NextBillion - A WDI Publication

W/Video: Social Innovation: Corporates Profit From Doing Good

Social innovation is having a dramatic impact on the lives of the poor and under-served-particularly with the use of digital technology. Professor Kamalini Ramdas of London Business School says that innovation in products for the poor is making an impact on their lives in a way that has not been seen before. Prof. Ramdas describes how a mobile device in Bangladesh increases financial inclusion, while in India, a mobile medical service allows people in remote rural areas to attend virtua...

Source

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

The Case for Patient Capital

By Jacqueline Novogratz In 2002, after nearly 10 years of running a nonprofit to help poor farmers in India get the most out of their land, Amitabha Sadangi was frustrated. Government aid to alleviate poverty had largely bypassed individuals earning less than $1 day. Instead it was subsidizing large farms and being inve...

Source

BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

A $25 Solar Lamp for Millions in India

One of the partners, Matthew Scott, led the design and development of a solar-powered lamp when he was a student at the Stanford Business School in 2003. The lamp is based on light-emitting diode (LED) technology, which uses much less electricity than incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes. Scott initially intended for the lamps to be used in commercial buildings or aircraft. Then he read "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" and shifted his approach. The book by C.K. Prahalad des...

Source

The Saudi (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

In ?Food Deserts,? Oases of Nutrition

Poor urban neighborhoods in America are often food deserts - places where it is difficult to find fresh food. There are few grocery stores; people may do all their shopping at bodegas, where the only available produce and meat are canned peaches and Spam. If they want fruits and vegetables and chicken and fish, they have to take a bus to a grocery store. The lack of fresh food creates a vicious cycle; children grow up never seeing it or acquiring a taste for it.&...

Source

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

Region

Asia Pacific

Multinationals Call for Tie-ups Between Private Firms, Charities

Innovative use of communication technology, inclusive marketing and tie-ups between private firms and charities can cut poverty at a speedy rate in rural Bangladesh, top executives of multinationals said Thursday. Some 32 per cent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people live below the poverty line with the rate of poverty halving since 1990, according to the official statistics. Most of these people live in rural areas, small towns and urban slums. But top executive...

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The Financial Express (Bangladesh) (link opens in a new window)

IDB Creates SME Lending Facility

The Inter-American Development Bank has set up a $100 million facility to strengthen lending to small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a May 19 press release, IDB called its SME Financing Facility as the first of its kind. The facility will channel resources through financial institutions in IDB borrowi...

Source

Devex News (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Who Gives A Crap? Sanitation, Energy and Entrepreneurship in Kenya

By Elmira Bayrasli The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a pristine place. Situated alongside Cambridge’s charming Charles River, adorned with manicured lawns, sleek and light buildings designed by I.M. Pei and awesome abstract sculptures b...

Source

Forbes (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

MIF invests $3 MN in Columbian Fondo de Capital Privado Inversor

The Multilateral Investment fund (MIF) is investing $3 million in the Fondo de Capital Privado Inversor, a venture capital (VC) fund investing in companies with scalable business models that cater to the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) population in Colombia. The fund involves support from 10 founding institutions representing people from the social and financial sector,...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America