Blog

This post is part of a series that introduces iuMAP, a web-based social enterprise directory developed by Ayllu and launched in media partnership with NextBillion. The purpose of the series is gathering feedback from the NextBillion community as the map unfolds and to share some of the information we've collected and analyzed. You can help triple iuMAP's size by submitting social enterprises and giving feedback. You can also catch up on the series reading the first, second and third entries.

* * *

This post is the second entry in a series focused on microfranchising, a common way many social enterprises distribute their products.  There has been some great discussion of microfranchising recently (such as this SSIR article).  This series provides an overview of different types of microfranchising, profile many enterprises that are employing the method, and provide information for both investors and those looking for funding.  The last post gave a general overview of what will be covered in the series.  This post focuses on one of the most common models- the business-in-a-bag.

Business-in-a-bag.  It's a blissfully self-explanatory moniker.  For  VisionSpring, a social enterprise that trains men and women to sell reading glasses to members of their village communities and beyond, the business-in-a-bag contains everything its vision entrepreneurs need to run their microfranchises- eyeglasses, eye charts, repair kits, uniform, marketing materials, forms, etc., "Like Subway has a franchise store, our backpack is our unit of franchise. That backpack has all the contents people need to start their little business," says VisionSpring founder Jordan Kassalow.  The same is true for LivingGoods, a social enterprise in East Africa with a similar model that focuses on the sale of health products, which prevent or treat diseases like malaria and promote family planning, reproductive health and personal care.   LivingGoods was born out of the realization that prevention and treatment for diseases like malaria and diarrhea weren't lacking, but a systematic mechanism to distribute such items to those in need certainly was.  Another example is ToughStuff, which sells solar panels through village entrepreneurs in Madagascar with a 'Business in a Box' model.

Continue reading this article

This is the second post in the Stories from Sarvajal series, where Rishabh Kaul describes his experience during this summer working at Sarvajal, a for profit enterprise trying to solve the water crisis in India. To get the maximum out of this post, do check out part 1.

After spending some time in North Gujarat, where things run pretty smoothly as far as issues of pricing and competition go, I made my way towards South of Gujarat. And boy was this was a whole new turf. 

The South of Gujarat, especially the Valsad district, is a major industrial hub. In fact, Vapi, a major city in this district which is home to many chemical industries houses Asia's largest Common Effluent Treatment Plant and is amongst the most polluted places in the world. This means there is a clear demand for purified water. 

However, the pricing of the water brings into account various factors at play. Unlike the villages in the North where our machines are located, the south - apart from having regular houses - also has apartments (with no elevators). Also, unlike the North, labor costs are quite high. To transport the bottle from the ground level to the 4th floor, one has to pay up to 25 Rupees.  Existing pure water players sell water in the range of Rs 25-40.

However, a bigger challenge that confronts new players is the existence of water syndicates. These syndicates have strong tie ups with the local communities.

How can Sarvajal operate under these conditions? The challenges are numerous.

Firstly, we have to understand that our franchisee owner/operator is from the village and hence is aware of these forces. At the same time, for us to ensure that he adheres to the rules without feeling like it isn't a profitable business, we have to sit down with him and clearly make him understand how it is that a low margin high volume business works.

Secondly, what should prevent him from directly supplying to the syndicates at our rate (Rs 9) and then letting these syndicates sell the water at whatever price it is that they want to sell? After all, using this tactic, he can enter communities which he doesn't have access to.

Some might think that the second bit isn't really a challenge. Some of the cleverer lot might even suggest why not bypass these middlemen and directly enter these communities and market forces will take care of the rest, right? It makes good business sense right?

Well, not really. One reason is because, if the franchisee directly supplies to these communities (that have been served by syndicates for a long time) his fuel costs increase. Let's suppose that due to the high volume of customers, that's not an issue. There's a bigger problem of the syndicate attacking the operator, his house, our machine or his delivery van while he is in their territory.

This is where tough choices have to be made. In such cases our marketing efforts have to be carefully executed. True, it's a tough business and one has to move in aggressively, especially in the summer months when the demand is high, however one has to be tactful in doing so. So in my case, I suggested the franchisee operator to focus on areas that had no reach, to go to the poorest of the poor and explain to them the hazards of drinking contaminated water.

In my case, I was living with the franchisee operator so I got to interact with his neighbors and increase the word of mouth marketing of our product. One way of increasing market share was by using existing linkages. Say, if we're supplying water to a shop, we'd ask him to consider buying water from us for domestic usage and thus enter into his community.

