NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Deadline for NCIIA’s Sustainable Vision Grants Program is Oct. 15

There’s still time to submit entries to the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance . The deadline is October 15, 2010 These grants of up to $50,000 support university faculty and students who are developing breakthrough technologies created and commercialized for people living in poverty. The NCIIA is looking for technology innovations that address basic human needs such ...

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National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (link opens in a new window)

SKS Book Says Founder Once Considered Bankruptcy

While, Vikram Akula, founder and chairman of SKS Microfinance, may be worth millions today, not too long ago he almost declared personal bankruptcy. The man that built India’s largest micro-loan empire was struggling with a $45,000 mountain in credit-card debt in 2004, more than his annual salary at the time. The unexpected expenses of launching the company as well as the cost of a drawn out divorce in the U.S. had left him with more debt t...

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The Wall Street Journal India (link opens in a new window)

Want to Help Developing Countries? Sell Them Good Stuff ? Cheap

The Tata Group, India’s version of Acme and maker of the supercheap Nano automobile, recently introduced a $22 water purifier that works without electricity or running water. (Every few months it needs a new $6 filter.) A big-hearted, philanthropic, and important effort? You bet—cue the somber stats about preventable waterborne diseases. But check out the size of the market for a product like that: Some 900 million people worldwide lack access to clean water, 200 mil...

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Wired Magazine (link opens in a new window)

How Wireless Technology Will Change Global Health

There is a slick new television commercial advertising Apple’s iPad. It includes a cool medical application that can be used for medical imaging. The advertisement shows a trend in medicine: in the last two years there has been an explosion of growth in wireless medicine, which includes digestible smart pills, networked implantable devices, and smart phone applications. The United States is an innovator in this technology, which has the capability to connect patients and healthcare provid...

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Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

A Maverick Academic with a Hands-On Approach

Reuben Abraham was never really meant to be a business school professor. The maverick academic, whose lofty intellectual nature is grounded by a hands-on business approach, could have easily become India’s first Richard Branson. Instead he opted for a different route, one that has given him the chance to shape the country’s future in a more radical and entrenched manner. Born in the communist-ruled Kerala, Abraham’s love for business is borne out of a deep scepticism of the ...

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Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Silent and Deadly

AFTER vaccines and bed nets, could the humble cooking stove be the next big idea to save millions of lives in poor countries? Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, hopes so. She was marking the launch on September 21st of a new alliance that aims to raise $250m to supply clean stoves to 100m poor households by 2020. It is headed by the United Nations Foundation, a charity. Among its backers are governments (chiefly America, which has put up an initial $50m), charities (the Shell ...

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The Economist (link opens in a new window)

Making the Grade – Microfinance for Education

Funding poor students could be the next big thing in microfinance. "LENDING to get a student through college is a far better way to fight poverty than making small-business loans," says Ganhuyag Ch. Hutagt, until recently boss of XacBank, a Mongolian microfinance lender. Graduates are more likely to take jobs that lift them into a far higher income bracket-which is why, five years ago, XacBank started offering higher-education loans, typically between $700 and $900, to ...

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The Economist (link opens in a new window)

84% of Villagers Unaware of Internet, Says Report

NEW DELHI: A seven-state survey that tracked rural internet awareness shows that about 84% were ignorant of the medium’s existence. Of those who make use of the net, 85% access emails, 67% watch video and listen to music and 48% conduct educational research. Interestingly about 13% utilize the internet to know about latest farming techniques and 8% to find about fertilizers. ...

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Times of India (link opens in a new window)