Reminder: This event will be held tomorrow, August 2, and is open to the public.
Venture Finance and Small Business Development in Central America - International Private Enterprise Group August Meeting Featuring Ricardo Teran
On August 2, please join us for a discussion on micro venture capital and development from one of Latin America's leading social entrepreneurs.
IPEG-DC is extremely pleased to host Agora Partnerships' Nicaragua Managing Director Ricardo J. Teran for a discussion about Agora's model and his experience providing venture finance to small businesses in Central America.
Ricardo J. Teran is co-founder of Agora Partnerships, an Aspen Institute fellow, and a thought leader on enterprise solutions to wealth creation in poor countries. He lives in Managua, Nicaragua.
Agora Partnerships is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing talented entrepreneurs in emerging markets with the tools, aspirations, networks, and financing necessary to launch successful, socially responsible businesses.
The International Private Enterprise Group (IPEG) is a network of professionals working at the intersection of the private sector, capital markets, technology and international development. The group was formed to promote the role of private enterprise and capital markets in catalyzing economic development and facilitate collaboration and the sharing of resources on international projects. Members hail from varied backgrounds; microfinance to hedge funds/private equity, small enterprise to large, nanotechnology to health services, strategy consulting, the multilaterals and academia. What unites us is a belief that the private sector and private capital can bring scalability, sustainability and focus to emerging markets. We are an all volunteer network. We meet regularly in New York City and Washington, DC.
Hosted by the World Resources Institute Thursday, August 2, 2007 4:30pm to 6:00pm 10 G. Street NE - Map 8th Floor
Event is open to the public.
For information, contact Robert Katz - rkatz (at) wri [dot] org.
Intellecap, a pioneer organization in bottom line investment - Rob has blogged about them before - have postings for a couple BOP-related jobs all across the board.
Intellecap is a consulting firm focused on capital advisory for the inclusive finance space and creating and delivering mainstream, profitable solutions to address the problems of poverty and expedite sustainable development. Intellecap works with microfinance organizations across India, development of financial institutions, social investors and social entrepreneurs from around the world. They believe in being profitable while also supporting sustainable development and a progressive workforce. Intellecap's services and initiatives help the development industry consolidate and disseminate knowledge, and build networks.
The most recent issue of Intellecap’s quarterly magazine "Microfinance Insights" is out this summer. This edition concentrates on "Capital Markets and Microfinance". It is an interesting issue, full of good articles ranging from microfinance institutions and stock markets to the IFC in microfinance and banking for the poor. Their cover story for this issue is “Microfinance Valuations: Chimera or Science.” The article explores the complexity behind the social and commercial aspirations of microfinance, as well as offering metric valuations applicable to microfinance. I found particularly interesting charts on microfinance market indicators in the “trends” section of the magazine.
The subscription of the magazine as an individual, for a year is $35 USD and $60 USD for two years. For a more details on the job listings and for the preview of the magazine, please refer to the attachments.
The latest issue of BusinessWeek, available online, features twoarticles about "base of the pyramid" (BOP) strategy and practice. I'm always encouraged when BOP ideas and practitioners make it in the mainstream media, and these articles are no exception.
I do wonder, however, if the reporter oversimplifies the definition of BOP strategy. In the first article, "On Campus, a Different Pyramid Scheme," base of the pyramid strategy is described as
...the core idea that companies can make money by selling products to the world's estimated 4 billion poor people, while at the same time helping to wipe out global poverty.
Later, the author creates a (false?) dichotomy between BOP-as-consumer vs. BOP-as-producer when she describes criticism by Professor Aneel Karnani:
He [Karnani] believes the economic potential of this market has been grossly exaggerated and that the world's poor should be producers, not consumers.
When I finished reading the article, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, and a lingering question: Is the BOP concept simply about selling to the poor?
To me - and to many of my colleagues within the BOP community - this is a big issue. When C.K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart first wrote about the "bottom of the pyramid" (later changed to "base"), they focused on both selling to the poor and "increasing the earning potential of the poor" (page 6). Later, Allen Hammond and C.K. Prahalad co-authored an article in Foreign Policy inauspiciously titled "Selling to the Poor." But pre-publication drafts of the article didn't hold that title - FP editors made the change, despite the authors' objections.
