NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Is Aid Working?

It is hard to argue with the lofty ambition to end once and for all the scourge that is global poverty. How the world should go about this, however, is much more vexed. If poor countries do not have sufficient capital, aid advocates argue that there is a moral imperative for rich ones to help. Since 1970 hundreds of billions of dollars in bilateral and multilateral aid has been sent to Africa from the developed world. G20 leaders agreed at last month’s summit London that an extra $50bn ...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Agriculture, Investing

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

The patient capitalist

CHAMPIONS of market forces are a glum lot these days, for the most part. But not Jacqueline Novogratz, a market-minded development expert. The current crisis in capitalism, she believes, strengthens her call for a sweeping change in how the world tackles poverty. “The financial system is broken, yes, but so too is the aid system,” she observes. In her view, “a moment of great innovation” could be at hand. In “The Blue Sweater”, her recently published ...

Source

Economist.com (link opens in a new window)

Emerging markets: Monitor Group study offers lessons

What makes businesses succeed in emerging markets, where the customer profile and demands are quite different from more affluent western markets? Monitor Inclusive Markets, part of the consulting company Monitor Group firms, has released “Emerging Markets, Emerging Models,” a report analyzing the actual behaviors, economics, and business models of successful “market-based solutions”—financially-sustainable enterprises that address challenges of global poverty.

Source

MBA Universe (link opens in a new window)

Is Innovation at a Crossroads?

Over the last few years the traditional thinking about innovation has been turned on its head. We used to assume that innovation was driven by access to the most advanced tools and resources. But the emphasis has shifted more recently to the role that scarcity plays in driving innovation. This change has inspired a newfound belief that innovation will emerge from the bottom up, out of developing markets, as opposed to being exported by rich nations like the U.S. and Japan. ...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Africa?s No.1in No.2

Human excrement is serious business. Three African social entrepreneurs, David Kuria, Joseph Adelegan and Trevor Mulaudzi, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in February to share this revolutionary approach to solving the global sanitation crisis. The entrepreneurs speak from experience; each has established lucrative and groundbreaking businesses related to people “doing their business” — and providing the proper sanitation facilities for it often in crow...

Source

Water & Wastewater International (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Smooth operators

Even those with very little money have a sophisticated approach to finance. Paying interest on your savings will strike most people as odd. Yet some poor people in the developing world do just that. In West Africa, for example, some people pay roving susu collectors a fee amounting to a -40% annual interest rate for looking after their deposits. And the authors of a new book about the financial lives of people who ear...

Source

The Economist (link opens in a new window)

Moving Beyond the Moving Anecdote

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For years, groups working on poverty-fighting ventures have used stories, anecdotes, and milestone markers to highlight their work and secure funding. Unfortunately, these things don’t actually measure the effectiveness of an organization’s effort. Nor do they showcase any unintended consequences, long-term changes, or missed opportunities. But Ross professor Ted London, after several years of field research, has developed a tool that organizations can u...

Source

Michigan Ross School of Business (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

Kenya: SME Private Equity Undeterred by Global Crisis

It is still difficult to assess the full impact of the global financial crisis on Kenya, but concerns that private equity investors would now pull back have not materialized, at least not in the SME sector where several new funds are entering the market. Rachel Keeler takes a look at the latest developments. Kenya’s private equity market has been on a happy growth curve since 2002. New funds here inspired by the success of private equity abroad are now welcoming international mone...

Source

Ratio Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa