NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Innovative Marketing for the Relatively Poor

At a time when ?inclusive growth? is taking centrestage in India, a report by the World Resources Institute and International Finance Corporation provides some food for thought. The report, ?The Next 4 Billion?, focusses on developing a market strategy for the millions of people living in relative poverty; what it calls ?base of the pyramid? (BOP). It defines BOP as people with incomes below $3,000 in local purchasing power. The report says that together as a group, the BOP has substa...

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Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

MBA Students Find a Divine Perspective on Global Poverty

God and Mammon are not generally seen in each other’s company, let alone in a business school classroom. But as more MBA students become interested in the potential for the private sector to foster growth in some of the poorest parts of the world, one student-led initiative has led to a most unusual alliance ? a partnership between Vanderbilt University’s business school students and its divinity students. The unorthodox partnership ? the Project Pyramid Global Poverty Allevia...

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Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Profit for the Poorest

In advance of last week’s G-8 Summit, President Bush announced a new initiative to promote private sector development in Africa. While overshadowed by the news of economic sanctions against Sudan and the climate change debate, the Africa Financial Sector Initiative (AFSI) is a step forward in the administration?s foreign aid policy. By providing much-needed technical assistance and creating private equity funds for underserved markets, the U.S. has made an intelligent choice in its fight aga...

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AMERICAN.COM (link opens in a new window)

Gana-Gana con los Pobres (Win-Win with the BOP)

Los mercados de bajos ingresos pueden ser la puerta del crecimiento. Para tener ?xito, hace falta desarrollar una relaci?n de respeto y de largo plazo con el consumidor. Lecciones de empresas que lo est?n logrando. Pensaba que nunca iba a tener un piso decente. En 19 a?os que llevo viviendo aqu?, jam?s hab?a visto una baldosa, dice Mar?a Agat?n, al explicar c?mo cambi? el piso de cemento de su sala por baldosas de cer?mica. Y de la fina, se?ala con orgullo. Le ...

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Dinero (link opens in a new window)

Not Another Cure-All Pill for Poverty

The cover story of this summer?s Stanford Social Innovation Review hits like a bombshell: ? Microcredit Misses Its Mark .? For the development-savvy, pro-market reader, the claim seems out of line. In the long, spotty history of development aid, isn?t mi...

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AMERICAN.COM (link opens in a new window)

Just What Overcrowded, Polluted India Didn’t Need – The $3000 Car

Anyone wishing to escape the human crush of India’s teeming capital to visit the marble splendour of the Taj Mahal can travel by train in just two painless hours. Alternatively, they can struggle to negotiate the crowded single-lane road that heads south to the city of Agra in a journey that can take up five hours. But if India’s roads seem cluttered and inadequate, things are set to get much worse. Over the coming months, a series of car manufacturers are set to unveil new mo...

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The Independent (link opens in a new window)

Big Boom Coming Soon in India’s Small Car Segment

Even as competition has built up to unprecedented levels in the car market, one segment has remained untouched - that of entry-level small cars. But that’s all set to change from next year, with a slew of cars priced around Rs 1 lakh revving to get off the blocks. Urban planners might be appalled at what this could mean for traffic congestion and parking, but companies - and consumers - are raring to go. The first launch will be that of Tata Motors’ much-talked-about Rs 1 la...

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The Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

The Future of Tech is in the Developing World

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- It can’t be said too often, because so few people even still understand its gravity: The adoption of technology in the developing world is tech’s biggest trend. A new report by Forrester Research predicts there will be 2.25 billion PCs in the world by 2015, up from 755 million today. The vast majority of that growth will come in places like China, India, Brazil and Eastern Europe. This growth has implications for everyone developing technology, whether ch...

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CNN Money (link opens in a new window)