Even so, these articles were early entrants in the BOP canon. Things have changed substantially since then, with BOP strategies now focusing on enterprise development, investment in local industry, and job creation as well as serving BOP consumers. Acumen Fund, a VC firm investing in start-ups serving and employing the BOP, was quoted in the BusinessWeek piece. Is Acumen simply "selling to the poor"? Absolutely not.
Acumen - along with World Resources Institute, Cornell's BOP Learning Lab, the William Davidson Institute, and others - are in the business of addressing market failures through a BOP lens. That means helping companies and development agencies recognize that BOP consumers and producers are often unserved or underserved by the existing market in which they live. The poor pay artificially high prices for basic goods and services, if they have access at all. BOP producers - farmers, merchants, factory workers, etc. - often live in a monopsony environment, where a single buyer or employer pays below-market prices or wages because he knows he's the only option.
These and other market failures are at the core of the BOP hypothesis and strategy. Business can address them - by creating new products and distribution models to break a monopoly's hold on slums or rural markets. Business can address them by integrating small enterprises in its value chain, either as distributors or as producers. Or, simply enough, businesses can hire the BOP to work in a new low-income sales department or in a factory.
I won't attempt to discuss every successful (or unsuccessful) BOP venture. But I would like to try and move this discussion out of the producer-vs.-consumer construction. At this point in the idea's life cycle, it's anachronistic, and simply wrong, to paint a pure dichotomy between two non-existent camps. I hope that future articles will take the time to posit a more nuanced view of base of the pyramid strategy and practice.
August 9th is the deadline to reserve a local hotel room at a discounted rate for the BoP Conference in Ann Arbor from Sept. 9-11. After this date, the guaranteed block of hotel rooms will be released and the special rate will expire.
There are only a few days left to reserve a hotel room at the discounted rate and ensure a space in the conference hotel!
For more information on the conference, please visit www.bop2007.org
I had a very interesting talk last week with Marsha Wulff, the founder and president of Wulff Capital. She has a very interesting idea of opening African markets to business by a Product Commercialization Platform (PCP) model that would enable indigenous development in Africa.
Wulff has always had an interest in Africa. When she finally visited, she fell in love with the continent and its people. She started questioning why African innovations and products did not make it to US markets. She worked with the Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE at the University of Cape Town), and it was through the CIE that she met many African entrepreneurs and saw the challenges they face. After those meetings, she wondered what it would take to unlock the market.
Since then, she has developed a model for sustainable enterprise development called "Collaborative Commercialization," and a model for a system to back this development, called "Product Commercialization Platforms." The PCP model provides SMEs access to a cross-functional team of experts in product commercialization. She has spoken about this at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wharton's Global Business Summit in Philadelphia, McKinsey Alumni for Development in New York, The Investors’ Circle Conference in San Francisco, the World Bank in DC, and several top business schools across the US. Wulff sees that SMEs are usually turned down by the big development funders such as IFC, OPIC, World Bank, but that they are also too large for microfinance.
Once an SME expands its market and is receiving more sales revenues, then it will be robust enough for conventional venture capital firms and lending institutions to consider financing its growth – this sort of product commercialization assistance is exactly the point of PCPs. The selection criteria for VCs in Africa have historically been geographic, but with PCP team support, sector-based development is more viable.
The PCP model proposes a not-for-profit entity be established with grant funding, but it will soon become self-sustaining through shared revenue agreements. This profit-sharing will be negotiated between the SMEs and the PCP teams, in exchange for their technical assistance with intellectual property, market research, manufacturing, and sales agreements.
I found it very enlightening to hear Ms. Wulff talk about this project. Africa has talented, intelligent entrepreneurs who lack financing opportunities. When these indigenous entrepreneurs commercialize their products, they become eligible for investment funding– this is exactly what the PCP enables them to do. This project offers a dignifying alternative of getting people out of poverty, creating jobs, and empowering African markets.
"India may be better-known for its high-flying entrepreneurs who have turned the nation into a high-tech center and outsourcing mecca. But the still largely rural country also is gaining a name as a center for smaller-scale innovation." This came from a recent Chicago Tribune article on entrepreneurship in India. The piece continues:
"In farm sheds and machine shops and on small rural plots, India's back-yard inventors are coming up with creations that their backers hope will make it big, solve a few of the world's problems, boost India's exports and continue cutting the country's dismal poverty rate."
