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Innovations: From Base to Top, A Must-Read
From the Base (of the Pyramid) to the Top (of the Ivory Tower)Rarely do I get excited about academic journals. They conjure up memories of researching my undergrad political economy thesis (on political conditionality and microfinance). So when the inaugural issue of Innovations crossed my...
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A Mouseclick a Day
John Paul and Julia have both posted information about efficient and low-cost modes of healthcare delivery, such as microfranchising and low-cost BOP products. Microfranchising has built-in incentives to keep costs low and services accountable, making it ideal for delivering service to rural...
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Water Wars
1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and more than 2 million children die from dirty water and unhygienic sanitation each year. This was the bleak picture painted this week in Mexico City during the 4th World Water Forum. But is privatization the answer? The...
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BOP competitions teaser
Are you aware of all the social entrepreurship-related competitions and awards out there? You’ve probably heard something about contests by Ashoka, BiD Challenge, and the World Bank’s Development Marketplace, but there are lesser known ones as well.I’ve been compiling the information on about...
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Bretton Woods Symposium with C.K. Prahalad and BOP practitioners
Last week, John, Cory, and I went to a symposium on the BOP hosted by the Bretton Woods Committee. The symposium was paneled by four individuals from academia, an MNC, a technical assistance non-profit, and a small social for-profit corporation. Kai Schmidtz, EVP and COO of MicroFinance...
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Financial Services for the BOP? The Ring Tone Tolls for Thee
Recent news stories in the New York Times, Red Herring, the Economist, and others note new features that allow cellular phones to serve as mobile wallets. While no article has said so explicitly, the potential application to BOP markets is huge. Cell phones are cheaper, hardier, and more...
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Designing for the BOP
As readers of this page are now well familiar, companies worldwide are rapidly becoming aware of and pursuing markets at the base of the pyramid (BOP). I’m often dismayed, however, by how many of these efforts are essentially just scaled-down or lower-cost versions of existing products or...
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The Impact of Low-cost Handsets
A number of articles appeared this week that trumpeted both the success and growth of mobile telephony in emerging economies. The first gives an update from the Emerging Market Handset Programme (EMHP), highlighting GSMA’s six month extension of its endorsement of Motorola as the program’s...
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