It's still risky, mind you.

To counter the first problem, it's only the numbers that can motivate the operator. So we embark on a massive marketing spree where we visit each household in our catchment area. Within a matter of 2 days, we were able to increase his customer base by 70 customers (or 140%). This showed him that people did like the value proposition that we offered. Slowly, over a period of time, these people would spread the Sarvajal message to their neighbors (who were paying nearly 4 times the price) who would then approach the operator to sign them up as well. This is a much different approach than aggressive marketing in other providers' catchment area and risking the security of our operators and their assets.

This is the first post in a series that will focus on the impact of corruption and poor governance on enterprise and development in the "bottom of the pyramid."

There is a curious phenomenon in international development-one that has been a taboo subject for many years. It eludes the calculations of economists, confounds private sector growth, and interferes with the proper functioning of public services. And it helps explain the following facts:

• In 1950, Kenya's GDP was higher than South Korea's-they ranked 37th and 39th in the world, respectively. Today, South Korea ranks 15th in the world, and Kenya ranks 83rd.
• After more than six decades and $2.3 trillion in foreign aid (p.4), the combined annual GDP of the 58 "bottom billion" countries is $350 billion-smaller than the GDP of metropolitan Chicago.
• According to some estimates, more than 50% of aid in some African countries never reaches its intended targets.

International development is a notoriously complex process, and many factors lie behind these grim statistics. But there is one particularly noxious culprit: corruption.

"[T]here is now growing recognition that corruption and bad governance play an extraordinary role in the effectiveness of development," noted a 2007 Center for Global Development report. Such acknowledgments were once all too rare at institutions like the World Bank, which until about 15 years ago regarded the problem with a mixture of apathy and denial, vowing (somewhat hypocritically) that it didn't interfere with countries' internal "politics."

But the widespread misappropriation of funds across sectors has been directly linked to lower national GDP and lower growth rates for private enterprise-and some of the best data come from Bank institutions themselves.

A 2000 IMF study found that an improvement of one standard deviation in a country's control of corruption could lead to between a 200% and 400% average long-term increase in that country's per capita income. It would also lead to an average three percent higher annual growth rate for private enterprises (and incidentally, an average 75% drop in child mortality).

While the perception still lingers that corruption can "grease the wheels" of an inefficient economy, increasing evidence shows that it in fact stifles competition, discourages entrepreneurship, and hinders a country's overall development. Small businesses are forced to pay bribes to crooked officials, diverting capital that could otherwise be invested in expansion. Large corporations strike shady deals for lucrative government contracts, robbing profits from deserving firms and generally lowering business standards.

"Who loses?" asks development policy expert Russ Webster (p. 133). "Workers who could have received a better wage working for a more competitive enterprise; consumers who could have gotten better quality goods or services at a better price; ultimately, the economy, which could have generated a better standard of living for all citizens."

The prevalence of the problem is highlighted in recent enterprise surveys conducted by the World Bank. In OECD countries, only 8% of firms reported corruption as a "major constraint" to their business. In sub-Saharan Africa, that total was 35%; in Latin American and the Caribbean, it reached 54%.

While businesses in developing countries often cited factors like lack of electricity or access to finance as their biggest impediments to growth, these too can be traced to corruption. Banking reforms and investments in power generation are frequently thwarted by corrupt interest groups, although businesses may not make the direct connection.

Knowing the effects of development's "dirty little secret," the statistics at the beginning of this post start to make more sense. South Korea's government invested heavily in industry and courted foreign investors; Kenya was led for 24 years by Daniel arap Moi, whose family and associates stole more than $1 billion from the national coffers. Part of the $2.3 trillion in foreign aid since 1944 has gone to countries whose governments, while not perfect, are at least reasonably stable and responsive. That leaves the "bottom billion" with their Chicago-like combined GDPs and largely corrupt governments and institutions. With this in mind, the last statistic on diverted aid dollars is not so mysterious after all.

So what can be done about this enormously pervasive and destructive problem? Part of the answer lies in finally shining a spotlight on this "dirty little secret". Groups like Transparency International and Global Integrity publish frequent reports and "scorecards" monitoring corruption and governance issues in most countries in the world. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, established six years ago, makes aid funding directly contingent upon factors like government effectiveness and control of corruption. Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese telecommunications magnate, created an influential foundation that works to improve governance in Africa and to reward African leaders who embody democratic principles.