Meet some of these back-yard inventors, the founders of Indian enterprise, Conserve HRP:
Conserve is a fascinating fusion of sustainable business values and localized labor contexts. As I've written before, what makes the founders truly entrepreneurial is their ability to tap into a very common practice in India, rag-picking, and add value to create a product that connects to high-demand international markets.
The YouTube video linked above was kindly produced by a CNN crew on behalf of WRI - it provides a very real anecdote of the back-yard inventors referenced in the Tribune article. You hear the story of a woman who now earns three times what she made before gathering material for Conserve accessories. These operations turn entire heaps of otherwise useless plastic into $50 bags sold in European boutiques.
It's a very bittersweet story, as it shows the limitations of even well-intentioned entrepreneurs who hardly have the power to change the social conditions they must live and work within. But in an imperfect world, where rag-picking is a fact, it is comforting to know as Shalabh says in the video, that they can dramatically improve the lives of at least some of the BoP.
After reading the blogpost on Construmex and productizing remittances, Roy Serventi, the President/CEO and founder of Infinity Systems International (ISI), contacted the NextBillion team. Roy, Rob Katz and I had a long talk on how ISI is also taking steps toward productizing remittances, the vast sums of money sent by immigrants to their home countries
ISI has identified a unique niche market that it believes will translate into a promising business opportunity. In both the U.S. and in Mexico ISI is formalizing agreements with organizations that currently cater to or want to offer products and services to the Latino market. These include hometown community organizations, local and national money transfer, check-cashing and pay-day loan organizations, and local and national convenience store and pharmacy chains. Mexican companies such as Gigante, Elektra and Novamedic are already part of the program.
ISI’s vision is to become the leading international merchant-based network and gateway servicing the underserved and underbanked Latino community. The ISI proposition looks to capitalize on three very large and distinct but converging trends: 1) The growth of the Hispanic demographic market 2) The growth of the international cash remittance market and 3) The growth in the use of stored value/gift cards.
ISI provides an alternative means for the transferring of hard-earned funds to family members in Mexico for basic needs: food, clothing, household items, medical care, pharmaceuticals, infant needs and housing. By cutting out the middleman, the ISI Tarjeta Más™ Program allows an immigrant to send money in the form of a stored value/gift card to a family member or friend, this way the money is targeted to a specific field or industry. In addition, it allows hard-working individuals in the U.S. to keep more of their wages by lowering the costs of money transfers.
Mr. Serventi has a Mexican background and he is committed to helping the people at the BoP and the Latino community in the U.S. He has a strong business reputation working in the areas of international business and investment with an emphasis on Mexico and Latin America. Mr. Serventi is the Managing Director of The Miramar Group, an international investment and corporate management firm and has worked in investment banking and venture capital. He has been instrumental in helping launch and manage a number of start-ups in the diagnostic health, Internet, and technology fields.
It is excellent that Mr. Serventi is taking advantage of this business opportunity, because as I said before on NextBillion, people that send money want to make sure that the money they send is spent well, not wasted. This is a good way for immigrants to ensure how their money is spent and at the same time, cut the excessive costs that other companies charge. In the long run, if more companies start investing and competing against this remittance transfer business, costs will be reduced and there will not be such a monopoly anymore.
Bad news folks - and no, I'm not talking about the recent Yankees surge. Rather, I'm referring to what I recently discovered about roses. I know, what could be bad about roses - they smell good, they look good, and giving them always earns you points. But how about if your special someone knew your gift was actually poisoning him or her along with developing economy workers? That's right, the beauty of the rose often masks an ugly reality of cancer-causing pesticides, poor working conditions and environmental damage. Fortunately, we have alternatives. First, while still limited in number, "green" roses can be found. Second, organic dried fruits are not only better for the environment and those that grow them, but they make a far more delicious gift.
David Bermeo, one of three founders of the dried fruit company Terrafertil, came to a similar realization in 2005. While presumably less obsessed with the rose phenomenon than I, he saw first-hand the damage the rose industry was doing to the rich ecosystem of the Ecuadorian highlands - as well as to the poorly paid workers. Coming from a family immersed in the food business, he also recognized increasing market demand for organic dried fruit. He put his entrepreneurial spirit to work and founded Terrafertil, a company offering natural and organic dried fruit for distribution in both domestic and international markets.
