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Sounds like the kind of question that would lead someone to a site like NextBillion.net, right? Well, it's also one of the questions to be tackled during TED's firstconference in India, coming up next November. 

There's little need to explain how exciting news it is that a venue like TED will be taking place in India this year. I've not had the opportunity to visit the country yet, but I feel likeknow it in many ways. Not only have I met incredible Indians over the last year and count some as friends, but I'm constantly following the vibrant social enterprise movement taking hold there. I look up to it as a place that Colombia and Latin America at large have lots to learn from and really look forward to spending some time there in the future.

I encourage NextBillion readers to get a feeling of what will be going on in TED India this coming November. Although the usual TED conferences seldom touch on the development-through-enterprise topic (amongst many, many others), the India version looks like one whose conversations will predominantly revolve around the issues we discuss here at NextBillion. Hence, I urge you to learn more about the opportunity to join this community through the TED Fellows Program. If you know someone that would make a good TEDster, encourage them to apply to this fantastic opportunity. (If you're not 100% there yet, try the following: read Joy Sun's great post about her experience in Long Beach earlier this year, watch the talk by NextBillion's friend and TED Fellow Erik Hersman,  and take a look at the TED Fellows blog).

We'll continue to report as the speaking schedule of the conference takes shape and becomes public. Meanwhile, good luck writing your application or helping that someone you know complete hers. Here's my modest contribution for you to get in the right state of mind before taking on the writing.   

Where does this title come from? Why rivers and swimming? I wondered about these questions as I opened a copy of "In the River They Swim: Essays from Around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty",  a new book edited by Michael Fairbanks, Malik Fal, Marcela Escobari-Rose and Elizabeth Hooper.

The answer to my question came pretty soon, as Fairbanks talks a bit of his title choice in the first paragraph of the introduction. Paraphrasing, there are many ways to know a river according to the teachings of a Sufi Master. You can know it by studying its maps and documents written about its currents, depth, source, etc. If you're drawn by it you can also choose to travel, see it and study it from a distance close enough so you can see it every now and eventually get your foot in it to feel how cold or warm it is. Until you ultimately decide to take off your clothes and dive into it, only then realizing its true character, its effects on you and whether you are strong enough to swim its length.  

The essays in this book are written by remarkable people that have dived into the waters of international development, and whose initiatives and risks taken have been instrumental as the world shifts its thinking about entrepreneurs and the private sector and sees them as main characters in the pursue of poverty reduction and sustainable development. These include heads of state like President Kagame of Rwanda, to multilateral leaders like IADB's President Moreno and practitioners from the enterprise perspective like Robert Henning, among many others.

I would be overlooking a crucial part of this work without adding a few words about Mr. Fairbanks, before going into a bit more detail of the book's content. I met Michael back in January while attending a lecture he delivered at the Americal Enterprise Institute. I recall being very impressed by his candid and entertaining speaking style, as well as with his track record and accomplishments. He is a cofounder at both the OTF group (from where he advices heads of state of 20 nations) and the SEVEN Fund, where though grants and special competitions he's walking the talk of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation by encouraging people to learn by failing, and doing so "fast, frequently and, most importantly, originally".    

Do not expect, however, a set of stories about specific entrepreneurs and organizations serving low income communities. Rather, expect thought-provoking and honest reflections of these leaders as they reconstruct the path they have followed to conceive enterprise as a means to enhance human dignity, as well as their successes, failures and frustrations in doing so. Far from a "how-to" guide to development through enterprise, In the River They Swim offers a collection of anwers to"why" development through enterprise.

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In January of 2008 Rob welcomed Grace Augustine as a Staff Writer for NextBillion.net. I remember it clearly, as I had just met Grace and many of her colleagues in Ann Arbor while attending the 2008 edition of  the Net Impact Forum at the University of Michigan. She striked me as someone deeply knowledgeable and committed to the BoP subject, due mainly to the circumstances we met at (she was co-moderating a session about Base of the Pyramid business models, together with Ross School of Business Professor Ted London, and others from the BoP crew at Michigan including Moses Lee).

Over the last 15 months, Grace contributed many noteworthy pieces for NextBillion.net that always stood out for their impeccable style and thoughtful content. Over these months, she was also invited to join a team of talented bloggers over at the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Well, the time has come for Grace to move on. She'll soon be flying across the Atlantic, where Oxford University and its Sheldonian Theater await her. 

At Oxford, Grace will be joining a MSc Program in Management Research. She's hoping to study BoP-related topics and tap into Oxford's renowned capabilities on this area through the Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship housed at the University. So if you're planning on going to Oxford any time soon or just plain interested in getting in touch with Grace, you'll be able to reach her at  gaugustine@gmail.com.

On behalf of Rob and all the members of the NextBillion.net team, here go my best wishes for you, Grace. Hopefully we'll cross paths again in the future. Meanwhile, know that we'll be happy to have more of your thoughts and writing any time, once you get settled in your new life in the UK  this coming fall.  

Esta es tu casa! 

A tiny bead of sweat ran down the ridge of my nose.  It reached the end, teetered for a split second, then dropped quietly onto the doctor’s desk.  I sat behind the desk, inside the Vijay Nagar Women of India clinic, which is tucked into a government-built housing project in the Bandra East area of Mumbai.  As the sweat hit the desk, it made a soft splat, and little Natra’s eyes followed it down.  About 3 years old, he seemed pretty interested in the inability of this strange white man to deal with the Mumbai heat – not surprising, all things considered.

