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Remittances - transfers of money from foreign workers to their home countries - have been a critical means of financial support for generations. These flows have generally been conducted away from formal markets. However, as more and more workers move abroad, the volume of remittances sent back home has grown and thus become an important flow of foreign currency in many countries.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund published a working paper about the evolution of capital flows to Low-Income Countries (LICs). The paper sheds light on the increasing importance of remittances in development. Although the working paper is based on shaky data (on the admission of the authors), it calculates that total capital inflows to LICs increased from 4% of LIC GDP in the 1980s to more than 10% for LIC GDP by 2006. All the net growth in these inflows is due to private sources, while official inflows remained unchanged at roughly 2% of LIC GDP. (This brought me memories of when several years ago there were worldwide calls for developed countries to give 0.7% of their income to developing ones as they had promised to do. Only a couple of Scandinavian countries ended up doing so.)

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As the search for developing market-based solutions for poverty alleviation continues, adequate entrepreneur training and support has been an ongoing issue. In fact, the Aspen Institute estimates that in the United States, half of the 21.5 million micro-enterprises (capitalized with US $35,000 or less and employing 5 or fewer people) across the US are underserved and could benefit from better access to micro-enterprise development services.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discussed some of the virtues of finding this help on line, and mentioned some of the leading offerings in the US from organizations such as Mercy Corps, Score Association, and iMantri, that helps founders of small enterprises find business mentors online.

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If you've noticed a few unfamiliar names floating around the site lately, you're not alone. I have heard from some NextBillion.net readers asking who Joseph and Theresa are, and what their roles will be on-site.

So, without further ado, introductions: Joseph and Theresa are Summer Associates working with World Resources Institute (Joseph) and Acumen Fund (Theresa) this summer. We're incredibly happy to have them on board. Already, Joseph has been posting news and events on-site; Theresa's edited our blogroll and has begun working on the Resources page.

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Last week's paradox has persevered into this week. More RSS feeds - plus some handy Google News and Google Blog alert feeds - means there's more BoP stuff out there than I can do justice to individually. As such, here's today's roundup:

SKS Microfinance founder/CEO Vikram Akula has a new article out in the Harvard Business Review, Business Basics at the Base of the Pyramid. In the article, Akula offers a three-part prescription for success at the BoP:

Adopt a profit-oriented approach in order to access commercial capital; boost capacity by standardizing products, training, and other processes; and use the latest technology to reduce costs and limit errors.

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Guest blogger Arun Sharma is Scouting Lead for Innovations at the Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Program (L-RAMP). He is also a writer for L-RAMP Blog, which explores trends in social enterprise, innovation, technology and poverty alleviation.

By Arun Sharma

At L-RAMP, we come into contact with many different innovators having ideas covering the spectrum, from new ways to make roads to new ways to make banana chips. This fascinating mix of people share the common trait of being intensely passionate about what they have created and impatient about getting their products to those who can benefit from them.

Of all the characteristics which make up an innovator, it is this intense passion which I find to be most commonly held and it is this passion which can be a great asset or a great hindrance to an entrepreneur's chances of taking his product to market.

When an innovator contacts me, it is most often through an unscheduled telephone call or walk-in visit to our office. As I draw myself out of whatever I was doing at the time, I bring myself into his world and try to understand the new device/model/technology which he is explaining. After hearing him out, I try to better understand his innovation by applying some of the analytical methodologies we have developed which aim to, among other things, determine how well the innovation meets our three core criteria of:

• providing social benefit to the rural poor
• being innovative
• able to be scaled through enterprise

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This second part of my conversation with Leila Chirayath covers her vision Samasource, its business model and the pilot project currently under way in Kenya. Make sure to read the first part of this interview to have thorough vision of Leila's background and the beginnings of Samasource.

Before reading, I encourage you to watch the video below to get a grasp of the circumstances that inspired this social enterprise.

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Many regular NextBillion.net visitors will have noticed that the News Section has been nearly monopolized of late by news about the takeover battle surrounding mobile operator MTN, followed by a lull in events. For those who have not had the time or patience to track this news, what follows is a summary of what has happened and why it is so important to those of us interested in the base of the pyramid.

MTN is a mobile phone operator backed by the South African government, with 68.2 million customers in more than 20 countries and a market value of $33 billion. Its largest operations are in South Africa, Nigeria and Iran. On March 20th, MTN announced that it was looking for acquisitions and would consider targets outside its existing territories in Africa and the Middle East. That same day, MTN reported revenues of $9 billion for 2007 and an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization) of $3.9 billion, both of which were 42% more than the previous year. The group's total number of customers increased 53% year-on-year to 61.4 million.

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Paradox: I have used a tiny surplus of time this week to be more diligent about reading my RSS feeds. As a result, I have added quite a few "to-do" or "to-blog" items to my list, thereby creating more work and crunching my time. Paradoxical or not, I've been coming across some very relevant blog posts, reports and other items of interest. Without further ado, a quick roundup:

Over at Green Light, Daniel Englander dives deeper into the nascent IGNIA Fund (which we've mentioned before). NextBillion regulars will remember IGNIA as the $75 million 'base of the pyramid'-focused equity fund started by Alvaro Arregui and Compartamos' Michael Chu. Check out Green Light, as Englander offers some sharp analysis in addition to the latest news. Hat tip to Aman Bhandari for the referral.

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In my previous post, I suggested that BoP enterprises should consider partnering with faith based organizations (FBOs) on the ground, particularly in countries where religion plays a large role. In this post, I’d like to put forth another distinct, but similar idea: FBOs in the West can play a large part in the overall BoP Movement. Crazy, right? Maybe not.

A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review highlighted the results of a survey on charitable giving in the United States. The survey showed that there is a gap between donor intent and actual giving. 47% of the respondents to the survey stated that they gave money in order to assist the needy. However, in actual giving, only 6% of donor dollars was given to organizations that primarily seek to meet the basic needs of people in the United States. Internationally, only 2% of donor dollars was allocated to assisting of those in need. So where is all the money going? Answer: FBOs.

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File this under the eye-catching-BoP-design category and add it to the list of fascinating cycle innovations intended to meet multiple needs for the poor - in this case, the challenges of water filtration and transportation.

The product is called the Aquaduct, a tricycle designed by a team of five at IDEO that stores water in a twenty gallon tank in the back of the bike's wide, blue frame. As the user travels back home, the energy they expend pedaling is used to filter the water into a removable two gallon tank that rests in front of the handlebars.

As with any shiny new BoP innovation, it's important to remember that just because the product is inarguably cool doesn't mean it will actually be applicable in the specific context of local consumers. Has research been done to confirm that the Aquaduct would be cost effective and functional for the BoP in different regions as compared to other available means of water filtration and transport? And I didn't understand the idea of storing 20 gallons of water but having only two gallons filtered - is this really enough for a family? Does the user have to pedal around every time they want an additional two gallons of filtered water?

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