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NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Contributor.

Rob Katz

After co-founding NextBillion.net and spending 8-plus years working at the intersection of business and international development, Rob Katz is currently pursuing a MBA at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

 

Prior to Stanford, Rob was Acumen Fund’s Knowledge Manager, leading Acumen’s efforts to understand where markets work –and where they don’t – in terms of solving the problems of poverty. Most recently, he co-authored From Blueprint to Scale: The Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing(Monitor Group and Acumen Fund, 2012.) In addition to writing reports, he was responsible for applied research and writing efforts across the firm; he also oversaw Acumen’s knowledge management systems.Rob joined Acumen Fund in 2008, managing online communications as well as knowledge before shifting full time into applied research work.

 

Before Acumen Fund, Rob worked with the Markets and Enterprise Program of the World Resources Institute, where he began his career researching, writing and speaking about “base of the pyramid” business approaches to poverty alleviation. At WRI, he co-founded www.NextBillion.net, a web site and blog about enterprise and development, and co-authored The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid (IFC and WRI, 2007).

 

Here at NextBillion, Rob is both a member of our Advisory Board and a contributor to the blog.

 

Rob earned his B.A. in Political Economy from Georgetown University.

 

Follow Rob on Twitter @robertkatz.

 

Articles by Rob Katz

  • Monday
    October 16
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Private Sector Finance and SME Development

    Thanks to a commenter?s suggestion from Munyaradzi Musamba, I checked out a new report from InfoDev about the role of private sector finance in small- and medium-sized enterprise development. The report, Scaling Up Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries: The Role of Private...

    Categories
    Education
    Tags
    academia

  • Friday
    October 13
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Muhammad Yunus Wins Nobel Peace Prize

    Muhammad Yunus, who developed the idea of microfinance and later founded the Grameen Bank, is the 2006 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. It is not his first peace prize. The Wikipedia entry is already updated to reflect today?s news; I suspect the mainstream media will be saturated with...

    Categories
    Uncategorized

  • Thursday
    October 12
    2006

    Rob Katz

    New Blogger Joins NextBillion.net Team: Seema Patel

    We?re happy to introduce Seema Patel, who has joined the NextBillion.net team as a part-time intern.? When she?s not working with us here at WRI, Seema is a senior project manager at ITF consulting.? She received her master?s degree in International Relations and Environmental Policy...

    Categories
    Uncategorized

  • Thursday
    October 12
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Wharton’s Africa Business Forum

    The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania will convene a 1-day conference on November 11 in Philadelphia. Africa: Building New Partnerships, Impacting the Global Economy features panel sessions on a slew of NextBillion-related topics: consumer goods, private equity,...

    Categories
    Uncategorized

  • Tuesday
    October 10
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Columbia Business School’s Social Enterprise Conference: CSR, PR and The Need for Triple Bottom Line

    Guest blogger Rhys Thom is an intern with WRI’s EarthTrends project. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Rhys comes to WRI with an extensive background in development, having worked in Honduras, Namibia, and Nigeria. He also owns his own multimedia marketing firm. As the ideas...

    Categories
    Uncategorized

  • Wednesday
    October 4
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Prahalad: Scale Up or You’re Nothing

    Christine Bowers of PSD Blog reports that C.K. Prahalad delivered his standard bottom of the pyramid talk to an audience at World Bank headquarters yesterday.? According to her post, Prahalad took a not-so-subtle shot at the Sachs/Easterly school of development, and failed to cite any...

    Categories
    Uncategorized

  • Tuesday
    October 3
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Columbia B-School’s Social Enterprise Conference

    The Columbia Business School will hold its annual social enterprise conference this coming Friday in New York, featuring speakers from a wide range of companies and organizations. There will be a bottom-of-the-pyramid panel, where Sasha Dichter, Diana Yousef, and Erik Simanis will hold court...

    Categories
    Uncategorized

  • Thursday
    September 28
    2006

    Rob Katz

    The Business in Development Challenge

    The Business in Development Challenge, the world?s first international business plan competition for poverty reduction and profit, is taking place this week in Amsterdam. Hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, NGOs, and government representatives have gathered on the eve of tomorrow?s award...

    Categories
    Education
    Tags
    academia
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