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

Microfinance Bill Sends Confusing Messages

A move to review and regulate when and how microfinance providers should be allowed to accept savings deposits is picking up speed. In a bid to police the booming sector, finance minister P. Chidambaram introduced a Bill to regulate small micro-credit institutions through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) requiring them to meet more stringent accounting standards. Continue reading ...

Source

Live Mint (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Indian Pyramid

Companies can tap a market of Rs54.25 lakh crore (or Rs54.25 trillion, well above the country?s Gross Domestic Product) in India by catering to the needs of people who earn less than $3,000 (around Rs1,23,000) a year according to a study by World Resources Institute (WRI), a think tank that works on environmental issues, and the International Finance Corporation, the private lending arm of the World Bank. The study, titled The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of...

Source

LiveMint.com (link opens in a new window)

How Developing Nations’ Business Can Influence Established Markets

At a Gartner consulting conference in San Francisco last week, analyst Mark Raskino gave a presentation on technology trends, and one of his main themes was influenced by the The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, by business strategist C.K. Prahalad. The idea of the book is that the developing world presents many more business opportunities than commonly are imagined, including for First World companies. Mr. Raskino explained how work in developing countries can influ...

Source

Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Making a Profit While Helping the Poor

During a recent visit to the U.S. from India, Vikram Akula walked into a downtown restaurant to talk to a group of well-heeled Seattle philanthropists about how they could help end poverty. Confident and articulate, he held a microphone and paced in front of the crowd like a talk-show host. As one of the new mavericks bringing banking to the poor, Akula didn’t mention Mother Teresa, the World Bank or the U.N. His guiding lights are Starbucks, Coke and McDonald’s.

Source

Seattle Times (link opens in a new window)

Bottom of the pyramid market stands at $1.2 trillion

The base of the economic pyramid (BOP) in India representing the masses is an over $1.2-trillion market, making up the biggest chunk of the global $5-trillion BOP market excluding China, says a study by IFC and World Resources Institute (WRI). The term ?bottom of the pyramid? was coined by management guru CK Prahalad to describe the poor and the underserved section of the market. The BOP market in India, about $1.205 trillion, in purchasing power parity terms, makes up 84.8% of the to...

Source

Economic Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Green Business Attracts Rs. 100 Crores Investment From Venture Capitalists

There is a need to get a structured plan in a sustainable ecological mode to attract venture capitalists to India, said Dr. Nachiket Mor, Chairman, New Ventures India Steering Committee and Deputy Managing Director, ICICI Bank at a seminar on Emerging Business Opportunities in India and Venture Capital Finance. Dr. Mor also announced Rs.100 crore investment towards the innovation and development of green businesses in India. The burden of climatic changes ...

Source

New Kerala (link opens in a new window)

Toronto will host a conference May 2-4 of 30 leading North American health biotechnology firms with over 30 counterparts from developing countries - the biggest-ever known assembly of emerging market biotech companies to focus on global health problems. The goals are to: * Foster potential collaborations between the North American and emerging market health biotech industries through company presentations and partnering events; and * Help global health community ...

Source

Medical News Today (link opens in a new window)

Entrepreneurs Can Earn Their Stripes in the Minor Leagues, Too

It became a model for Thomas S. Lyons, a professor of entrepreneurship at Baruch College?s Zicklin School of Business in New York, and Gregg A. Lichtenstein, a business consultant in Margate, N.J., who were searching for ways to develop entrepreneurial talent. ?We kept coming back to baseball?s farm system,? Professor Lyons said. ?It is one of the best talent-generating systems in the world.? The pair had an ambitious goal: to build a system in underserved and overlooked regions of ...

Source

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