This blog series will take a closer look at the people, the organizations, and the trends behind governance and corruption issues in the developing world, with a particular focus on the problem's impact on the "bottom of the pyramid." For these are the people most in need of true development assistance, and thus the ones who suffer most when such assistance is thwarted by mismanagement, favoritism and greed.

The web site for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation puts it succinctly: "Development cannot be achieved without good governance."

Its that time of the year again; until October 5^th 2010, the Lemelson-MIT program is accepting nominations for their 2011 Award for Sustainability.  The goal of the award is “to publicly recognize and financially reward individuals who have produced technological innovations and inventions that have made a positive impact on developing countries in the areas of agriculture, health, energy, and shelter.” In short, the award is a clarion call for young people to become tomorrow’s leaders in sustainable innovations.  The winner will receive $100K from the Lemelson-MIT program.

The program describes an eligible candidate as one who:

• is a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or foreign national currently working legally in the United States;
• has created a product, process or material; made a technology more affordable; redesigned a system; or otherwise demonstrated remarkable technological inventiveness in addressing sustainability across the development continuum;
• has provided evidence that their inventions have been adopted for practical use;
• works in an area that ultimately improves quality of life (e.g., quality of air, water or soil; or pertains to health, energy, agriculture, shelter, biodiversity or ecosystem management); and
• serves as an inspiration to young people, through their creativity, outreach or mentoring activities

If you think that someone you know might fit the criteria, you should absolutely nominate them to receive the award.

The Award for Sustainability offers more than just a large financial award; it also carries a lot of prestige, especially within the BoP space.  Recent winners include:

• BP Agrawal (2010) - A serial social entrepreneur focused on building solutions for improved healthcare and clean drinking water in India.  BP Agrawal is probably most well known for Aakash Ganga – a rainwater harvesting project featured here.
• Joel Selanikio (2009) – A doctor who invented the EpiSurveyor in collaboration with Kenya’s ministry of health; the EpiSurveyor is “a free, open-source mobile software program that makes data collection a more manageable and eco-friendly task for public health workers” used by the World Health Organization.
• Martin Fisher (2008) – A social entrepreneur and founder of well-known organization, KickStart, which was recently featured on PBS for its Super MoneyMaker pump irrigation solution.  Kickstart is focused on developing profitable and environmentally sustainable technologies for BoP customers. 

The Lemelson-MIT awards have been in existence since 1995; to read more about the past winners and the program visit their site.  In addition to the $100K Award for Sustainability, the Lemelson-MIT program also offers a $500K prize for “mid-career inventors dedicated to improving our world through technological invention and innovation” and a $30K Student prize for “promising young inventors studying at MIT.”

Please spread the word about the Lemelson-MIT awards; you never know who you might inspire to start innovating. 

In the outskirts of New Delhi, a small, locally owned shop offers a solution to patients who need convenient and affordable tuberculosis treatment. Behind colorful packages of snacks, toothbrushes, and other products, there are shelves of medicine-color-coded and dated to indicate dosage and start of treatment-and a jug of water with paper cups. As a participant in Operation ASHA, a program that is helping take DOTS (the WHO-recommended TB treatment) directly to the poor, this shop is one of many that provide a critical shift in the supply chain of the local health market.

Operation ASHA distributes medicine through high traffic locations like shops, huts, and temples, providing these sites with both education and medicinal supplies so that they can conveniently deliver TB treatment to communities in need. In addition, locally recruited and highly trained counselors work with patients and assist them throughout the course of treatment.

Because the Government of India reimburses providers for each successfully treated patient, Operation ASHA is able to provide medication free of charge-enabling each community location to become self-sustaining in two years. What's more, the program has had incredible success, lowering the treatment default rate in the slums of New Delhi from 60 percent to 1 percent, thereby "turning off the tap" that produces drug resistant strains of TB in a country where 3.4 million people are infected with the disease.

Why Health Market Innovations Matter

Operation ASHA is an example of a health market innovation, a program that is helping to improve the way health markets operate so that more of the transactions between consumers and private health care providers actually lead to better health and financial protection for the poor. These programs perform a set of needed functions within the health market including:

• Organizing service delivery to ensure that once fragmented and informal providers offer standardized and quality services;
• Financing care to mobilize funds and give purchasing power to the consumer to seek treatment for illnesses;
• Regulating performance to set standards, monitor compliance and incentivize higher quality care;
• Changing behaviors to educate patients about the kind of care to seek and train providers to deliver appropriate services; and
• Enhancing processes by introducing products and technologies that improve efficiency, increase accessibility and lower the cost of treatment

We believe these innovations have the power to correct many of the inefficiencies and inequalities within the health system, improving health and financial protection for the poorest and most vulnerable. Yet, information about them is sparse, a potential result of the relatively little attention given to market-based approaches versus traditional public sector delivery models. As we've spoken with individuals working in the health markets space, it has become clear that many see this lack of centralized and complete information as an obstacle in carrying out their work.

