Position: Associate, New Ventures Program, World Resources Institute

Location: Washington, D.C.

Organization: WRI's New Ventures program is a business accelerator that works toward long-term, sustainable natural resource use by supporting environmentally- and socially-responsible enterprises in emerging economies. We identify profitable small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that generate unique social and environmental benefits and provide them with business advisory services and access to capital. New Ventures identifies transformative business models in critical sectors such as clean energy and water, and we work with partners to scale these business models in emerging market economies. Additionally, we work with local and international investment communities and networks to help further develop capital resources available to these enterprises. In collaboration with local partners, New Ventures operates centers of sustainable entrepreneurship in Brazil, Mexico, China , Indonesia and India.

Description: The Associate will be responsible for research and related activities that influence capital providers to invest in sustainable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies. The Associate will have a lead research role in New Ventures' Accelerating Clean Energy Markets project, which seeks to increase investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency SMEs in emerging economies such as India.

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Philip Auerswald, a co-editor of the Innovations: Technology|Governance|Globalization journal, wrote me a short e-mail today noting their special World Economic Forum edition:

We also just put together a special edition (sponsored by Schwab Foundation) for the WEF annual meeting in Davos. The 550 copies apparently went fast.

Undoubtedly.  Longtime NextBillion readers will know our affinity for the relatively young journal, which we reviewed here first, and again here, here, and here.

The special edition is a collection of Innovations' best and most Davos-appropriate articles (a lead article by Pamela Hartigan and Klaus Schwab, for example.)  Be sure to explore this free resource while it is up on the web site; beyond that, I'd encourage readers to browse through back issues of the journal and explore articles by a range of leading BoP and social enterprise thinkers.

Thanks Phil.

Safe tap water is a luxury that many people in the world do not enjoy. In many developing countries, it is not safe to drink or use the tap water. The Center for Disease Control website of the United States government has health information about every country in the world, and it’s interesting to see how many countries fall under the advice: "Drink only bottled or boiled water, or carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles."

Bottled water is expensive, of course, and people living at the BoP often cannot afford it. World Resources Institute’s research in The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid showed that low-income customers pay anywhere from eight to sixteen times more for bottled or trucked water than they would for a local, public utility (page 58). If this isn’t a BoP penalty, then I don’t know what is.

Access to clean drinking water is a concern world-wide – but it is not the sole responsibility of government to provide it. The Next 4 Billion report concluded that there is a clear willingness to pay for clean water in the BoP. However, even if there is a willingness to pay, access to such services is not widespread, especially in rural areas. What the world needs are effective and innovative ideas on how to get these services to the people in the BoP, and to deliver them. Ashoka’s Changemakers has partnered with The Global Water Challenge to launch a collaborative competition to discuss and discover new solutions:

"Global Water Challenge is dedicated to finding solutions to the water and sanitation crises. We believe that we have both the resources and the will to live in a world in which everyone can drink clean water, and use a safe toilet. It is our goal to find and encourage ideas and individuals, wherever they may be, so that every school, every clinic, every home, every community, without regard to geography and income, has access to these basic needs."

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Talk about an exciting time to be involved with the BoP. Since the world’s wealthiest philanthropist Bill Gates gave his speech about "creative capitalism" in Davos last Thursday, the development world has been abuzz with its interpretations and implications. But Switzerland is not the only place where headway is being made.

A spin off panel discussion entitled "Creative Capitalism: Can It Meet the Needs of the World's Poor?," was held in Washington this past Wednesday, at the Hudson Institute. The panelists present included William Easterly, author of The White Man's Burden: How the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so Much Ill and So Little Good; Al Hammond, WRI's Vice President for Innovation and Special Projects as well as one of our writers at NextBillion.net; and Eugene Steuerle of The Urban Institute. Abigail attended the discussion and according to her most recent blog posting,

All three speakers contributed something here. Easterly reinforced the idea that BoP market-based solutions must be driven by capitalistic mechanisms if they are truly going to scale and lift people out of poverty, permanently. Hammond illustrates cases where markets exist but are not operating under the competitive forces that make capitalism an effective and self-perpetuating driver of development. Steuerle's comments opened the discussion more broadly to question how each sector can spend better and engage with each other, whether they be driven by capitalistic motivations or not.

Capitalism as a whole is a mechanism, a tool. While it is and has always been easy to point out examples of capitalism causing social imbalance, panels such as the one which took place at the Hudson Institute are generally optimistic that capitalism - employed with the correct series of caveats - has the potential to bring even the most disenfranchised out of poverty. As Abigail noted, "Gates did an admirable job of reminding everyone that ‘the genius of capitalism lies in its ability to make self-interest serve the wider interest.’"

