Two stories have got me thinking about capital markets and their interaction with the BoP.

The first one involves a State Minister of an industrialized country announcing funding for a project to create a "social stock market". The second one features 12,500(!) new shareholders of a Colombian corporation, packing the room during the first annual review meeting since it went public.

Both are exciting news and I wanted to share a few thoughts on how capital markets may serve as either bridges or gateways for the BoP into the formal economy.

Let's see.

Markets as bridges

Phil Hope is England's Minister for the Third Sector, a very forward-thinking position all by itself. Just as interesting was his announcement at the Skoll World Forum 2008 of a project to study the feasibility of a social stock market, supported by a $500,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The story was featured by the featured by the Financial Times last week.

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