CHMI - A Platform to Improve Health Markets in Developing Countries

In this context we started the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI), through which we are seeking to collect, analyze, and disseminate information about health market innovations around the world in order to promote the effective diffusion of successful programs such as Operation ASHA. The core of CHMI is an interactive database of health market innovations that is the first of its kind to provide aggregate, standardized, and searchable information on hundreds of programs with the potential to improve how health markets operate.

If CHMI is successful in the long-term, higher performing health marketplaces with better health outcomes, improved financial protection, and greater consumer satisfaction may begin to emerge in a number of developing countries. While better metrics, trend analysis, and program evaluations will make it easier for implementers, funders, researchers, policymakers, and others to evaluate programs that are successful and call for the wider adoption and replication of successful models.

Here's how you can get involved:

• Searchand contribute to the programs database. Browse hundreds of health market programs, update existing and submit new program profiles.
• Explore the funder database. Learn about the funding priorities of donors and investors that support health market programs.
• Join the conversation on our blog. Hear from others in the health markets community and post your comments as we engage in dialogue to further the impact of innovative health market programs.

For questions and comments, contact us at chmi@resultsfordevelopment.org. You can also follow us on Twitter @CHMInnovations

CHMI is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and is managed by Results for Development Institute in collaboration with a network of partners: Access Health International in India, BroadReach Healthcare in South Africa, the Consultation of Investment in Health Promotion (CIHP) in Vietnam, and the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

This post is part of a series that introduces iuMAP, a web-based social enterprise directory developed by Ayllu and launched in media partnership with NextBillion. The purpose of the series is gathering feedback from the NextBillion community as the map unfolds and to share some of the information we've collected and analyzed. You can help triple iuMAP's size by submitting social enterprises and giving feedback. You can also catch up on the series reading the first and second entries.

* * *

In the previous posts we introduced the iuMAP and discussed the challenges of scaling.  Scaling is important for social enterprise's purpose of sustainability, profitability and impact, and has been discussed many times before.  For the next few weeks we will focus on microfranchising because it is a model used increasingly by social enterprises as they scale. 

There has been some great discussion of microfranchising recently (such as this Stanford Social Innovation Review article, co-authored by NextBillion ally David Lehr) and this series will add to it, providing an overview of different types of microfranchising, profiling enterprises that are adopting this model, and providing insights and information for both investors and those looking for funding.

On Microfranchising

Microfranchising is a way to distribute products and services through a business the size of a microenterprise. Microfranchises are demand driven and tend to have local buy in because they employ community members who sell these products/services to other community members.  The standardization built into microfranchise in terms of business processes and branding among others, is helpful for scaling purposes since it makes models replicable and adaptable to new locations.

Continue reading this article

The Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) recently celebrated its 2 year anniversary in a congratulatory mood. For those that are not yet acquainted with its work, GBF is a social investment fund that provides investment capital and capacity building to high impact social enterprises (we have profiled GBF's work here and here).

Although GBF became an independent nonprofit organization in 2008, it built on four years of experience as IFC's Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI), where it conducted over 40 projects impacting the lives of more than 3.4 million people living in low-income markets. It is estimated that GBI's clients provided basic social services to 1.4 million people and created close to 100,000 jobs.

This experience has had a deep impact in the way GBF strives to become a partner with its investees and tries to maximize its positive social impact, improve commercial sustainability and ultimately build a framework for further growth. Throughout the last two years, GBF has committed $8 million in equity, quasi-equity, debt, grant financing and technical assistance in its 25 investments. These investments have covered 10 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and have reached almost half a million direct beneficiaries worldwide.

Moreover, in this short period of time GBF has become an active player in the social investment arena. It has contributed heavily to the field of metrics and evaluation (a longstanding bone of contention for social investors trying to measure their impact and legitimate their activities vis à vis other development actors) by implementing its Impact Planning, Assessment, and Learning (or iPAL) framework and measuring the Social Return Of Investment (SROI) of its investees, breaking ground with client surveys, and becoming a pioneer fund for GIIRS. Additionally, in June it hosted an internal capacity building workshop (covered here) bringing in several of its clients, staff and outside investors to help clients improve in the areas of financial management, investment readiness, and corporate governance. The findings for this workshop have been made public to everyone here. Previously, GBF had already co-hosted two other annual metrics conferences with the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE).

