NextBillion - A WDI Publication

New Frontiers: Story at the Bottom of the Pyramid

By Anisha Motwani Rural India seems to be the latest flavour in town. From finance ministers to corporate India across industries, everyone seems to be shifting focus to the bottom of the pyramid. All boardroom discussions are getting centred on finding ways and means to grab a share of this lucrative pie. Numbers look seductive with statistics and data giving enough evidence of volume potential... smaller ticket sizes but more buyers...

Source

The Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

UK Government and UN challenge Private Sector to decrease global poverty

London, 6 May 2008?Joining the Business Call to Action, a dozen companies today announced concrete initiatives that apply core business expertise, utilizing their technology and innovative spirit to tackle the multiple challenges of poverty. The announcements were made at the Business Call to Action event, hosted by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Kemal Dervi?, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and with the participation of more than 80 global bus...

Source

UNDP - DFID (link opens in a new window)

Banks Yet to Reach Bottom of Wealth Pyramid

By Preeti R Iyer & Aniruddha Ghosh For all the noise that it has generated, usage of technology to achieve financial inclusion is still far from what is being desired. Lenders such as Citi and GE Money have withdrawn from advancing small-ticket ...

Source

The Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

?It?s Now the Era of Micro-Innovators?

For more than a decade now, Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad, or C. K. Prahalad, has been the best-known management guru from India. Professor of Strategy at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Prahalad shot to fame with his book Competing for the Future, which he co-authored with Gary Hamel. Since then, Prahalad, who studied and taught at IIM Ahmedabad before moving (back) to the US to join the University of Michigan as Assistant Professor, has written four more books, including ...

Source

Business Today (link opens in a new window)

Extending Financial Services to Latin America’s Poor

By Luis Alberto Moreno The president of Inter-American Development Bank argues that achieving greater financial democracy is crucial for achieving greater inclusiveness, improving social cohesion, and generating broad-based growth.? ---- Economic development, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is for people-for citizens. If the benefits of economic growth fail to reach a majority, in the long run there ca...

Source

The McKinsey Quarterly (link opens in a new window)

What Keeps Indian Enterprises from Growing

In the last one week, I have had the privilege of interacting with over 300 entrepreneurs from the small and medium enterprises segment. 70% of them have been in business for at least a decade; 40% have completed two decades. Yet they are still small - in revenues, profits, employees. 15% have global aspirations but do not know how to achieve that goal. Small and medium enterprises account for 80% of Indian businesses (3 million small and medium enterprises and counting...

Source

Harvard Business Blog (link opens in a new window)

Large Companies Take the Lead on Capacity Building for Small and Medium Enterprises

Geneva, 28 April 2008 - Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make up over 95% of private sector firms, making them the backbone of global economic activity. They have a key role to play in poverty alleviation by promoting economic growth that is inclusive and reaches the majority of people. SMEs are also an important source of local supply and service provision for global companies. So how are some of the world’s leading corporations building relationships with SMEs in the developi...

Source

WBCSD (link opens in a new window)

Flannery: Microfinance Just ?One Factor? in Economic Growth

Matt Flannery , cofounder of Kiva.org , a website that partners with microfinance institutions to allow people to loan money to entrepreneurs in the developing world, discusses the microfinance industry and its growing popularity among large financial institutions and the development community. He says the practice of providing financial services to the poor is not necessarily goin...

Source

Council on Foreign Relations (link opens in a new window)