Courtland Walker's blog

TN4B: Focus on Energy

Courtland Walker — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:10:20 -0400

What follows below is an excerpt from the Energy Chapter of the The Next 4 Billion report. The chapter contains two country specific case studies. The study below, on India, provides a comprehensive preview of much of the data and analysis available in the energy chapter.

India's energy story points to trends seen consistently across surveyed countries...

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Good News for a Change

Courtland Walker — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:57:22 -0500

My one-line review of Fast Company's March issue and its annual Fast 50 list: "It's exciting."

It's green, it's sustainable, and it has BOP written all over it, both literally and sequentially (from the Letter from the Editor, to Andrew Zolli's Business 3.0, to numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, an interview with C.K., 24, 25, 31, 38, 41, an interview with Omidyar, and 44).

Did I say it was exciting?

It's palpable. Zolli writes a thought provoking introduction, heralding the "Eco-Innovation Revolution" and the Fast 50 that follow, "50 Profit-driven solutions for what ails the planet," reminds you just how much of this revolution is already underway - from Goliath GE (#37) to up and coming Terracom (#24).

I spent last night watching, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" with my girlfriend, and was left wanting to beat the piss out of a an auto-industry exec before working my way to an oil-industry exec (You start a bogus grassroots campaign to discourage zero emissions while 1 in 4 children in L.A. has lung lesions ...I'm sorry you deserve a re-adjustment....maybe it'll help you sleep).

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Rwanda Journal: Funds for East Africa's SMEs

Courtland Walker — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:00:00 -0500

Editor's note: NextBillion staff writer Courtland Walker recently returned from a 10-day trip to Rwanda. Over the next week, he will post reflections on his trip as part of the Rwanda Journal series. This is the third post in the series; read the first two here and here.

In high-income countries, the SME sector has been estimated to contribute more than 50% to gross GDP, not to mention being the engine of new job creation and a source of as much as half of the innovation in these economies. In low-income countries, however, the contribution of the SME sector to gross GDP has been estimated at 16% and, in most African countries the SME sector has been estimated at less than 10%.

I read the above quote, over a year ago, in "Venture Capital for Development," a paper by Alan Patricof and Julie E. Sunderland.

While the growth of the SME sector is crucial to the future of developing country economies, there are tremendous difficulties inherent in fully private sector investments in smaller firms. While there are a handful of groups - namely SEAF, GroFin, and Aureos - that are operating fully private sector SME-targeted funds, many, including Patricof and Sunderland have called for the participation of the development institutions to help mitigate the risk faced by the private sector.

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Rwanda Journal: Dear Dave,

Courtland Walker — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 18:24:37 -0500

In reference to David's request for further explanation on, "People don't need electricity, they need jobs," what was supposed to be a short reply, was not, but hopefully it proves to be an interesting read.

In posing the hypothetical, "If I had a million dollars..." question, I was trying to frame a larger development issue that struck me during my time in Rwanda; how to prioritize investments for sustainable improvement of livelihoods based on observation of on the ground realities.

I spent most of my trip in a rural area to the east called Rwinkwavu, one of the poorest regions in the Rwanda...

Rwanda Journal: Vision 2020

Courtland Walker — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:44:33 -0500

The most recurrent thought during my time in Rwanda was, "What’s the first step?" I kept doing a hypothetical in my head: You have a million dollars. Do you pave roads? Do you put up more power lines? Do you put a floor in every house? A bed net? Do you buy tractors? Fertilizer? Laptops? Cell phones?

"People don't need electricity, they need jobs." That response, from my sister who has been in-country for three and a half years and seen first-hand both the education and health systems in Rwanda, has been on my mind since my return.

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LifeStraw Catching On

Courtland Walker — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:34:37 -0400

With more than a few mentions on NextBillion during its development, it was nice to see LifeStraw covered in today's New York Times.

The LifeStraw sells for $3, is approximately the size of a paper towel tube (i.e. 25cm long by 29mm in diameter), and filters out 99.99% of bacteria, the main cause of water-borne diseases such as Typhoid, Cholera, Dysentery and Diarrhoea that kill 6,000 people a day.

2006 Tech Museum Award Laureates

Courtland Walker — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 15:59:41 -0400

The Laureates for the 2006 Tech Museum Awards were recently announced. The Tech Museum Awards is an international awards program that honors innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity.

While this awards program is more about recognition than about stimulating further research, it is still important to bring attention to the application of technology to development problems. Not only that, but with Bill Gates headlining the event, it should garner some press for the lesser-known laureates.

On India's Farms, a Plague of Suicide

Courtland Walker — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:24:30 -0400

There is a poignant article in today's New York Times on the alarming rate of suicides amongst India's farmers - more than 17,000 in 2003. Tracing the causes of this epidemic, the article explores a confluence of forces from moneylenders to American multinationals selling genetically modified seed. An excellent article, recommended reading and, in my opinion, an important counterbalance to our frequent praise of market driven development.

Whose Technology Is it?

Courtland Walker — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:14:12 -0400

The global cell phone market recently passed 2.5 billion connections, having grown by 500 million in 12 months. A quarter of this growth is attributable to India and China. In the latter country 5 million new connections are added every month.

As a result of this staggering growth rate, of the 2.5 billion users worldwide, the majority (59%) now lives in developing countries. This is the first time in history that a telecommunications technology has more users in developing countries than in the developed world.

Building Opportunity for the Majority: Quotes (Day One)

Courtland Walker — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:15:27 -0400

"I compare vaccines to water. I compare vaccines to education." -Jean R. Stephenne, President, Biologicals, GlaxoSmithKline, Belgium

"When you request 100-200 million units, you're able to influence corporate strategy."
-Professor Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman, One Laptop per Child, USA

"Knowledge is more important than aesthetics, more important than policy."
-John Restrepo, Executive Director, Parquesoft, Colombia

"What people want is for the telephone to be answered, quickly."
-Enrique Cañas, General Manager, Banco Uno, El Salvador
[on understanding the needs of financial services customers at the BOP]

"The aspiration for quality does not vary with income."
-Craig Fiebig, General Manager for Emerging Markets, Microsoft, USA