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

  • Rob Katz

    Dr. V, Founder of Aravind Eye Hospital, Remembered

    Over at the Acumen Fund?s blog, Jacqueline Novogratz comments on the recent death of Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy ? founder of India?s Aravind Eye Hospital. BOP practitioners and international development experts may be familiar with the hospital, which revolutionized eye care by applying...

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  • Rob Katz

    Friday Self-Props: Treehugger and Worldchanging

    I?m not much for public ego boosting, but a couple newsworthy items regarding the NextBillion.net crew have come up today, and I figured some of y?all would be interested. First, Derek Newberry?s latest post, “TV Hit Proves Sustainability Will ’Win in China’” has been...

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  • Rob Katz

    Changemakers Contest – How to Provide Affordable Housing

    Changemakers is at it again. Loyal NextBillionites might remember that Changemakers is an innovation-recognition initiative of Ashoka, the award-winning social entrepreneurship incubator. CM runs contests awarding the best entrepreneurs in a given sector ? previous competitions have included...

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  • Rob Katz

    The Ghetto Tax

    In a report published last month, Matt Fellowes of the centrist Brookings Institution documents a “ghetto tax” paid by lower-income consumers in the United States ? essentially, proof that poor people in underserved areas pay more for basic goods and services. Sound familiar? In...

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  • Rob Katz

    The Best Foot Forward

    Feet are important to discussions of the BOP hypothesis. I?m not talking about feet as in the unit of length, but rather as those awkward appendages connected to your legs. From a base of the pyramid vantage point, which is the best foot forward?I did some thinking about this, and decided...

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  • Rob Katz

    The Long Tail and the BOP

    A lot of people are talking lately about ?The Long Tail,? a concept first put forward by Wired editor Chris Anderson.? (A lot of buzz was generated when his book of the same name was published earlier this month).? The basic idea, as described by Anderson, is that business is...

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  • Rob Katz

    NextBillion Interview: Creating Value in Underserved Markets

    How much momentum does the ?base of the pyramid? hypothesis have behind it ? and at what point does hope become hype? I recently read Untapped, the latest business/strategy book to discuss underserved markets and their profit potential, with a wary eye ? would it live up to the hope, or...

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  • Rob Katz

    PCs for the BOP? GlobalVoices Reviews MiPC

    Lost in the ongoing debate about low-cost computers and the digital divide is Argentina?s MiPC (My First Personal Computer) program. Global Voices? David Sasaki nicely summarizes the ongoing debate over MiPC?s technology options (Intel and Microsoft exclusivity vs. AMD and Linux...

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