These last two years GBF has built a strong foundation for the future: setting up operational guidelines for its investments and developing a field presence in Nairobi, New Delhi, Accra, and Bangkok in order to ease the pipeline development process and enable easier communication with existing clients. Although much work remains to be done, GBF is expected to thrive in the years to come. For those of our readers who would like to stay in touch with the organization I recommend checking out their facebook page, their twitter or their interesting GBF Interns Blog in the Field.

Editor's note: This post is part of a series that introduces iuMAP, a web-based social enterprise directory developed byAyllu and launched in media partnership with NextBillion. The purpose of the series is gathering feedback from the NextBillion community as the map unfolds, and share some of the information available on the map. You can help triple iuMAP's size by submitting social enterprises and giving feedback. Read the first entry of the series here.

* * *

As the field of social enterprise grows, and market-based approaches to poverty are tried in more geographies, there is a big question about how to scale the impact of these brilliant ideas to millions more people. Ayllu believes that information is a missing link, necessary for effective market-based solutions to reach millions of potential customers around the globe. This post explores scaling and asks for feedback from the NextBillion community on how to best tackle this challenge.

The majority of market solutions tracked on iuMAP are less than 10 years old and currently meet only a fraction of the existing demand. In the markets where they currently operate, these enterprises are proving that challenges of poverty can be addressed using a business approach, but "scale" is cited as a key challenge by 68% of the enterprises surveyed by Ayllu. 

We believe there is actually a bottleneck at the point where a startup is ready to expand and scale their impact, and we compare this bottleneck to missing pieces in a puzzle. Good information can help different players find the pieces they are missing, as explained in the next section. 

Why is Scaling so hard?

Social enterprises are spread out across the globe, often isolated from each other and operating in underserved markets where good information and support are hard to find. Peter Eliassen, VP of Sales and Operations at VisionSpring explains: "Too often we have our heads down to the ground trying to determine our optimal operational strategy, and that creates a silo environment. Maybe someone else has already discovered a way to execute a similar strategy and we don't know about it."

Continue reading this article

If you sign on to the newborn Amani Global Works website, you will be greeted with a Congolese Proverb: "He who has health, has hope.  And he who has hope, has everything."  But what is it that is going to transform this proverb from an optimistic nicety into a lower mortality rate and better quality of life for the Island of Idjwi? The answer is Dr. Sebisaho and a handful of Harvard University Students.  Having grown up vacillating between the Congo and Rwanda (and having completed his medical training in the latter), Dr. Sebisaho has obtained a pulse on the medical needs of the region as well as an acute understanding of the cultural and economic subtleties critical in treating its ails.

To be honest, I hadn't even heard of the Island of Idjwi until very recently, but I have not been able to get it out of my mind since.   Idjwi is located on Lake Kivu and floats between the Congo and Rwanda.  It officially belongs to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, though you wouldn't know it, since the island receives no services from its parent government.  Idjwi is home to over 200,000 people who live without access to critical goods such as electricity, clean water and medical care.  These facts of course imply high infant mortality rates and slim chances for education and development.  It is a story we have unfortunately heard before, but it is an especially jarring one.  There are 3 doctors on the entire island, and meager medical supplies on a good day.  (In the few hours during which my family and I sat with Dr. Sebisaho on the front porch of our home in suburbia, we counted 6 doctors among our neighbors passing by and stopping in to say hello.  That's twice the number that Ijdwi boasts in total.)

But Dr. Sebisaho is not overwhelmed by these odds.  He and the Amani Global Works team, which he leads, have a lucid mission with manifold potential benefits:

The team's five-year plan is to bolster the practically non-existent healthcare system on the island by building a hospital, which will be supported by a few clinics and various health posts.  The approach to decentralize healthcare carries not only social benefits, but economic ones as well; as healthcare becomes more accessible, people will be able to enter a habitual cycle of preventative care, which is much less expensive that the consultation, testing and lab fees incurred by a patient who waits to feel pain before they seek care.  Furthermore, decentralizing its services will allow Amani Global Works to conquer what would otherwise seem like a formidable goal of bringing health services to a population that lacks them completely. 

