Microsoft: Enabling Social and Economic Development in Digital Age

Ana Escalante — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:03:45 -0500

Yesterday, I attended "Unlimited Potential: Connecting the Next Five Billion," a presentation organized by SID-Washington's Corporate Responsibility Workgroup, USAID's Global Development Alliance, DAI and Georgetown University's Mortara Center for International Studies. The presentation featured Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group and was hosted at the Academy for Educational Development (AED). In short, it was a brief on Microsoft's strategy for addressing the BoP and it was very insightful.

Michael Rawding, Vice President of MS's Unlimited Potential Group, delivered the speech. He explained in detail about Microsoft’s BoP strategy. I found interesting that the Unlimited Potential group is not part of the company's corporate social responsibility department, but rather a for profit division committed to delivering relevant, accessible and affordable software to the BoP. This is exactly what the BoP discourse is trying to do - get corporations to engage through their business units, not just CSR departments.

Rawding discussed how Unlimited Potential is finding avenues to foster social and economic opportunity while at the same time bringing innovative technologies such as the Classroom Computer to people living in developing countries. He acknowledged the challenges of addressing BoP markets, especially since Microsoft historically has produced software and technology for the billion people at the top of the economic pyramid.

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Microsoft: Enabling Social and Economic Development in Digital Age