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

Mobile companies may make the most money by going downscale

When it comes to sexy mobile phones, the stars of the moment are multimedia wonders such as the new RAZR V3x handset from Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp.’s top-of-the-line N-90 camera phone with Carl Zeiss optics. Yet for all the attention they grab, these pricey gizmos are a sliver of the 800 million unit-per-year mobile-phone business. Increasingly, the real action is at the unglamorous end of the scale, among bare-bones Nokia and Motorola models priced under $50. Sales of such phones, whic...

Source

BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

Getting connected in Rural India

The tech market in Bangalore may be racing ahead, but it is a very different story for India’s 700 million farmers. Spencer Kelly has been to Northern India to see how plans to bring technology to rural areas are working. A tranquil, green landscape, a people who live off the land, and village life built around ancient customs and traditions - this is most of India. In a village meeting, known as a choupal, the adults of Sabalpur are given the weekly news and discuss the pre...

Source

BBC Click Online (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

London’s Class Examines BoP Strategies

Ted London, who leads WDI?s Base of the Pyramid (BoP) research initiative, will begin teaching an MBA class on this exciting business phenomenon beginning on Nov. 1. London?s twice-weekly, 90-minute class, BA612 ? Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid, will integrate concepts of strategy, international business and sustainable enterprise to stimulate the leadership skills and competitive imagination needed to design strategies for the base of the pyramid. Throu...

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WDI News (link opens in a new window)

Innovative Project Bridges Digital & Housing Divide

A dream of bridging the digital divide is coming true in the countryside outside Mexico City. A municipality called Tecamac in the state of Mexico witnessed birth of Real del Sol, a development of 1,800 small but attractive homes surrounded by palm trees, quiet streets and a connection to the world. Surprisingly it is a pilot project in Mexican low-income housing. Even more surprising, perhaps, is that each hom...

Source

Government Technology (link opens in a new window)

Industry stalwarts discuss the enormous potential of the ’Bottom of the Pyramid’ concept in the Indi

Ensemble 2005, the annual festival of XLRI, would be held at Jamshedpur on November 12 and 13 in a format that would be different from the general B-school Festival format in the sense that it would have events for students, corporates, and B-school aspirants. The games and case studies would be taken as usual from real life incidents and problems faced by sponsors of the event, a release issued by XLRI said. Industry stalwarts would discuss the enormous potential of the ’Bottom o...

Source

Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

The social enterprise business model is a proven means of developing people-centred activities that

Nowadays, it is not enough for a business merely to make money. Companies also have to demonstrate that they care about the society and environment in which they operate. This notion has caught on to such an extent that the concept it helped to create Corporate Social Responsibility has itself become a big business. But, while this is largely an additional activity indulged in by large companies, a new type of small business is springing up. Social enterprise...

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The Independent (link opens in a new window)

The Bank of Nova Scotia has been running a quiet little experiment in banking for the past three years in some of Jamaica’s poorest communities that it says might one day yield results across all its far-flung international operations. The bank has ventured into the field of microfinance, traditionally the realm of advocacy groups and charities, making small loans to people who otherwise would never be able to borrow from a traditional bank. Loans can be as small as $...

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The Toronto Star (link opens in a new window)

$3B in OFW remittances eludes banks

As much as $3 billion in cash sent home by overseas Filipino workers is still coursed through non-bank channels such as couriers, Governor Amando Tetangco of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank) said Wednesday, citing findings of a government study. Banks are expected to capture $10.3 billion in OFW remittances this year and will likely capture a bigger proportion as the money inflows continue expanding in the years ahead, Tetangco said. As we are...

Source

INQ7 (Philippines) (link opens in a new window)