NextBillion - A WDI Publication

On the Poverty Line

From The Economist Print Edition Has a dollar a day had its day? In December 2007 the World Bank unveiled the results of the biggest exercise in window shopping in history. Scouts in 146 countries scoured stalls, supermarkets and mail-order catalogues, recording the price of more than 1,000 items, from 500-gram packets of durum spaghetti to low-heeled ladies’ shoes. This vast enterprise enabled the bank to compare the...

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The Economist (link opens in a new window)

Reliance in fresh approach to MTN

India’s Reliance Communications has made a fresh approach to acquire MTN, reviving its earlier interest in joining up with the South African mobile carrier to create an emerging markets telecommunications giant. News of the move follows the sudden collapse at the weekend of talks between MTN and Bharti Airtel, India’s biggest cellular operator by subscriber numbers and Reliance’s arch-rival. The talks with Bharti broke down amid differences over how to structure a proposed...

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Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

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Asia Pacific

Reliance takes over wooing elusive target MTN

For India’s Reliance Communications, the breakdown of talks between its arch-rival Bharti Airtel and MTN must be a relief. A combination of Bharti, India’s number one mobile operator by subscribers, and South Africa’s MTN would have created a formidable competitor with 130m subscribers across 22 fast-growing markets in south Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Now, as Reliance pursues its own deal with the South African operator, Bharti’s experiences may ho...

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Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

An old enemy rears its head

Even as America’s economy teeters on the brink of recession and many European economies are slowing, central bankers in rich countries fear rising inflation. Yet the risks they face are smaller than those in emerging economies, where inflation has risen far more over the past year to its highest for nine years. There are also an alarming number of similarities between developing economies today and developed economies in the early 1970s, when the Great Inflation took off. Are the young upsta...

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The Economist (link opens in a new window)

India?s Mobile Revolution

The last decade has seen a dramatic growth in the communication sector in India. Until the 1980s, a telephone was considered a luxury. There was a waiting list of 20 million. Thanks to the liberalization in government policy and the entry of private players, the situation has changed beyond recognition. Few wish to have a landline today. India represents one of the fastest growing economies in terms of mobile communication penetration with millions of new users being added every month. What m...

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Harvard Business Blog (link opens in a new window)

’Doing Good and Doing Well Go Together’

CK Prahalad , professor of corporate strategy at the University of Michigan and author of books on innovative business models that can help end world poverty, talks about corporate social responsibility in an interview with Sreelatha Menon More companies are trying to do CSR by changing their business strategy. But wouldn’t businesses always be driven by the desire to profit? And wouldn’t this often lead to communities getting shortchanged?

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Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

S.E.VEN Fund Announces Cin?ma Prosp?rit? Contest

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(MARKET WIRE)--May 20, 2008 -- The Social Equity Venture Fund -- S.E.VEN -- ( www.sevenfund.org ) today announced a first of its kind film competition, Cin?ma Prosp?rit?, which invites filmmakers to submit short films highlighting entrepreneurs. The $35,000 in prizes will be split amongst the top three filmmakers and the entrepreneurs they profile. The competition will remain open until September 15, with the winning videos being selected in e...

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Yahoo! Finance (link opens in a new window)

Intel and Grameen: Bringing Technology to Rural, Impoverished Communities Through Social Business

By Craig Barrett Traveling the world it is not uncommon to see poverty and people living in conditions that are almost unimaginable. It is especially striking when you see young people with seemingly no hope to get an education that might allow them to rise above the barriers that poverty imposes. Our World Ahead program has been focusing on the issue of how technology might help the poor attain a better education and improved health care. To date the effort has met...

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CSR@Intel (link opens in a new window)