Currently, the group's main objective is to attract funding and doctors, but by employing the community, these obstacles are not insurmountable.  Amani Global Works plans to train community health workers not only to man the dispersed health bases, but to penetrate the community and initiate care.  (This method is used by Partners in Health and by others.)  These health workers will come from within the community and will be paid- not much, but still will be paid- for visiting households and bringing solutions.  This incentivized plan will enumerate the number of qualified care -givers and will further the organization's preventative treatment dream.

Once the hospital is established, it will become a communal and economic hub on the island. Dr. Sebisaho plans to use utilize solar panels and possibly the surrounding rivers to generate electricity to light the hospital hallways, and hopefully surrounding homes as well.  People will essentially be lured to the buildings- a rare source of electricity and clean water- as moths are lured to a flame.

Additionally, Dr. Sebisaho feels that a valued hospital could have the power to stimulate developments in the country's infrastructure.  Even the most talented politician would be unable to promise to lay roads throughout an unpaved island- the task is too great and the funds, absent.  However, it is possible to pave one road- and then another, and then another- to link vital health clinics to their treasured hospital.  These hypothetical roads will of course benefit business and general transportation on the island, being that pavement is not prejudiced towards health.

Another, more commonplace benefit to increased healthcare are increases in education as well as economic productivity. When women and children are sick from sullied water or postpartum deficiencies, their entire families take a hit and are unable to complete daily life activities such as earning a living, or even collecting food or firewood.  Because Dr. Sebisaho sees women and their children as a crucial pillar in a family, their hospital care will be free of charge (although men and children over five years old will face small fees).  Seeing a hospital as an "attraction," would foster business and other forms of development in the area, a consequence that can be quite palpable on an enclosed island.  By the same token, health care services for this vulnerable group could grant them a life of lesser worry and greater learning and productivity.

Knowing that the government will not seed its ventures, the organization is currently working to procure funds necessary to jump-start its plan.  However, Amani Global Works will not rely solely on munificence.  Some nascent ideas include facilitating cooperatives among the pineapple and banana farmers surrounding the future clinics, and imposing a small health insurance fee that will guarantee services for the entire coop.  Another idea for revenue is that in a few years, Dr. Sebisaho hopes that his hospital will have earned a reputation for quality and results that will draw some of the 6+ million people surrounding the island who currently travel much further for care.

But Dr. Sebisaho is not curbing his dreams while waiting for the finances to work themselves out.  He and the Harvard students continue to craft their mission. Once they get the ball rolling, the group is looking forward to a whole bunch of ensuing benefits.

This week the groups is traveling to Idjwi to survey the future hosptial's plot, as well as to further poll its future patients about their wants and needs.  With high hopes and manageable first steps, Amani Global Works surely embodies the hope that the Congolese speak of.

Editor's Note: NextBillion is glad to introduce new Editor Kishor Nagula, who will collaborate with the Managing Editors and with fellow-Editor Nathan Wyeth on administering different aspects of the site. Kishor hails from Washington DC, where he's a graduate student at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.

Welcome, Kishor!

* * * 

If you're in Washington, there's a couple of events you should surely not miss: the event later this week at SAIS examining SME finance in Africa, and the Design for the Other 90% Exhibition that is currently at the National Geographic Museum. I went this weekend, and it's fantastic. 

This past week, I visited the  Design for the other 90% exhibit at National Geographic in Washington D.C.  The exhibit's intent is to showcase innovations within the BOP space that cover one of six categories: health, shelter, water, education, energy and transport. Moving beyond the literal purpose, the exhibit clearly elucidated this idea of commercialization of products/services at the BoP. Several innovations were illustrated at the exhibit, but I've profiled the ones that seem to have shown the most commercialized success.

Kickstart:

Kickstart's mission is to develop technologies to local entrepreneurs to promote sustainable economic growth and small enterprise development, all with the intent to alleviate poverty.  The inventions - the Super MonkeyMaker, MoneyMaker Hip Pump (and no, these are not the song titles to the newest Jay-Z album but are items featured at the exhibit), Stablized Soil Block Press and the Cooking Oil Press - all offer a highly efficient alternative to production than previously observed before.

Even more interesting is how each product is designed with the end user and their context in mind; its manufacturing standards and  criteria include that each product be energy efficient, affordable, portable, culturally acceptable and strong/durable. Armed with a robust marketing campaign, Kickstart has  successfully managed to pull 478,000 out of poverty, with $95.5 million in wages and profits generated from the 149,000 tools sold. (Update: Make sure you don't miss the recent special on PBS Newshour on Kickstart).

Continue reading this article