Natra and his mother, Surekha, had agreed to take a survey about healthcare administered by Acumen Fund Fellow Joanna Harries and her colleague, Rubina Dsouza.  Joanna and Rubina work for Dial 1298 for Ambulance, a professionally-run, high quality ambulance service run in Mumbai (51 ambulances) and Kerala (30 ambulances). You dial 1298 to get a fully-equipped ambulance with doctor and medical equipment on-board.  1298 is affiliated with the Ambulance Access for All Foundation, whose mission is to provide high-quality service for all Indians, regardless of income.  (Full disclosure: I work for Acumen Fund, an investor in Dial 1298 for Ambulance.)

But will poor Indians call an ambulance?  That’s what Joanna and Rubina are working to find out.  Service for all is not only a noble goal, it’s good business as well – after all, some 40 to 60 percent of Mumbaikers live below the poverty line, in slums.  If you fail to serve this customer segment, you miss a huge number of calls – and your ambulances can run below capacity.

Effectively serving this market begins with listening, and that’s what Joanna and Rubina are doing.  They have been spending time visiting various Women of India clinics, all of which are located in slum areas, and asking a simple, 5-question survey: what do you do when you get sick?; how do you get to the hospital?; which (if any) ambulances do you call?; why wouldn’t you call an ambulance?; who helps you when you get sick?

Joanna and Rubina and I did eight surveys today, just the tip of the iceberg.  What is interesting is that 1298 takes its commitment to the low-income segments seriously – both in terms of social impact and in terms of business sense.  The company is marketing in a number of innovative ways – tying up with schools, hospitals, train stations, and more.  Slum outreach is an element of their business plan.  Regardless of income level, growing 1298’s customer base is an awareness game – call it marketing, brand management, outreach, whatever – you have to have potential customers know about your service before you earn their business.

Editor's Note: The following article profiles one of the finalists at the 2009 edition of the Global Social Venture Competition, held last week at the Haas Schol of Business at UC Berkeley.

Around one in five children in Mali dies before his or her fifth birthday. Imagine preventing half of these 117,000 annual deaths with a few cell phones and scales. I interviewed the founders of Pesinet - a new non-profit organization and 2009 GSVC finalist - and I'm excited about the ability of their new micro-insurance program to accomplish just that.

"Around 70% of child mortality is caused by easily treatable illnesses such as diarrhea, malnutrition and malaria," Pesinet CEO Anne Roos-Weil told me. "We are trying to create a culture of preventative care."

To make this culture shift possible, Pesinet harnesses the tailwind of high mobile phone coverage (85% worldwide by 2010 according to the GSMA) and exploding mHealth services with a simple business model. Families subscribe to the service for about $1 per month.  Health workers make regular house calls and transmit basic health information via SMS to a doctor who reviews the data, and brings children in if any warning signs are detected. 

This sounds like the right approach.  While living in Mauritania, I accompanied health workers on a door-to-door polio vaccination campaign.  I was struck by two things: first, the ability of the workers to visit an incredibly large number of houses per day, and second, the willingness of households to receive health workers in their homes. 

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Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Global Philanthropy Forum for the first time, and although it's been a few days already, I would like to share some thoughts on what I saw and heard. It was actually a very interesting experience to witness the discussions taking place amongst a community whose efforts and investments advance innovations and ventures that address the globe's most pressing issues. 

For those of you not familiar with the Forum, it is a yearly event convened by the World Affairs Council, in which donors from around the world are offered a platform to know each other, find co-investing opportunities and discuss emerging trends in the world's most pressing issues. The venue followed a conventional format over the three days it lasted, with plenary sessions, breakout panels, a venue to showcase social entrepreneurs, a musical performance and --my favorite throughout the event-- five minute long pitches called GPF Moments in which various people shared an idea with the audience.  

The nexus between development and enterprise was one among many topics, but it was surely and broadly discussed throughout the whole conference, as was the idea that sees the challenges of poverty and environmental degradation as one only complex and defining challenge of its own. This meant I had to be in two places simultaneously  from time to time! For instance, during the breakout sessions of Day 1, I sat down and listened to the first part of a session about Small and Growing Businesses where Peter Reiling from the Aspen Institute moderated a conversation with Acumen Fund's Jacqueline Novogratz, Willy Foote from Root Capital, Ulrich Frei from FUNDES and Laurie Spengler from ShoreBank International. Next door, Maria Blair from the Rockefeller Foundation was moderating a session on climate change adaptation in developing countries, where Fabio Rosa from IDEAAS and Tom Adlam from African Agricultural Capital discussed the role of enterprise and economic opportunity in helping communities build resilience in the face of the challenges posed by this phenomenon.

Ideally, I would have liked the two topics to be discussed in the same session, so I did what I could to participate and take notes in both! Fortunately, the next day saw a plenary session that brilliantly discussed the challenges of SGBs in conjunction with those of bringing clean and appropriate technologies to the world's poorest communities. Titled "Financing Green Enterprise" it had the participation of Mr. Nachiket Mor from ICICI Foundation and Christine Eibs Singer from E+Co, with brilliant moderation by David Yarnold from the Environmental Defense Fund. In all honesty, this is the single most interesting discussion I've been to in a number of months.

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