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As Moses pointed out last week, a good talent strategy is key to the success of "base of the pyramid"  enterprises.

A few months back, I had blogged about my idea to bring top talent into the development sector. We are excited to announce the launch of Engineers for Social Impact - a student-driven initiative in India.

Over the past year, I have posted two submissions developed by Darrell Owen, a former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employee who has been working at the bleeding edge of rural connectivity for the BoP. Darrell's posts and his white papers reflect ongoing work in the area of expanding rural access to information and communications technology, specifically broadband through wireless technologies.

The first post, Internet for All: A Field Report on the Wireless Revolution, cited some early working papers developed based on his experience. In the second, we posted a related white paper and PowerPoint presentation, Expanding Rural Access - The Case for MicroTelcos, that provide a summary.

Last week, I hear from Darrell again – he has just enhanced and expanded his set of short working papers (attachments are in PDF format below) to reflect his continued engagement in this important area. In the new collection of working papers, he takes a fresh look at the nature of universal service funding (USF) programs and their need for significant restructuring.

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An important new book hits shelves (and Amazon wish lists) today.  The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World is co-authored by John Elkington (of SustainAbility) and Pamela Hartigan (of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship).

I received an advance copy of the book, and am working on a comprehensive review for NextBillion.net to be posted later today.  My first impression: the authors have done a good job blending the stories of social entrepreneurs into a robust analytical framework that helps take the reader beyond the specifics of a particular enterprise.  In that sense, The Power of Unreasonable People feels a bit like a sequel to David Bornstein's groundbreaking book, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas.  First published in 2004, Bornstein's book created the same sort of momentum among the social entrepreneurship set as C.K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid did for the BoP community around the same time.

The Power of Unreasonable People deserves much more than a simple comparison, however.  My full review will be up later; in the mean time, check out what others have to say:

Press Release
The Financial Times
The Economist

Intellecap recently e-mailed us about a couple of interesting job opportunities.

About Intellecap:
Intellecap is a leading consulting firm focused on capital advisory and innovations for the inclusive finance space, endeavoring to create
and deliver mainstream, profitable solutions to address the problems of poverty and expedite sustainable development.

Career Opportunities:

Editor – Microfinance Insights, Mumbai
Profile: Work as a full-time editor and manager of the magazine; Coordinate, plan issues, content; Coordinate with authors,subscribers and various industry stakeholders; Raise sponsorship and advertising revenues; Establish brand identity of the print and online magazine.

Senior Associates/ Associates – Publications and Knowledge Advisory, Mumbai
Profile: Work closely with Intellecap’s Knowledge and Communications Advisory team, responsible for developing innovative knowledge solutions; Support a team of content managers primarily on portals and publications; Promote the company's objectives and strategies for growing the knowledge
management portfolio.

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Position: Chief Operating Officer

Location: Hyderabad, India with frequent international travel to the US, China, Africa and Latin America (30%)

Organization: Scojo Foundation is a global social enterprise, currently operating in 13 countries, which creates jobs and sustains livelihoods through the sale of affordable reading glasses to the 700 million people who require clear, up-close vision to read and work.

Scojo Foundation trains low-income men and women as "Scojo Vision Entrepreneurs" to start microfranchises that conduct vision screenings within local communities, sell affordable reading glasses, and refer those who require advanced eye care to reputable clinics.

Position Description: The COO is responsible for the leadership and management of Scojo Foundation’s global operations team and the achievement of Scojo Foundation’s operational and sales objectives. The position is a key member of the senior management team and is actively involved in shaping the future direction of the organization.

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So far, 2008 has been a great year in terms of attention to BoP and market-based solutions to poverty. Out of Poverty, a new book by Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises (IDE), just hit the shelves this month and will certainly add to this momentum. IDE's recent receipt of a $27 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation only makes Polak's book timelier, as widespread recognition grows for his leadership role in the BoP space and his innovative design solutions (including the treadle pump and micro-drip irrigation) that have increased the incomes of over 2.5 million dollar-a-day families living in rural areas and subsisting from small farms.

I've now had the opportunity to read through Out of Poverty, and am impressed that the book truly reflects the down to earth style and substance of Polak and his work. In fact, what's most striking about Polak's approach to attacking poverty is its straightforward, flexible, and results-based orientation.

The book covers a lot of ground quickly, challenging leading development theorists (Jeff Sachs, Bill Easterly, and even C.K. Prahalad), explaining why markets are not serving the poor, and demonstrating, piece by piece, why for-profit mechanisms have and will continue to trump charity in terms of lifting people out of poverty.

