Can Hear Me Now fame) and senior editor Winthrop Carty, have assembled a set of articles by leading academics and practitioners of interest to those of us in the "base of the pyramid" community.

Entitled Microfinance 2.0: Technology and Services for Ascending Markets, the thick journal (221 pages) covers everything from patient capital to regulatory innovation and doesn't miss much in between.  (Disclaimer: I have an article, written with Al, Bill, Cory, and Julia, in this issue as well).

I'm just starting to read, so a review is forthcoming, but go ahead and start yourself.  Jaqueline Novogratz (Acumen Fund) has an article, as does Kiva's Matt Flannery and famed venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.  Best part -- most of the articles are freely available.

Let me know what you think about specific articles in the comment section (below).

Chris Monasterski over at the PSDBlog connects biofuels, world hunger, and The Next 4 Billion report. Wish I had thought of it! (Seriously, bravo Chris.) Check it out - biofuels are driving food costs up, which puts pressure on BOP budgets. The poor are among those most at risk from the effects of massive climate change, but if we in the West/North have to divert food stocks away from BOP populations in order to avoid climate change, are the effects on BOP communities any better (or even worse?) To be seen. In the meantime, here's what Chris has to say:

From Foreign Affairs:

The enormous volume of corn required by the ethanol industry is sending shock waves through the food system. […] corn futures rose to over $4.38 a bushel, the highest in ten years.

Biofuels have tied oil and food prices together in ways that could [have] potentially devastating implications for both global poverty and food security.

[…] resorting to biofuels is likely to exacerbate world hunger. Several studies […] suggest that caloric consumption among the world’s poor declines by about half of one percent whenever the average prices of all major food staples increase by one percent.

New Ventures Intern Jesse Last muses on pub trivia and a conversation with one of the most innovative entrepreneurs in the personal care products market.

I got an interesting pub trivia question the other night - what is the body's largest organ? I promptly shouted "liver" and repeatedly pounded my fist on the bar until my teammates relented. Needless to say, I was wrong (it's number two). The body's largest organ is the skin. Fact check me, and play a terribly enthralling round of "The Organ Game" courtesy of the British while you're at it.

I will spare you the rest of my pub trivia night to get to the point - skin and taking care of it in a socially responsible way. Last week I spoke with one of WRI New-Venture's most promising entrepreneurs - Fernando Lima. Fernando is the founder of Florestas, a company specializing in personal care products derived from Amazonian plants, nuts and berries. All cosmetic companies want to claim these exotic ingredients and will flash pretty pictures to make you a believer. Unfortunately, we've seen the consequences of multi-national corporate greenwashing on the rainforests before.

Fernando's commitment, on the other hand, is personal. Asked about sustainability, Fernando explained the connections between environmental degradation, poverty and exploitation in Brazil. He described how he purchases his ingredients from Amazonian cooperatives, providing incomes and reducing the need of indigenous people to cut down the rainforests in order to survive. In essence, triple-bottom line theory to me amounts to preserving Brazil's cultural and environmental integrity for Fernando.

Having retailed IKOVE in Brazil, Europe and the U.S., Florestas is looking to raise $2 million to open two Wellness Center and Spas, one in New York and the other in São Paulo. I've never been to a spa before, but with Fernando's success maybe I'll be able to write it off as a research expense...

The full profile of Florestas is available here.