NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Housing - Comments

yes

madrid man — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:20:25 -0500

I think that idea is from India, where they have had this kind of loans for 15 years.

yunus the world's most trusted

chris macrae — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:46:29 -0500

I am not surprised to see yunus call for an entrepreneurial revolution at WB since my father's 1984 book written after 5 decades at The Economist timelined exactly such a system change to economics with 2008 the deadline if the world was going to escape major sustainability meltdowns http://www.normanmacrae.com/netfuture.html I am a bit surprised that for 3 years in row now our survey of world's most trusted person has ranked Yunus clearly number 1 - not personally surprised that is but staggered by Washington's apparent disinterest in such findings chris macrae 301 881 1655

One More Org - Design & Tech for BoP

Arthur Tao — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 04:08:46 -0500

Under the category of Design & Technology for BoP, I would add Literacy Bridge.

Our mission is to empower children and adults with tools for knowledge sharing and literacy learning.

We are a recently formed non-profit comprising of managers, software and audio hardware engineers, and architects who have worked at Microsoft, open source software foundations, BEA Systems, and Seattle architecture firms.

We are building the Talking Book Device, a $5 audio player and recorder, and the associated Content Distribution Network for children and adults in the developing world.

Diaspora and migrant remittances

Jeff Mowatt — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 03:12:43 -0500
Robert, You may be interested in a group I started on Facebook on the subject of 'prepaid credit cards'. It's apparent that the suppliers themselves hadn't considered the developing world possibilities. I use one as a social business to get funds to our founder at his overseas poject location and one other got one out to Uganda recently for similar purposes. All I need to do now is make an inter-bank transfer and the funds can be collected at an ATM. There's a charge for this of course, but nothing like the transfer fees we've been accustomed to over the years.

Under non-profits using

Cat Laine — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:06:26 -0500
Under non-profits using market-based models throw in:
AIDG http://www.aidg.org
Kickstart http://www.kickstart.org/home/index.html
Blue Energy http://www.blueenergygroup.org/

Market based models

Jeff Mowatt — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:12:19 -0500
One for the pot. Social capitalism in a business model: With an approach of leveraging development aid funding as investment capital. http://www.p-ced.com/History/tabid/57/Default.aspx Based on the above - A multi component 'Marshall Plan' designed to deliver at nil overall cost. efault.aspx...

BoP Blindspot: Productized Remittances

Robert Granger — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:34:03 -0500
I continue to be amazed at the failure of the BoP culture to spotlight the role of diaspora and migrant remittances in developing economies.This "blindspot" inhibits the exploration of creative opportunies...and recognition of break-through enterprises that are delivering value to the poor every day. "Productized Remittances" is segment of BoP business development. Thamel.com in Nepal (www.thamel.com)is a premier example of this category. The NextBillion has highlighted this segment. It's time to remove this BoP blindspot.

Safety water for Bangladesh

Mohd. Motiur Rahman — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:48:22 -0500
Dear Sir/madam, We are working in drinking water sector in Bangladesh. Our vision is to serve the safety Drinking water. I think you know now our country is facing a great crisis of safety drinking water. Because few days ago Tropical Cyclone “SIDR” hit the southeast part of our country and killed ten thousands of people, damaged houses and also drinking water sources. Now they are very much needy for drinking water. Bangladesh government and various non govt. Organization is participating to help them, but it is not sufficient. We are also supplying the drinking water. We have also not enough capacity to serve the drinking water. Therefore it is our request if you have any scope to help the homeless people of Bangladesh ,you can contact us. Your simple help can save a life. Thanking You. With kind regards (Mohd. Motiur Rahman) For Platinum Water Treatment. 28/A, 4th Floor,VIP Road, Nayapaltan, Dhaka:1000.BANGLADESH. Phone:00880-2-9338870,00880-1819288583. Fax: 00880-2-8311995. E-mail: plwater@hotmail.com

The foldaway house

ricky — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:38:19 -0500
Ali Would you still be interested in running a pilot scheme on the foldaway house in Pakistan? If so, let me know and I will put you in contact with the relevant parties. Ricky

A personal comment

Monjurul Hoque Sarkar — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:37:18 -0500
Recently we have published a job website.This web site name is http://jobacoder.blogspot.com I know about the unemployed life.I am just try to solve this problem by my website.I want nothing.I want people joy.If anybody found a job by using my site, this is the great victory for me. In my web site I only published recent job add.Job seekers need not give any fee for visiting my site or searching job of my site.