On NextBillion.net, we have chronicled these arguments many times before, but I was pleasantly surprised at Polak's ability to connect them, on the level of tomatoes and cucumbers, with the nuts and bolts of his years spent, literally, in the field. Out of Poverty strikes a good balance between economic calculations and human anecdotes, staying true to the author's principal beliefs that one must "go to where the action is" and "talk to the people who have the problem and listen to what they say," while also pursuing only approaches that "can reach at least a million people and make their lives measurably better."

The book is certainly worth a read, and I hope to see it appear on the development academics' reading lists soon. Out of Poverty gets beyond the fractious discussions of "what's gone wrong?" or "which approach is right?" and offers a welcome dose of common sense for getting people out of poverty, quickly and permanently.

Upon finishing The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, three words came to mind: it's about time.  Lately, I've felt that the social entrepreneurship movement has grown too large, encompassing too many sub-topics that don't necessarily relate to each other.  With their new book, however, authors John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan manage to unite the wide-ranging discipline of social entrepreneurship, using sharp analysis, compelling anecdotes and an eye towards future study.  Simply put, this book is a must-read for the 'social entrepreneurship' crowd – one that transcends the aforementioned sub-topics.

As I read The Power of Unreasonable People, I decided to mark pages on which something unique appeared.  Rather than summarize the book – go to Amazon for that – my review will concentrate on these unique elements, listed in no particular order.

Page 2: A growing number of companies, like Accenture, say that offering the opportunity to work alongside accomplished entrepreneurs factors into staff retention.  This indicates a new trend among Generation Y employees (those born after 1982) – they want meaningful careers as well as well-paying jobs.  Can’t have your cake and eat it too?  Maybe you can – and companies need to get on board if they are to continue to attract top talent.

Page 11: The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has joined forces with the Lemelson Foundation to establish the Leapfrog Fund, designed to spur the transfer of successful innovations between entrepreneurs in different parts of the world.  I hadn’t heard about this, but it is long overdue.  The tools, models and ideas that work should be replicated – but that requires serious technical assistance and favorable financing.  Kudos to Lemelson in particular for stepping up on this.

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This year's topic for the St. Gallen's Symposium set me thinking...

Global Capitalism, Local Values
There has been much discussion about Bill Gates' keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he pushed for "a creative capitalism" that uses market forces to address the needs of the world's poorest countries. In his keynote, Gates told the audience that, "We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well."

Even as academics such as Prof. C. K. Prahalad at the University of Michigan and Prof. Kasturi Rangan at Harvard Business School write and research extensively on the opportunities at the base of the economic pyramid, does development through enterprise (DTE) remain by and large a Western concept? Is global capitalism a wave that originates from the West and trickles to the developed countries?

Clash in Values
Based largely upon my experiences in the development sector in India, I believe the success of global concepts (spawned in the West) ultimately lies in their implementation at a local level.

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Position: Director of Sales and Product Management – Clean Cook Stoves India

Location: Based in Fort Collins, Colorado (approximately 40% of job will be international travel)

Organization: Envirofit International was established to develop well-engineered technology solutions to improve the human condition on a global scale, with a primary emphasis on applications in the developing world. Envirofit's goal is to develop and distribute well-engineered energy products for low-income markets that traditionally have been overlooked.

Position Description: Envirofit is seeking a full time Director of Sales and Product Management to help design, develop, and distribute products that address major environmental problems in the developing world. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Envirofit is currently developing a portfolio of clean biomass cook-stoves.  The stove business goals are to design, develop and distribute 5+ million stoves in the next 5 years to countries on 3 continents (Asia, Africa and Latin America).

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Later this month, I will be traveling to Madrid to attend a day-long forum sponsored by Accenture, Compromiso Empresarial and the City of Madrid entitled "Como Hacer Negocios en la Base de la Piramide" (How to Do Business at the Base of the Pyramid).

Others addressing the forum include:

• Mercedes Canalda, Vice Presidenta del Banco Adopem. República Dominicana
• Mª Beatriz Rodríguez, Presidenta de Procter & Gamble Colombia
• David Felipe Acosta. Gerente Comercial Codensa, Colombia
• Wilson Jácome. Profesor del IDE Escuela de Negocios, Ecuador
• Juan Luis Martínez, Profesor del IE Business School, España
  

For more information on the event, visit the ASEPAM web site or download the event flier from Compromiso Empresarial.

If you are planning to attend the event, be sure to let me know - I always enjoy meeting NextBillion readers!

NextBillion readers, the time has come for me also to bid you goodbye as a daily contributor to NextBillion.net. It's been a great six-month run for me here at the World Resources Institute, and I will greatly miss sharing the interest of hundreds of you out there who are watching BoP models grow by the day!

Over the coming months I will continue to contribute as a Staff Writer, with musings and new experiences from New York City (Rob Katz, that was my idea first!), where I will working in the BoP space. Stay tuned for more, and I'll be updating my profile soon!