NextBillion brings together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers, and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise.
Our Staff Writers and Editors offer insights on the latest news, events, interviews and other happenings from the development through enterprise and base of the pyramid universes
March 3, 2009 — 08:20 am
Some time ago, the winner for the CGAP Microfinance Photography Contest was announced. These photos are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also (and most importantly) they serve as a gentle reminder of why we, the practitioners, the researchers and the entrepreneurs, love what we do.
February 10, 2009 — 07:01 am
When Muhammad Yunus, Ingrid Munro and other microfinance pioneers, got together in the first Microfinance Summit in 1997, they adopted what for many was an impossible goal: to reach 100 million people living with less than $1 per day by 2005. Although the deadline was missed, the 100m mark was reached in 2007, an incredible feat nonetheless.
January 23, 2009 — 07:49 am
As it should be clear by now to our frequent and not so frequent readers, the BoP is potentially a huge market. Within this potential market there are different segments depending on who products are directed to, which needs they address, or what income and educational levels the target...
December 24, 2008 — 08:14 am
Position: Research Associate / Consultant Location: Home based with two missions to New York Time frame: 1 January 2009 - 31 April 2009 Organization: Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative, United Nations Development Programme. The UNDP Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative seeks to create...
December 22, 2008 — 07:10 am
A couple of friends of mine have already asked me "So what if a couple of banks go bankrupt? Who cares about bad mortgages? What is all the big deal about?" It is hard to explain in few words why the financial sector is so vital in modern economies, when countries are as strongly...
December 11, 2008 — 05:30 pm
Although we in the BoP sector often talk about the role of the informal sector as an important factor (both as a competitor and as an ally) when crafting sustainable models for low income communities, precious little has gone into analyzing it. One of the most important reasons for this lack of...
December 7, 2008 — 08:45 pm
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is launching a new project called "Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Global Agriculture." With the help of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project aims to document evidence on what works in agriculture—what sorts...
November 25, 2008 — 08:25 am
For all our readers who have been following the mobile phone banking debate, there is a great opportunity coming up to hear about first hand experiences of the implementation of mobile banking solutions at scale in multiple markets. CGAP - the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor - is...
November 24, 2008 — 08:00 am
Although gender equality is a desirable aim in itself, there are also underlying economic reasons for female empowerment. In the words of the 2007 Global Monitoring Report (partially devoted to gender issues) from the World Bank: "Improving gender equality reduces poverty and stimulates...
October 28, 2008 — 10:25 am
After having devoted my last posts to more abstract aspects of the base of the pyramid, Jim Rosenberg, from our sister organization CGAP, kindly brought me to the ground again with an e-mail about how to connect the BoP to Internet through their mobiles. The beauty of the mobile...
