Contributor.

William Kramer
Global Challenge Network

William Kramer is the Founder and President of the Global Challenge Network.

During six years at WRI, Mr. Kramer also served as a Senior Fellow, and as Deputy Director of the Development Through Enterprise Program. He was director of a groundbreaking conference on business engagement with low-income populations, Eradicating Poverty Through Profit: Making Business Work for the Poor, in San Francisco, December 2004, which drew 1200 participants from 70 countries, and defined the nascent field of “base of the pyramid” (BOP) studies. He was instrumental in establishing www.nextbillion.net, the leading blog focusing on issues of business engagement with low-income populations, where he was a frequent contributor.

In his 30 years in the private sector, Mr. Kramer built numerous businesses in bookselling, book distribution, and publishing. He invented the modern bookstore/café, opening Kramerbooks & Afterwords in Washington in 1976, laying the foundation for the still-dominant business model in the industry. He also established the firm which became Daedalus Books, a leading purveyor of high-quality sale books and remainders.

Bill is a principal author of The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid, the first data-based study of business engagement with the poor, published in 2007 by WRI and the International Finance Corporation.

He is the author of numerous articles for popular and academic audiences, including recent articles for the MIT journal, Innovations, Vodafone’s Corporate Responsibility Dialogues, and the Kennedy School of Government. He has delivered lectures to many corporate and association meetings, and given lectures at leading business schools around the world.

Articles by William Kramer

  • William Kramer

    Live from Edinburgh 2

    The conference “Raising Living Standards in Africa: A Role for the G8” began this afternoon in Edinburgh.? The former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, opened the event.? Mozambique is considered among the ’success stories’ of the effectiveness of aid in recent days.?...

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  • William Kramer

    Report from the G8 Edinburgh

    Having been in the UK for the past couple of days, and not reading the American press, I don’t know how it is reporting on the events leading up to the G8 meeting scheduled to start July 6 a few miles from here, but I can tell you that it’s big news here.? A peaceful march of more than 250,000...

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  • William Kramer

    It’s expensive to be poor — but remittance costs are coming down

    I’ve been attending a conference -- the International Forum on Remittances -- sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank here in Washington for the past several days. The IADB has been very active in analyzing remittance flows, and just put up a new website on the subject at...

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