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
April 18, 2007 — 01:12 pm
Andrew Mack is a former World Bank official and Principal of AMGlobal Consulting. He previously blogged for NextBillion .net about Rwanda's IT development and leapfrog technologies, in January 2007.
By Andrew Mack
5626 Views
April 17, 2007 — 11:46 am
I attended an all-day workshop at the IFC yesterday on their Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI). A half dozen of the Initiative's enterprises from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and 30 or so GBI partners also attended, along with their program staff. The meeting was conducted under "Chatham House" rules, which means that I can't report on who said what, but allow me to share with you a few general observations, and a bit about one talk.
First, no surprise here, it's remarkable how many of the issues that are of concern to these quite small enterprises (and intermediaries helping them) are exactly those that big organizations must contend with —finding and succeeding in markets, managing for growth, balancing objectives. It's no solace to these small, struggling social entrepreneurs, but things don’t get easier when you get bigger.
2618 Views
April 16, 2007 — 04:02 pm
Aram Kang is Program Coordinator for the Sustainable Enterprise Program at WRI. Originally from Seoul, Korea, Aram holds an MEM from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.
By Aram Kang
2987 Views
April 16, 2007 — 12:29 pm
Microcapital reports (via Auctionbytes) that eBay has moved into the peer-to-peer lending space with the purchase of MicroPlace. This is significant because eBay is far from the first to enter this space - which is currently dominated by Kiva, Zopa, and Prosper.
How will a big company like eBay succeed in the nascent world of P2P lending? Will this affect the way Kiva or Propser works? More on the acquisition, from Microcapital:
MicroPlace will soon launch an eBay style online marketplace where individuals will be able to make microfinance investments, most likely in the form of notes offered by microbanks. The transaction will be hosted by eBay working through an intermediary like the US Calvert Foundation in order for such investments to clear regulatory hurdles. It will be in the same vein as current sites such as prosper.com (for-profit), where individuals list and bid on loans within the US market, and Kiva.org (non-profit) where individuals can lend to specific micro-businesses in the developing world through links with microfinance institution (MFI) partners.
10809 Views
April 12, 2007 — 03:42 pm
In my old age I’ve come to understand that points of ideological contention can be very eye-opening. My friend Akwasi and I considered each other relatively liberal, like-minded urbanites until we had the “gender role” conversation. Yes, that one —the quintessential Mars/Venus debate. According to Akwasi, women have certain roles such as housekeeping and child-rearing and that they are obliged to fulfill. My view is somewhat more fluid: each party should perform the duties to which he or she is best suited, traditional expectations notwithstanding. I will spare you the details of the tete a tete, but I will share my rather rudimentary analysis of the subject.
After much hand-wringing and a rather ad-hoc consultation with my uncle in Lagos, I concluded that from a “historical” perspective, gender roles had (what I considered to be) relatively unambiguous utility. I reasoned that early man was suited to hunting and gathering due to his greater physical strength and size while early woman, as the child bearer, remained at home out of harm’s way. In my narrow rendering of the world, gender roles were simply a sensible expression of the division of labor. As the capitalist system developed, however, traditionally male roles became recognized by the market and female roles did not. Because we are pushing the boundaries that dictate gender roles, who does what, when, and for whom is now a much more complex question.
3191 Views
April 11, 2007 — 09:12 am
Sorry for the late notice, but if you don't have lunch plans today and are in or around Washington, try to swing over to DuPont Circle for what promises to be a fascinating talk. Jeffery Galinovsky (of Intel's Emerging Markets Platform Group) will present World Ahead, an Intel program that will invest more than $1 billion over the next five years to speed access to uncompromised technology and education for people in developing communities.
I know Jeff, and I have seen the Classmate PC in action (there will be a demo today as well). If you're at all interested in the One Laptop Per Child idea, stop by today to see how others are approaching this issue. The presentation will span a variety of interests, from education policy to technical design. Jeff is not only a successful platform manager at Intel, but he's an electrical engineer by training, so he promises to make a great presentation.
2986 Views
April 10, 2007 — 08:17 am
WRI's Development Through Enterprise team (also known as the NextBillion staff) has an immediate opening for a full-time, paid intern. This position will be responsible for research and writing assignments documenting the intersection between business and development. As you know, we work to further sustainable economic development by researching best practices among businesses that serve the poor in low-income countries, and disseminating these business models by partnering with companies and multilaterals on implementation projects and conferences.
More information, including how to apply, is at the job listing. This is a great opportunity - a lot of us here started as interns, myself included. Hope to hear from you!
2101 Views
April 9, 2007 — 09:52 am
An assortment of BOP-related news stories came out over the weekend (or over the last week or so). Some are longer than others - particularly well-written are the two Forbes stories on Good Capital and Tata Motors.
First, my friend Kevin Jones was profiled in Forbes late last week. Kevin, who blogged from the Skoll World Forum for NextBillion, is a principal in Good Capital, a pioneering social venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Unlike other VCs (Acumen Fund, Aaviskaar), Good Capital is structured as a private equity fund. So far, they've raised the first $10 million of a $30 million fund. From the article:
2381 Views
April 6, 2007 — 12:52 pm
Yesterday, I had the privilege of introducing our BOP market report, The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid, to nearly 100 people at the US Agency for International Development. The day before, I did the same for a more academic audience at the Mortara Center at Georgetown University. Both groups had lots of interesting questions:
Q: What other kinds of data would empower business investment, and were we going to gather that too?
A: Very fine grain market data are needed, but at present we are not working with them.
Q: What about local merchants or producers in the informal economy that might be pushed aside by more efficient formal businesses?
A: A market-based approach will have winners and losers, but will, we believe, improve opportunities for both producers and consumers.
Q: What is the role for governments in creating the enabling environment for business investment?
A: See the IFC/World Bank Doing Business reports.
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April 5, 2007 — 11:57 am
I have to admit, when I first encountered Karnani’s initial critique of BoP, entitled “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Mirage” I was beside myself with excitement. Although I had read much of NextBillion’s content with interest and hope, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Where is the other side of the debate?” Karnani introduced a dissenting opinion, which is invaluable. However, Karnani’s use of inductive reasoning via case study method, while illustrative, limits the degree to which his assertions are generalizable.
As a result, I’ve decided to dedicate my blogging activities to constructing, facilitating and fomenting (heavy emphasis on the latter), a multi-faceted debate. I truly believe that BOP business development is on to something. But defining that “something” is a continual process to which I intend to contribute. Right now, the “who, what, where, why and how” of BOP thinking is coming into focus, due in no small part to the work of your friendly neighborhood NextBillionaires. What I’d like to explore are alternate forms of those questions: “What for, who for, why so, and how the heck is that possible, really?”
“How will you do that?” you ask. Great question! I knew that you readers were a smart bunch. There are several questions that I’d like to tackle over the course of this blogquest, but I am not foolhardy enough to believe that I have the answers. That’s where you come in. Each week I will pose a question and attempt (note the word ATTEMPT) to answer it. I welcome those of you who have an opinion, an insight, a complaint, or a completely random yet witty comment, to chime in. With no further ado, the questions are as follows. Let’s get ready to rumble.
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