Articles by Al Hammond
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Monday
October 16
2006Pakistan Journal: Reaching Rural Households With Technology
I was in Karachi this past weekend, where I addressed a packed seminar, Improving Access to Financial Services: Mobile Money Transfer and Beyond, convened by the Asian Development Bank and the State Bank of Pakistan. If audience enthusiasm is any indication, financial service provision over...
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- Education
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- academia
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Wednesday
September 27
2006How Africa Lags and Leads in the ICT World
Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, reports on the state of African connectivity development, which remains hampered by very high costs. In West Africa, for example, connectivity costs more than 66 times as much as it does in the United States--$8 per kbps...
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Monday
September 18
2006Trending Towards SMEs – Do New Funds Indicate Progress?
Formal, profitable SME financing is gaining momentum in India, as two articles in last week?s Indian financial press indicate:ICICI Venture mulls 4 specialized fundsNew SME Fund to Launch in IndiaSmall and medium sized enterprise investment funds are not new; we?ve discussed the Shell...
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- Education
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- academia
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Thursday
August 24
2006Response to “Mirage at the Bottom of the Pyramid”
Dr. Aneel Karnani has posted a critique of Professor Prahalad?s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and its thesis?as Karnani describes it?that multi-nationals will enrich themselves and the poor by participating in the base of the pyramid (BOP) market. Karnani describes this...
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Tuesday
May 9
2006A New Model for Rural Connectivity
What if the ultimate Internet access device turned out to be a phone? Yes, its already happening for a few in the rich world, but I’m talking about access for a billion people or more in the developing world, for which the driver is cost, not convenience. Despite all the efforts to spread...
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Wednesday
April 12
2006A Successful New Model for Enterprise Development
We received a notice recently that the Acumen Fund was celebrating its 5-year birthday. That’s remarkable, because the organization, with a mission to create and support sustainable enterprises that deliver affordable healthcare, water, and housing to the poor, has accomplished an amazing...
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Friday
December 2
2005HBS conference on Global Poverty
"The question is not whether business has a role to play in alleviating poverty. We know that. The question is how.” With that statement, Harvard Business School Professor Kash Rangan opened a gathering of academics, business leaders from around the world, and development officials to...
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Wednesday
November 30
2005A New Model for Success at the BOP: Interview with David Wheeler, Conclusion and Compilation
This is the conclusion of our interview with David Wheeler, author of Creating Sustainable Local Enterprise Networks. The entire interview is available here.Describe the implications of your research for development strategies. How could development agencies use your findings to get the...
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