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Weekly Roundup – 10/26/13: Guiding the “invisible hand” of the Base of the Pyramid market
Sometimes the invisible hand of the market needs, well, a helping hand. Consider the cases of Honey Care Africa, General Electric, and Coca Cola as they attempt establish new markets at the BoP. Each mini-case was reflected by company representatives during this week’s BoP Summit.
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- Agriculture
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We Have Seen the Future, and It’s Universal: Single-payer systems being penciled onto BoP health care’s ‘blank slate’
There’s a worldwide movement toward universal health coverage because, as one expert says, “systems that rely on direct, out-of-pocket expenditures lead to inequities. … They just don’t work very well.” Next up is identifying the sources of financing and care.
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- Health Care, Technology
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How Smart Policy Can Promote Financial Inclusion: A Q&A with Alfred Hannig, founder and executive director of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion
It can be hard to even keep up with the innovations that are reshaping global finance. Imagine how hard it is to regulate them. In this Q&A, Alfred Hannig, founder and executive director of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, discusses the challenges of balancing innovation and consumer protection in a shifting financial landscape.
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- Uncategorized
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Free Trials and Payment Plans: Creative financing plans take a bit of risk, but up the reward for clean energy retailers
High prices for renewable prices are in part a result of high transportation costs from the poor road infrastructure and fragmented markets characterized by inefficient and unshared distribution channels. All these factors increase the cost of doing business in the region. What’s needed is creative financing options for consumers and enterprising retailers willing to take on additional risk for additional reward.
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- Energy
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Day 3 at the BoP Summit: The investment community’s 2 cents, the roadmap work begins
Wednesday was the final day of WDI’s “BoP Summit 2013: Creating an Action Agenda for the Next Decade,” but it also was the first step towards advancing business models and funding mechanisms for the base of the pyramid.
These first steps came at the end of the three-day conference as nine working groups began piecing together a roadmap to chart the future course of the base of the pyramid (BoP) domain.- Categories
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Day 2 at the BoP Summit: Urgent, but practical, action
On Day Two, attendees of the BoP Summit took a more functional role – brainstorming solutions to the challenges facing BoP ventures today and starting to map the future path of this vital field that aims to lift people out of poverty.
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- Uncategorized
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User Participation: The Secret to Successful Prototyping
This is the final post in a three-part series from Grameen Foundation that has discussed designing products and services for poor people. In this post, Tanya Rabourn reviews how to involve the user in the prototyping process to ensure a financial product that will truly serve their needs.
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- Education, Technology
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Day 1 at the BoP Summit: Why BoP business practices need to move to 2.0
At the end of day one of the “BoP Summit 2013: Creating an Action Agenda for the Next Decade,” WDI Senior Research Fellow and conference organizer Ted London had a question for the participants: What will our legacy be?
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