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Roadblocks to Financial Inclusion
When I recently attended The Second Annual Conference on Public Policy and Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, I had not imagined that it will be difficult to summarize it in a blog post. Discussed at the conference - current thinking on the proposed National Rural...
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Subsidies at the BOP?
Cheikh Mbengue, an expert from Abt Associates on community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes in Africa, said something that perked my ears last Wednesday at a USAID After Hours Seminar on microinsurance. He said that he thinks CBHIs can’t function effectively without subsidies. No one...
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Hard vs. Soft: Defining Critical Skills at the BoP
When I?ve asked those who are active at the BoP what skills are needed in the space, the answer I receive is deceptively simple: ?everything.? Perhaps this is because, as long time BoP entrepreneur Patrick Donohue explained, BoP is really about the ?creation of markets.? After...
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Jane Nelson on Business’ Role in Development
Jane Nelson, who wears many hats (IBLF, Kennedy School, Brookings), spoke yesterday at a meeting of the Global Poverty Roundtable at the GlobalWorks Foundation here in Washington. Jane offered a wide-ranging, yet concise summary of all of the ways business can engage in development. Jane said ...
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Next Billion Customers? Intel’s Already a World Ahead
Last week, I sat in a conference room full of DC development-types over lunch, listening to a presentation sponsored by the Society for International Development.? It was standard stuff - the woman next to me was reading the New York Times as folks shuffled in, and I spotted a few people I...
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The Spark Group: Igniting Possibilities
I came across, by chance, what promises to be a very interesting venture.A group of Indian youngsters are launching a social venture called The Spark Group. They have been educated at Ivy League universities such as MIT Sloan and Yale. Ayan Sarkar and Priya Naik - two of the founders - have...
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How Will eBay Affect Peer to Peer Lending?
Microcapital reports (via Auctionbytes) that eBay has moved into the peer-to-peer lending space with the purchase of MicroPlace.? This is significant because eBay is far from the first to enter this space - which is currently dominated by Kiva, Zopa, and Prosper. How will a big company like...
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Women at the BOP
In my old age I?ve come to understand that points of ideological contention can be very eye-opening. My friend Akwasi and I considered each other relatively liberal, like-minded urbanites until we had the ?gender role? conversation. Yes, that one ?the quintessential Mars/Venus debate....
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