Unlike traditional distributors, David purchases the majority of his fruit from small, organic farms. The conventionally-grown remainder also comes from local farmers, and in the past several years he has connected many growers with technical advisors in organic production. His suppliers receive 70% more than those in the flower industry, a practice that has earned Terrafertil FairTrade certification. And, while David acknowledges that these business practices add to his costs, he sees a positive return based on the growing premium consumers will pay for responsibly grown produce. His company's impressive growth backs his assertion up. And if the business case were not enough, he maintains that "at the end of the day, these practices are the right thing to do."
Last week WRI hosted a meeting of the International Private Enterprise Group (IPEG), featuring a guest from Agora Partnerships. Ricardo Teran, Managing Director of Agora Partnerships in Nicaragua, delivered a presentation focused on venture finance and small business development in Central America, specifically Nicaragua. Fifty audience members from development organizations around DC attended and participated in the discussion.
Agora Partnerships is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing talented entrepreneurs in emerging markets with the tools, aspirations, networks, and financing necessary to launch successful, socially responsible businesses. Ricardo J. Teran is co-founder of Agora Partnerships and an Aspen Institute fellow on the Central American Leadership Initiative. Ricardo found inspiration to establish Agora while working with Technoserve on a business plan competition in Nicaragua where he found that he shared the vision of business as a driver of social change with other entrepreneurs.
Agora made its first investments in Nicaragua in 5 firms and contributed 400 to 500 man-hours of consulting. He argues that now there is more liquidity than ever, but questions whether there are enough investment-ready projects.
The projects that Agora serves are all early-stage, high-risk ventures. Agora works intensively with the companies in its portfolio and provides comprehensive consulting services. Ricardo stressed the need to mold Agora’s consulting services to different companies’ operating environments. In his own words, “We are like a chameleon and a slinky--we need to blend in, and yet be flexible.”
Ricardo observes that the entrepreneur’s profile is the key to a successful business. Agora works with first-class entrepreneurs who can demonstrate that they have the motivation, vision, and tenacity to succeed. Ricardo attributes 80% of a business’ success to the entrepreneur’s skills and 20% to business elements.
Agora has worked with 30 companies that fit its entrepreneur profile, including Bamboos Casa, a company that takes waste bamboo from Nicaragua and converts it into social housing building materials, and Santos Reyes' Shoe Factory. Ricardo showed the following video to explain Santos Reyes’ work:
Santos Reyes, the story of a former shoe cleaner who becomes a shoe factory owner, is very compelling as an example of the kind of investment opportunities as yet undiscovered. A handful of SME development organizations—Agora, Acumen, Aavishkaar, New Ventures—are working to bring these businesses to market, but there are innumerable high-potential entrepreneurs and SMEs still to be found.
I recently had the opportunity to join 95 other StartingBloc Fellows from 25 countries for the first Global Institute for Social Innovation at London Business School. The Global Institute for Social Innovation is a 4-day long educational conference focusing on corporate social innovation, social enterprise, sustainability and cross-sector partnerships. Founded in 2002 in partnership with MIT Sloan School of Management, StartingBloc educates, empowers and connects emerging leaders to drive positive social change across sectors.
Few of the many interesting speakers:
Nat Wei, Absolute Return for Kids ARK's mission is to transform children's lives. This is achieved by providing grants to charities and charitable projects whose activities have been comprehensively researched by ARK, and where ARK has a high degree of confidence that funds will be efficiently and effectively deployed.
Jessica Shortall, Catalyst Strategy Advisors CSA is a strategy consultancy, launched in response to the unique opportunities to drive innovation and business value through proactive social and sustainable models. CSA provides business analysis and planning, growth strategy, strategic venturing planning and implementation, and ongoing advisory and board-level work.
Bill Kramer, World Resources Institute Our very own Bill Kramer, WRI, spoke of the many different definitions of CSR - and went on to give a presentation on the opportunities for sustainable businesses aimed at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
It was great to see that every participant was passionate about a different approach to social innovation.
My opinion is that StartingBloc would do well by extending such programming to live and emerging centers of development and green enterprise.
