Blog

With the NextBillion team scattered far and wide this holiday season, we're going to be off-line until January 2.  Any comments posted between now and then will be dropped into a moderation queue - which I hope to review while I'm away - but don't count on seeing them until January.  Ditto any story suggestions.  Thanks for a great year, one in which the BOP hypothesis flourished and many of our close friends and allies accomplished so much.  Here's to similar success in 2007...

According to its mission statement, Endeavor transforms the economies of emerging markets by identifying and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs.  You may remember that Endeavor was recognized by Fast Company as a Social Capitalist Award winner (one of the better choices, in my opinion).  Their model reminds me of the New Ventures project here at WRI.

In any case, I browsed over to the Endeavor site again today, with the intention of writing it up in more detail (more to come on that) and noticed that they are hiring a Programs Associate (PDF).  This seems to be a great fit for the young professional (read: just out of college) who has some developing country experience and interest in the impact of business in development.  Endeavor boasts an accomplished team and stellar board of directors; check them out.

The PSD Blog points to the Harvard Business Review, which has a worthy article in its December issue that should interest NextBillion readers.  Disruptive Innovation for Social Change, written by Clayton Christensen (among others), argues that

too much social investment in established organizations [means] that [they] rarely disrupt their business models, even if they aren't working. Instead, financing should support "catalytic innovations" that find new ways of serving many more at lower cost. Cited examples of such disruptive initiatives include microfinance and groups such as KickStart that develop low-cost equipment for poor entrepreneurs.

On Thursday, December 14th, key players in Brazil’s financial and private sectors met at the 3rd Annual New Ventures Investor Forum to discuss the state of business and environment in the country. Representatives from such corporate and financial leaders as Wal-Mart Brazil, Stratus Investimentos, and ABN AMRO discussed topics from the ecological impact of international supply chains to regulations of small enterprise, but the main issue on everyone’s mind was “Will society [and the private-sector] respond in time to the sustainability challenge?”

Posed by Andre Mariano of AxialPar investments, this may be the most important question of 2006, and it was answered by four of Brazil’s most promising small enterprises. These winners of the Investor Forum were:

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Timbuktu Chronicles points out two previously unknown players in the African investment picture: African Agricultural Capital and Advanced Finance and Investment Group.

African Agricultural Capital (AAC) invests in early-stage, high-risk agricultural enterprises in East Africa.  AAC focuses on companies that are introducing new technology or production systems, and makes investments out of an already-raised pool over $7 million.  Initial support for AAC came from the Rockefeller Foundation, and Volksvermogen NV.

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Via MicroCapital, Intellecap Announces Microfinance Business Plan Competition:

In yet another innovation coming from the burgeoning microfinance sector in India, Intellecap, a microfinance consulting organization, has established an Indian Microfinance Business Plan competition. Called the Srijan Business Plan Competition, this event is being organized along with Aavishkaar Goodwell, a microfinance venture capital fund associated with Intellecap. The conference is sponsored by some of the leading providers of commercial microfinance in India - Yes Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and ICICI. For the organizers of this event, this provides an opportunity to identify business plans with promise to increase "deal flow".

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Azeem Azhar, head of innovation for Reuters, pointed me to a BOP job opening within his company. They're running a very cool new project called Reuters Market Light, which provides information and related services (in local languages) to rural communities through mobile phones. RML is hiring a COO; for more on the position, check out Azeem's blog. I’ve excerpted below.

This is a 'bottom of the pyramid' (really a 'top of the bottom of the pyramid') business delivering agricultural pricing and real-time weather information to farmers. The business is progressing strongly and we're now hiring a COO.

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It has been interesting and worthwhile to me to have the opportunity to sift through NextBillion’s multitude of resources in search of projects to add to the activity database. The projects I have come across never cease to inspire. Some are new twists on old ideas combining traditional methods with modern systems…some are partnerships forged in the name of innovation. Some focus on cultural and artistic traditions and still others address more urgent needs such as disease prevention and nutrition. Acknowledging and sharing each project’s success and significance is just as important as the activities themselves.

Banco do Nordeste's CrediAmigo: Microfinance Banking
In November 1996 at a meeting in Fortaleza, the World Bank and Banco do Nordeste, a development bank formed to support growth in northeastern Brazil, decided to initiate a collaborative process to jointly implement a local development program based on the idea of micro-credit. Motivated by the fact that small informal companies – family owned and small properties - were not being served by the Bank's financing activities due to the restrictive regulation of Brazil's Banking Systems, Banco do Nordeste and the World Bank decided to develop and launch a pilot low-income bank, targeting micro-entrepreneurs from informal sectors.

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Jeannie Yamine of the International Finance Corporation (and author of the excellent Innovations in Emerging Markets blog) covered the recent meeting of the International Private Enterprise Group - DC, which was held this past Wednesday on the patio at Zorba's Cafe:

Every so often, something happens that makes the thousands of blog postings, discussions, links, questions, and counter-opinions come together and take a community from talk to action. That's precisely what happened last night over souvlaki sandwiches at Zorba's Cafe in northwest Washington DC .

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Fresh from the "base of the pyramid" wire services (aka the info [at] nextbillion (dot) net e-mail address) comes word from the Skoll Foundation and Acumen Fund about a big new partnership, and from CGAP about their new technology program:

The Skoll Foundation, dedicated to advancing the work of social entrepreneurs around the world, today announced a $1.5 million, three-year, field-building partnership with Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to create and support  sustainable, scalable solutions addressing poverty in the developing world. The grant builds on the productive relationship the two organizations started in 2002, and provides new opportunities to leverage the foundation’s and Acumen’s complementary knowledge, skills, partners and assets. The Skoll Foundation seeks to support Acumen’s work with social entrepreneurs and its efforts to develop metrics that will advance the field’s understanding of the financial and social impact of social enterprise. Acumen focuses on creating lasting solutions in the worldwide fight against poverty by supporting social entrepreneurs working within a market framework. Acumen does not give grants; instead, it provides equity and loans and charges near market interest rates.  To measure its progress, Acumen is creating an innovative metrics system that measures social returns and attempts to quantify the cost of delivering services using an entrepreneurial model rather than a charitable model.  Acumen will report back to the foundation annually on outcomes, challenges and lessons learned.

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