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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

  • Wednesday
    January 25
    2006

    Rob Katz

    Show Me the Money – A Remittance Review

    On the topic of ?in case you missed it?, Ethan Zuckerman of wonder-blog WorldChanging wrote a great piece on remittances back on January 12. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of remittance income to most African nations and many developing nations. Nworah cites a figure of...

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  • Friday
    December 16
    2005

    Rob Katz

    C.K. Prahalad Named a “Best Leader: Guru” by BusinessWeek

    Along with colleague Stuart Hart, C.K Prahalad is widely thought of as a godfather of the base of the pyramid hypothesis. We’ve noted before that both Hart and Prahalad are garnering much-deserved recognition for their work in this field (full disclosure: C.K. Prahalad is a member of WRI’s...

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  • Wednesday
    December 14
    2005

    Rob Katz

    Global Social Benefit Incubator

    I was reminded again this morning by PSD Blog of the Global Social Benefit Incubator, “an intensive two-week residential program that enables successful technology innovators to scale their endeavors and achieve sustainability.” The two-week in-residence program (July 29 - August...

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  • Tuesday
    December 13
    2005

    Rob Katz

    Cashless Transactions at the BOP: Peppercoin

    What do your local Chinese restaurant?s delivery service and MIT?s advanced cryptography department have in common? The answer: Peppercoin, an innovative payment platform allowing consumers to use credit or debit cards for small transactions -- thus eliminating merchants? need for those...

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  • Thursday
    December 1
    2005

    Rob Katz

    Best Books 2005 – What’s on Your List?

    You’re making your list; you’re checking it twice. And you’re not alone ? its time for everyone’s year-end best-of lists. I just finished browsing strategy-business? Best Business Books 2005, where coverage ranges from strategy to marketing to globalization. (Side note: which works are...

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  • Tuesday
    November 29
    2005

    Rob Katz

    Wall Street Take Heed – Here’s the Alternative (Exchange)

    You may have noticed a recent upswing of news about small and medium sized enterprises, much of which has been picked up and discussed on NextBillion. Small local enterprise networks, mesofinance, small and large for-profit venture funds ? and now an Alternative Exchange. (Via Timbuktu...

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  • Monday
    November 28
    2005

    Rob Katz

    What’s in a Name: NextBillion – Fries or Future?

    When our WRI team sat down to brainstorm a name for new web portal and community, it wasn?t evident at first that ?NextBillion? made sense. One colleague pulled the Big Mac card: NextBillion was too close to McDonald?s signature ?billions and billions served? tag line. Despite...

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  • Tuesday
    November 22
    2005

    Rob Katz

    HealthStore Case Study Details Franchise Approach to Healthcare

    WRI’s latest What Works case study, HealthStore’s Franchise Approach to Healthcare - Harnessing the profit motive to deliver public health in Kenya, is now available at the NextBillion.net Resources page. The 43-page case study, written by Columbia University MBA students, outlines how a...

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