If you have a favorite BOP story that you always tell everyone about, you now have a chance to win $2000 just by submitting an entry to the Cornell University BOP Learning Lab's 2007 BOP e-Journal Competition. The details of the competition are as follows:
The Competition: The 2007 BoP e-Journal Competition has been created to help highlight cutting-edge experiences of business innovation in underserved communities. Winning submissions will clearly articulate a business challenge that an organization working in low-income communities is striving to overcome. Experiences may be successful or unsuccessful. Organizations highlighted may be non-profit or for-profit enterprises. Initiatives highlighted should illustrate a unique approach to poverty alleviation through an innovative business model, product, service, or technology. Length of submission is not to exceed 1000 words and must be in English.
Eligibility: Open to all. No geographic restrictions. This competition may be of particular interest to students of business, development, journalism and the social sciences working in unique situations for the summer.
Awards: Winners will be announced on or about November 2, 2007. The award will be presented to the author(s).
1st Place receives:
1) $2000 USD 2) Invitation for one author to present story at the 2007-2008 Cornell BoP Learning Lab, including round trip airfare (economy class) and accommodations 3) Submission published in the BoP Learning Lab e-journal
There has been a lot of controversy recently regarding biofuels - especially corn-based ethanol - and their effect on the global economic dynamic. While biofuels in general could be a very good alternative to oil, are they good for the BOP? Rob and Derek have blogged on this very subject before, but I would like to add my take on the discussion.
Some countries benefit from growing biofuels, especially if they are using naturally grown crops and crop waste products. Countries in South America and Africa are benefiting from their open land by planting biofuel crops and exporting them. Clearly this is also a major environmental issue. Because of land scarcity, some agricultural countries have seen forest clearing happen in order to produce ethanol crops. The benefits and drawbacks of these activities must be weighed carefully and we should definitely keep on eye on how this evolves.
On the other hand, corn-based ethanol – especially when cultivated in the US – can present a problem. Corn-based ethanol is neither economical nor environmentally helpful and can lead to inflated food prices, according to Prof. David Pimentel from Cornell University. Meanwhile, cassava jathropha, sugar cane, wood chips, switch grass and other alternative biofuel crops seem like a very good option that all grow natively in many areas of the world where the BOP live -Africa, South America, Asia- therefore, helping them produce/export more crops. William Saletan from the Dallas Morning News argues that "biofuel has aroused the same fears as free trade, with a twist. The argument against free trade was that people in poor countries would underbid and take jobs from people in rich countries. The argument against biofuel is that people in rich countries will outbid and take food from people in poor countries. The old buzzword was 'job security.' The new buzzword is 'food security.'
On the other side of the coin, Foreign Affairs magazine recently published an article named "How biofuels could starve the poor" Thanks to high oil prices and hefty subsidies, corn-based ethanol is now all the rage in the United States. But it takes so much supply to keep ethanol production going that the price of corn -- and those of other food staples -- is shooting up around the world. To stop this trend, and prevent even more people from going hungry, Washington must conserve more and diversify ethanol's production inputs. This article is very interesting because it links the subjects of global poverty and biofuels, and it questions how much more ‘green’ biofuels are. It suggests that the U.S. should limit its dependence of fossil fuels. Instead of promoting tax-breaks and subsidies for biofuels, the article argues that the government should promote energy efficient goods, buildings, and factories as well as alternative sources of energy. I agree with this solution, and add that more scientific research on alternative sources of fuel can’t be bad; we should definitely stay in the watch of what new findings come up.
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The Technology, Entertainment, Design conference is always a hit (not just in terms of content; the $6000 ticket packs a punch at the bank too). Thankfully, you can check out many "TED Talks" for free on the web. One of the latest to be released is Patrick Awuah's:
After working at Microsoft for almost a decade, Patrick Awuah returned home to Ghana and co- founded Ashesi University, a small liberal arts college whose mission is to educate leaders of integrity and competence for Africa. Awuah left Ghana as a teenager to attend Swarthmore College in the United States, then stayed on to build a career at Microsoft in Seattle. In returning to his home country, he has made a commitment to educating young people in critical thinking and ethical service, values he believes are crucial for the nation-building that lies ahead.
Finally, check out Andy Savitz, Karl Weber, and Melissa Tritter's new Triple Bottom Line Blog. You may know Savitz and Weber as the co-authors of the eponymous book; if their blog is half as entertaining and insightful, you'd be a fool not to bookmark it.
In his final post on NextBillion, New Ventures Intern Jesse Last ponders the viability of sustainable waste management as exemplified by New Ventures entrepreneur, Landwasher.
