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

Bull Market in Social Entrepreneurs

For graduating students at Stanford University, it’s all too clear that the economy’s in the tank. The venture capital industry, with its epicenter just down the road, is stalled. The unemployment rate in Santa Clara County has doubled in the past year, to 10.9%, as employers across techdom eliminate jobs and scale back expansion plans. Career fairs, students say, feature lots of recruiters handing out business cards, but few jobs. A host of seniors who in past years would have ...

Source

Business Week (link opens in a new window)

Legatum Center at MIT awards 2009 seed grants to 8 teams

(Media-Newswire.com) - The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT has awarded summer seed grants to eight teams of students from across the Institute, giving them the necessary means to bolster innovative solutions to development challenges in low-income countries. Of the 20-plus proposals received, the Legatum Center awarded funding for projects in China, Guyana, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Peru and Tanzania. Teams will use the grants to conduct market research, p...

Waste disposal in Colombia: Muck and brass plates

Entrepreneurs, not scavengers FOR more than 20 years Carmen Lasso has scrabbled a living of sorts for herself and her eight children by scavenging at a rubbish dump in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city. Her life has brought the occasional pleasant surprise, such as the silver ring crowned with a tiny light-blue stone that she ...

Source

The Economist (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Environment

Tags

waste

Bottom line for Palestinian entrepreneurs: Reinvent the economy

Ramallah, West Bank - Under pressure from visiting US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, Israeli cabinet ministers mulled easing a siege on the Gaza Strip that was designed to weaken Hamas. Amid US-Israeli disagreement over the Gaza blockade, West Bank settlements, and other issues involved in restarting the peace process, there is one point both sides agree on: The promises to boost the Palestinian economy during the recent round of talks stretching the final ...

Source

The Christian Science Monitor (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

New P&G leader to streamline, seek growth overseas

CINCINNATI (AP) — New Procter & Gamble Co. chief Bob McDonald sees a brighter future for the 172-year-old company through selling more diapers, detergent and shampoo in places like India and Africa. With ambitious plans to double sales and streamline the world’s largest consumer products company, whose sales and earnings growth have slowed during the recession, McDonald is to move from chief operating officer to CEO in three weeks. "We’re going to focus even more...

Source

The Associated Press (link opens in a new window)

It?s an ill wind …

By SARAH MURRAY function floatContent(){var paraNum = "3" paraNum = paraNum - 1;var tb = document.getElementById(’floating-con’);var nl = document.getElementById(’floating-target’);if(tb.getElementsByTagName("div").length> 0){if (nl.getElementsByTagName("p").length>= paraNum){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[paraNum]);}else {if (nl.getElementsByTagName("p").length == 3){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[2]...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

The Infomercial Comes to Life in India’s Remotest Villages

By ERIC BELLMAN BENIPUR VILLAGE, India -- Advertisers in India can’t rely on TV, radio or even newspapers to reach the country’s 700 million rural consumers. So they use Sandeep Sharma. On dirt roads across the subcontinent, the former wedding singer cracks jokes, gives demonstrations and stages game shows to spread global consumerism, one village at a time. He is one of thousands of traveling performers who bring the world’s biggest brands to audiences of a hand...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

World’s 3.7 billion limited-income earners represent rapidly-growing consumer market

Private-sector leaders in the world’s emerging markets have compelling opportunities to invest in businesses that improve life for large swaths of the population, said Hisham El-Khazindar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Citadel Capital, the Middle East and North Africa’s leading private equity firm . El Khazindar was addressing high profile Arab businessmen and decision makers at a Harvard University Arab Alumni Association panel that discussed subjects relat...

Source

Eye of Dubai (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East