Reply to Lorenzo Zambrano's comment on NextBillion.net

Ana Escalante — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:39:53 -0500
I took some time to think about Mr. Zambrano's comment on my blogpost. I was distressed when he implied that I was being an irresponsible writer, so I went back and questioned my assumptions about Cemex's Construmex program and market realities that it faces. Here are my thoughts.

The Business Week article that I quoted briefly from in my Construmex post may provide additional context for my initial commentary:
"A bakery employee who works the night shift since the family came to the U.S. illegally in late 2003, Moreno is paying for $10,000 worth of cement, gravel, and bricks for the four-bedroom house he's building on the outskirts of the Mexican capital…Just as some U.S. companies are tapping the undocumented market, some Mexican companies see opportunity in following customers who head north of the border. After all, many migrants straddle both worlds -- working in the U.S. but maintaining homes in Mexico. So far most cross-border efforts are housing-related campaigns conducted through U.S. branch offices. Grupo Famsa, a Monterrey-based retailer of home appliances, has nine stores in California and three in Texas, where migrants can buy a product and have it delivered to relatives in Mexico."
I admire Cemex as a company a lot. They host many programs for the people living in the 'Base of Pyramid,' and they have positive and coherent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. I did not mean to discredit Cemex in any way, and I feel that perhaps Mr. Zambrano may have misinterpreted my comments. I was not implying that Cemex employs illegal workers or has illegal practices. What I meant to say was that companies taping into 'immigrant' markets often face these issues because documented and undocumented workers often coexist in the same space, and are all part of the same target market.. Any of the remittance market companies (Western Union, Aryty…) encounter the same dilemma when they decide to market and sell their services to immigrants – by default, they should know that at least a percentage of their potential clients may be undocumented. It is not the responsibility of these companies to discriminate based on visa status. A market is a market, and the role of business is to identify and serve these markets, within the existing laws.

It is neither required nor appropriate that companies discriminate by asking for their clients' visa status before selling most goods and services to them. But if a corporation is aiming to tap these markets, it should have some type of 'foreign policy.' It is not a bad thing or a good thing. There is a huge potential for profit serving the immigrant market. If not Cemex, it will be some other company selling construction materials in the US to build homes in Mexico because it's a very good business and addresses inefficiencies in the current system of remittance transactions. People – regardless of their 'legal' or 'illegal' status in a country- still need to live, eat and build their homes. And, in fact, Cemex's Construmex program actually supports the desire of Mexican immigrants to return to their families and their homeland by enabling them to construct a better future for themselves and to build more prosperous communities in Mexico.

Paying attention to already existing communities.

medea — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:23:52 -0500
The city of Medellín in Colombia also has a government sponsored housing project where they are relocating many families which lived atop a former trash heap: the difference is that they are relocating whole neighborhoods, so people are more likely to leave their shack and move to these apartments if they know that their friends will be moving along with them to a better and healthier place.

the foldaway house

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:00:09 -0500
Hi Ali, Check out http://www.thefoldawayhouse.co.za for more info. regards

Poverty trap and inadequate shelter

Garrett Connelly — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:27:53 -0500
This is a very good article about a subject which more people should be focused on. I recognize it is unpopular to point out actual reasons for economic disfunction but unless we all start talking plain talk our specie faces an uncertain future. History is written by militarily victorious cultures while the future is made by quiet people attempting to raise healthy families. Many millions of nonviolent people have been displaced by an economic structure attempting to grow to infinity, faster and faster forever, on our beautiful but finite planet. Many of those trapped in poverty did not realize the way to riches was to externalize costs and avoid responsibility for cleaning up the pollution left in the wake of a mad conquest for resources. It will be very difficult for cultures intent on dominion to help those so confused by such an idea that they find it abhorrent and fall into poverty. Although education is an important first step out of poverty, especially for women, those who plunder and pollute the planet for profit may have attended top universities but they are not educated. Cordially, Garrett Connelly

Cemex and immigration

Rob Katz — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:55:51 -0500
Thank you for your comment. The sentence has been removed and an editor's note informs readers of the incorrect information. NextBillion.net apologizes for the error.