China's booming private-sector seems to be getting some bad press these days. The country has suffered through any number of product safety concerns, topped off most recently by an excess of lead in painted toy cars. At the same time, Congress continues to clamor about China's unfair trade practices and possible U.S. retaliation.
How can the Chinese government begin to repair its reputation? Perhaps with the promotion of Landwasher, a local start-up producing environmentally-friendly toilets... Ok, so maybe sustainable toilets are not the most promising PR campaign. However, waste disposal and resource management are clearly an important issue in China today. As Wu Hao, the founder of environmentally-friendly Landwasher toilets, recently informed me, "Assuming all of our country uses water-flushing toilets, not even the Changjiang and the Yellow River will be enough."
Landwasher is part of the solution. The six-year old company's patented special-purpose agent and sterilization process require no water and little electricity to flush. Moreover, because the agent is free of heavy metal and phosphorous, discharge composts quickly and poses no harm to the environment. When describing his product, Wu Hao exudes the dedication of a successful entrepreneur. He knows his market completely, and when asked about what drives him, reflects that "on a personal level, I love the natural environment...I can't endure the large scale waste and damage to the environment caused by the process of construction in China." And, our team at New Ventures is not the only group to have caught on. It seems China's government is getting on-board after all - this past year, the 2008 Olympic Organization Committee selected Landwasher as a manufacturer of mobile toilets for the Olympic Games.
Let me end with a goodbye to the very small, possibly non-existent fan base I have built up over the past several weeks. After an excellent internship at WRI, I am moving on to smaller and lesser things. Thanks for reading, and don't worry about the site - I have the fullest confidence in Rob Katz to lead nextbillion after my departure.
Some of my recent blog posts focused on venture capitalism (Wulff Capital, Agora Partnerships). Well, it must be a trend – I just came across Echoing Green. Echoing Green is an angel investor for entrepreneurs focused on social change. They provide seed funding and support to entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for social change. As an angel investor in the social sector, Echoing Green identifies, funds, and supports emerging leaders around the world and the organizations that they launch. Echoing Green has a two-year fellowship program, in which they identify social entrepreneurs that develop new solutions to social problems.
I read with interest the bios and profiles of the class of Echoing Green fellows for 2007, which was announced last week. This new class includes people from all around the world. Three of the fellows work specifically within the BOP, and these are the ones I want to share here on NextBillion:
Gemma Bulos and Kevin Lee's project "A Single Drop for SafeWater" in Puerto Princesa City, Philippines is concerning independent community-based water organizations in the Philippines that will promote simple, affordable water treatment technologies and participatory strategies to improve community health. Their project is interesting because it will facilitate access to clean water to the people in the BOP living in the Philippines. The project combines low-cost technology with local community efforts to bring effective water systems to villages across the country. The BioSand Filter, one of ASDSW's many technologies, is a household water treatment that removes 95 to 100 percent of disease-causing organisms, helping families improve their health and hygiene. They also facilitate community-organized groups called PODS (People Offering Deliverable Services). PODS engages the community in implementing technologies and promoting water education throughout the different villages in the country.
Robert Mutsaers' project "Green Power" ...creat[es] affordable hydro-electric power systems owned and operated by rural Kenyan communities. His project is based in Kiangurwe, Kenya and it is innovative because he is developing new solutions for rural electrification in Africa. Conventional electricity is very expensive in Kenya and very few homes in rural communities are connected to the national power grid. By creating a cheaper, simpler, and community-driven solution, Green Power will accelerate the rural electrification process in a sustainable manner. In partnership with rural Kenyan farmers, local leaders, engineering companies, and universities, the organization will promote decentralized micro-hydro energy and distribution systems. Additionally, using hydro-power is a clean energy source for the environment. At the moment their immediate goal is to provide electricity to the rural communities on Mount Kenya.
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The latest issue of BusinessWeek, available online, features 
Bad news folks - and no, I'm not talking about the recent 
I recently had the opportunity to join 95 other 
A couple noteworthy happenings in the Base of the Pyramid universe...
On Nigeria: Small Businesses and Economic Growth
On "Business and Poverty: Opening Markets to the Poor" - An Analysis of the Report
On Roundup: Expo Zaragoza '08 and Other Reasons to Join the Water Conversation
On M-Pesa Shows Strong Demand for M-Banking
On Wholesome Investing