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The William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan and the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University will be hosting a conference entitled “Business with Four Billion: Creating Mutual Value at the Base of the Pyramid.” The conference brings together BOP business managers, policy makers, social entrepreneurs, academics, and non-profit leaders. The main conference topics are: understanding the landscape of the base of the pyramid; evaluating the development implications of enterprise-based approaches to poverty alleviation; and exploring the capabilities organizations need to develop successful BOP-oriented ventures.

The conference has a solid lineup of speakers, including some big names like Amartya Sen on the invited list (cross your fingers). Some of those near to Nextbillion’s heart include Al Hammond, Stuart Hart, and C.K. Prahalad. If the recent publications and research by these figures is any indication, conference attendees can expect to hear topics such as “Exploring the best leverage points for employing enterprise-based approaches and social entrepreneurship at the BoP” addressed with solid empirical analysis and excellent insights.

The bad news is that it won’t be held until September 2007 (although you can register now). If you’re feeling impatient in the mean time you can always read this or this.

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 second post in the series; read the first here.

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.

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I suppose "alternative energy" and "China" are indeed like peanut butter and chocolate, as Matt Richtel of the NYT analogizes. At first glance the combination seems incompatible (the word China to me for a long time conjured up images of massive coal power plants, not wind farms) - but after the idea sinks in, you wonder why it took so long for the two to come together.

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How do you know when a person, idea, or trend has truly arrived? When it gets spoofed by The Onion. In today's edition of the well-read parody and satire magazine, the lead article is entitled Chanel Develops Durable, Low-Cost Perfume For Third World. This is an obvious stab at the "base of the pyramid" - a growing consensus that multinational corporations and small entrepreneurs alike should re-orient their strategy to include low-income consumers and producers. The article is clearly spoofing C.K. Prahalad, a leading base of the pyramid (BOP) strategist. In his best-selling book, Prahalad describes how Hindustan Lever markets face cream to low-income consumers in India. This example has come under attack from many in the development community who see it as exploitative. Regardless of where you stand on the BOP theory, it's hard not to laugh at The Onion's take. A short excerpt:

As for 3rd's scent, Chanel wanted something "clean, youthful, and beguiling," said Chanel chemist Robert Geneau, adding that organically musky, smoky, and earthy tones had been rejected because the scent's intended users most likely had too much musk, earth, and smoke in their lives already. "3rd has a bright, grassy base, like a fresh breeze after a rain—a very exotic scent for our target customer. There are also notes of cocoa, citrus, spices, and other things our customer sometimes raises and harvests for foreign export, but rarely gets to savor herself. Captivating, and for a fraction of the cost of high-end scents available in the West, 3rd is just the economic miracle developing nations need."

Want to keep track of what's going on in Switzerland this week?  Many will undoubtedly be following the glitzy World Economic Forum, but allow me to suggest an alternate: the Social Entrepreneurs Summit.  Also sponsored by the Schwab Foundation and held concurrently with the Forum, the Social Entrepreneurs Summit "provides an opportunity for social entrepreneurs to come together to share knowledge, experience, exchange best practice and benefit from cutting-edge knowledge in social enterprise planning, management, as well as communications and other aspects that they identify as critical to their enhanced performance."

My Worldchanging colleague Jonathan Greenblatt is attending the Summit this week and has posted his first report from Switzerland.  As the founder of Ethos Water, Jonathan is a social entrepreneur himself.  He has also served as a Vice President at Starbucks, so he sees things from the large-company side of the coin as well.  In his first post, he observes that

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Prodem, the 3rd largest microbank in Bolivia and a long-time BOP success story known for its home-grown smart ATMs, now finds itself at the center of a political-economic power struggle between Bolivia and Venezuela.  Yes, the socialist/populist governments of Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez are – ironically – at odds over the future of the region’s banking landscape, and it's mostly because of the shrewd maneuvers of Prodem’s founder, Eduardo Bazoberry.

NextBillion ally and Microcapital blog author David Satterthwaite caught up to Bazoberry at last week's Goldman Sachs/Women's World Banking meeting in New York City.  There had been rampant speculation that Prodem was up for sale, and David was able to get Bazoberry to confirm that yes, Prodem has in fact been sold, and that the buyer is an investor wholly controlled by the Venezuelan government.  According to Microcapital, Bazoberry told him that the Morales administration threatened to put Prodem out of business by targeting its lucrative rural lending market; as such, he had no choice but to sell or be forced out.  Ironically, fellow socialist/populist Hugo Chavez must have approved the purchase of Prodem from under Morales' nose – Venezuela had to have known that it was offering Bazoberry the highest price.

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Update: I just saw this week's edition of BusinessWeek, where the cover story is entitled  Beyond The Green Corporation.  Worth reading, although I'll warn you not to expect anything earth-shattering.  It's also worth taking a look at some of the associated articles...enjoy.

With all the great content being produced of late by Julia, Lauren, and Courtland, I’m going to take the easy way out and provide a list of suggestions for your weekend reading (rainbow) pleasure. As always, this list is not meant to be exhaustive, and (at least in this edition) focuses more on finance than any other topic. Still interested? Read on...

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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.

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?

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The Rockefeller Foundation is partnering with InnoCentive to offer an innovative way of solving the science and technology challenges faced by the world’s poorest citizens.

InnoCentive is a privately-held company that provides a web-based service to Fortune 500 companies to tap into a global community of scientists for solving R&D problems. From the “seeker,” InnoCentive collects an annual service fee for the use of its platform and also for posted questions. In addition, InnoCentive receives a commission on awards made by the “seeker” to the “problem solver.” So, for a relatively modest fee and comparatively minor effort (to formulate the R&D question and vet solutions), “seekers” significantly increase their research capacity.

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Remember IPEG (International Private Enterprise Group)? We've written about it in the past, and have mentioned the nascent DC chapter as well. A quick reminder: the group aims to create an opportunity for professionals interested in the intersection between business and development to network, learn from each other and hear from leaders in the field.

At IPEG meetings, we discuss cutting-edge work in investing in emerging economies, sustainable enterprise growth, 'Base of the Economic Pyramid' concepts, heath and technology innovations that serve low-income communities, and many others. For those working in and around Washington, we are excited to announce that this month's meeting of the International Private Enterprise Group will take place on Thursday, January 25 at 6:30 PM in Oxfam's main conference room. This month's meeting is organized around a general theme: Venture Capital and Private Equity for Development. Ben Powell from Agora Partnerships will share more about his challenges raising and running a fund in Nicaragua, as will another expert from the field (to be confirmed). Update: Wayne Farmer, Vice President of Next Steps Research, has been confirmed as our second speaker.

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