Guest blogger Bill Kramer is principal of The Global Challenge Network, LLC, an executive education and training company. From 2001 through mid-2007, he worked on pro-poor business strategies with WRI. Previously, Bill founded a non-profit focusing on the relationship of knowledge to economic development and enjoyed a long career in the private sector, founding a dozen companies, most of which were in the book business.

By Bill Kramer

This week's Economist magazine has a story, which also appeared in The New York Times last Sunday, about a new "energy harvester" invented by Max Donelan of Simon Fraser University.

The new device uses the knee's walking motion to drive gears, which in turn drive a small generator.  The 13 watts of power won't run a machine shop, but it will recharge phones and other small devices, such as small task lights.  

As the Economist article points out, this is adding to the growing list of BoP-useful energy producing products -- Rory Stear's crank devices (which are growing in power, utility and application) and LED lighting.  (For more on LED lighting, see the Light Up The World Foundation.)  Given the scarcity of power in much of the developing world, and the destructiveness (and expense) of providing light and power, every new advance is important.

Bio-mechanical energy harvesting is too new a technology to have spawned a set of business notions that would take it to scale, but I can think of a few worth keeping an eye on.

(This post continues past the break; click "Read More" to continue)

I recently received an e-mail update from Acumen Fund's CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz.  It is interesting to hear updates from Acumen, whose operations include offices in Pakistan and Kenya - two countries that have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. 

Often, those of us in the BoP community shy away from talk of failure or hardship, because we don't want the BoP concept to be marred by such negative thinking.  But I think it is important for us to talk about the tough times just as much as we talk about the success stories. BoP ventures and initiatives, as with any other, do not have a 100 percent success rate.  Nor does everything go as planned.

In that light, I'll copy part of Jacqueline's update below -- it makes for an interesting and thought-provoking read as we begin the weekend.

=================================

Dear Friends of Acumen Fund

The beginning of a new year was marked by political crisis and violence in two key countries in which we work. On December 27th, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan, triggering riots, unrest and continued tension throughout the country, and a few days later, highly contested elections in Kenya set off a wave of violence that so far has left more than a thousand people dead and hundreds of thousands now living as refugees in their home country. Our teams, Fellows, advisors and the entrepreneurs we support in both countries are safe and working hard; however, some of the enterprises have been affected as have their customers who are among the world’s most vulnerable. To them, we send not only our thoughts and prayers but also a recommitment to this work which has never felt more relevant or important.

(This post continues past the break; click "Read More" to continue)