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

A Social Solution, Without Going the Nonprofit Route

It used to be that people who wanted to solve a social problem - like lack of access to clean water or inadequate housing for the poor - created a charity. Today, many start a company instead. D.light, a company cofounded by Sam Goldman, who spent four years in the Peace Corps in Benin before earning a master’s degree in ...

Source

The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Root Capital Director Explains His Company?s Lending Role

Financing typically comes in two sizes for businesses: very large or very small. Large-scale financing caters to the needs of large businesses, while small-scale financing answers the needs of tiny enterprises. In a manner reminiscent of Goldilocks’ perfect fit, Root Capital - a nonprofit social investment fund based in Cambridge, Mass. - aims to provide much-needed capital to help such medium-sized businesses grow. Last night, students and faculty alike gathered in the Plant Scienc...

Source

The Cornell Daily Sun (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Forgotten Victims of the Global Downturn in the Developing World

At a recent private brainstorming session at United Nations headquarters in New York, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general, heard a uniformly grim assessment of the devastating impact the global financial crisis will have on the developing world. What began as an economic crisis was in danger of turning into a social, humanitarian, political and security meltdown that could spin out of control in the most vulnerable regions, his experts told him. The message they want him to take to...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Aravind Eye Care System among the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies

In a 33-year quest to end blindness in India, Aravind has developed everything from cheaper intraocular lenses to a 20-minute cataract surgery that allows high volume at lower cost. ...

Source

Fast Company Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

How Innovations from Developing Nations Trickle-Up to the West

By Michael Fitzgerald A funny thing has happened on the way to globalization: Innovation now trickles up from emerging to advanced economies. And it may be the way of the future. We know how innovation works. We get iPhones; those less fortunate overseas get whatever we dropped in the recycling bin on our way out of the Apple Store. We get Gore-Tex; they get 2007 New England Patriots 19-0 T-shirts. We get the Wii; they play rock-...

Source

Fast Company Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Not Just for Profit

When Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2006, one endeavor lifted into the limelight was Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. This was a pathbreaking collaborative en­terprise, launched that year as a 50–50 joint venture between Groupe Danone — the US$16 billion multinational yogurt maker — and the Grameen companies Yunus had cofounded. Yunus called the joint venture a “social business,” which he said could be a pioneering mode...

Source

strategy+business (link opens in a new window)

A Bright Idea that Helped India’s Poor

Harish Hande’s first installation of solar-powered lights in a rural Indian home was a stealth operation. The founder of Selco India, then a 26-year-old engineer, believed passionately that millions of Indians living in darkness at night could have their lives transformed by solar technology. But he needed a customer who could afford to pay the high up-front costs of solar lights and testify to their merits. In September 1994 Mr Hande asked a wealthy betel nut farmer in the southern...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Fighting Poverty – One Yoghurt at a Time

The west’s beleaguered banking system could learn a thing or two from an illiterate Bangladeshi villager called Sobi Rani. She is a Grameen Lady, one of the thousands of grassroots activists who are the bedrock of the Grameen phenomenon, which, with nearly 30 businesses, is probably the largest financially viable social enterprise in the world. The cornerstone is the Grameen Bank, founded 33 years ago by Muhammad Yunus, superstar social entrepreneur and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The ...

Source

The Guardian (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia