Rob Katz

NextBillion at the Social Capital Markets Conference Next Month

Like Tony Bennett, I once left (a bit of) my heart in San Francisco.? That was in 2004, at Eradicating Poverty Through Profit, the first major conference to discuss market-based approaches to poverty alleviation–the “bottom of the pyramid” idea.? Now, nearly four years later, I am again heading west for a conference–one with the same sort of potential to change the way we think; this time, about social capital.

The aptly-named Social Capital Markets conference is the brainchild of Kevin Jones, a participant in that 2004 conference and a longtime NextBillion ally.? For three days next month, a group of investors, venture capitalists, businesspeople, practitioners and academics will gather in San Francisco to think about how and when to deploy social capital.? Acumen Fund–my current employer–and World Resources Institute–my previous one–will both be in the room.? And I’m proud to announce that NextBillion.net–co-managed by those two organizations–will be live-blogging the event.Social Capital Markets–SoCap08 for short–will be held October 13 to 15.? I’ll post a conference preview about a week prior; during the event, I’ll report from plenary sessions and as many panels as possible.? Since it’s impossible for me to be everywhere at once, I’ve recruited a stable of top-notch guest bloggers to contribute to NextBillion from the event as well:

Staff Writer David Lehr will be at SoCap08; more guest bloggers will be confirmed in the coming week.? If you’re planning to be at the event and want to meet up, let me know (comments below) – I’d love to hear your feedback on NextBillion.net and the development-through-enterprise sector as a whole.

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