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Financial Inclusion: Banking in the Amazon (With Video)
Autazes, a municipality in Brazil’s Amazon region, did not have a single point of access to banking services until 2002, when an agent set up operations there. Since then, Autazes has experienced significant economic and social changes, as the local population has access to government payments and other banking services for the first time.
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Frugal Innovation: The Case of Zari
Frugal innovation in most developing countries ensures that locally sourced materials/produced goods will be in higher demand, which in some cases open up interesting new business opportunities. One such opportunity is adapting age-old (and extremely low-cost) Indian embroidery techniques for high-tech vision treatments.
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Investing Without Borders: Impact Investing and the New Indicators for FDI
There are many institutional factors that affect foreign direct investment and many are captured in the World Bank’s new Investing Across Borders (IAB) indicators. The IAB indicators cover 87 countries, incorporating survey data from 2,350 lawyers, accountants, consultants and other experts with practical knowledge of FDI deals in their countries.
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NextThought (Tuesday): Meeting Customers in the Middle and Other HBR Insights
This month’s Harvard Business Review ambitiously re-calibrates the dialogue on corporate social responsibility and the true meaning of shared value in rebuilding capitalism?s sullied reputation following the financial crisis. The HBR authors also implore established companies to "take a page from startups" by treating each emerging market as new.
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For Brazil’s ’ItsNoon’ It’s Always Time to Collaborate
ItsNoon, named for the time of day when the sun is shining brightest, was created as a social network between the top and the base of the pyramid to solve social problems and generate income, education and knowledge. It starts with a corporation, university, NGO or government posing a question to BoP users, who are paid a fee for solutions.
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Jeffery Sachs, Video Games and Social Change
Sachs recently discussed rapid economic convergence, or the ability of developing countries to narrow the income gap by absorbing technologies available from developed countries. Some have suggested that video gamers, who simulate life experiences while honing decision-making, could constitute a major untapped resource to assist in that mission.
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Changes in the Behavior of the Brazilian BoP consumer
To understand the current state of the Brazil’s social mobility, companies need to not only understand the differences between the segments that make up the base of the pyramid, but also consider the differences between regions and age groups. After all, 72% of the population in the Northeast region fits into the lower income classes.
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- Base of the Pyramid, data
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Friday Roundup – 1/14/11: Reflecting on Enteprise and Disaster Recovery
Let me try to build an argument starting from two seemingly unrelated ends.The first end is Brazil, which has been prominent on the NextBillion agenda this week, and particularly the unavoidable discussion of economic inequality that follows any conversation about the country.
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