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

    Emerging Markets Emerging Models Conference

    Greetings from Delhi, where tomorrow I will attend the Emerging Markets, Emerging Models conference convened by the Monitor Group. If you have not yet heard of Monitor’s eponymous report, I urge you to take the time to read it. Staff writer Allen Hammond agrees, calling it "a must read!" Why is it a must read - and why is there a whole...

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  • Rob Katz

    Interview: Vijay Mishra Takes Sanitation Seriously

    Recently, Vijay combined his interest in social causes with his writing ambitions to enter the BOP Learning Lab?s base of the pyramid essay competition with an essay entitled Promoting Sanitation, Empowering Communities. Vijay and co-author Amit Gupta took 3rd place in the competition; more importantly, they took a great step...

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  • Rob Katz

    Will Surekha Dial an Ambulance?

    A tiny bead of sweat ran down the ridge of my nose. It reached the end, teetered for a split second, then dropped quietly onto the doctor?s desk. I sat behind the desk, inside the Vijay Nagar Women of India clinic, which is tucked into a government-built housing project in the Bandra East area of Mumbai.

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  • Rob Katz

    The Social Enterprise Space is Alive in India: Sankalp 09

    The social enterprise space is alive and well in India. This is my overarching conclusion having spent all day Tuesday at the inaugural Sankalp Forum, hosted by Intellecap in Mumbai.Sankalp - which means "pledge" or "determination" in English - focused on the role of business in driving social change.

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  • Rob Katz

    Go Beyond Profit

    Are you ready to go beyond profit, to explore the range of social enterprise? If you’re reading NextBillion.net, the answer is probably yes. In this case, you’re in luck - a new magazine just launched, targeting this very niche (beyond profit, beyond charity - the missing middle.)

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  • Rob Katz

    BoP Career Paths: Interview with Justin DeKoszmovszky, SC Johnson

    "How do I get a job working with BoP strategy?" I get that question all the time. The truth is that there is no one answer - everyone’s career is different. However, we can learn from those who have successfully transitioned into a career working with the base of the pyramid. This series - BoP Career Paths - will interview BoP practitioners to

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  • Rob Katz

    Changemakers Cultivates Innovative Solutions for Smallholder Farmers

    Changemakers - the Ashoka spinoff that uses "collaborative competitions" to identify innovative social enterprise models - is at it again. Their latest competition, sponsored by the Gates Foundation - is looking for "[i]nnovative solutions that span the entire agricultural value chain ? from seeds to sales."

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  • Rob Katz

    Global Social Benefit Incubator Winners Announced

    The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) - the scholarship-only, base-of-the-pyramid entrepreneur bootcamp worth $20,000 - has announced its class of 2009. When it comes to taking good ideas and nurturing them into real, viable companies, GSBI is in select company.

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