NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Profit is not the only sign of a successful social enterprise.

If you think that a social enterprise is the same as you and your mates getting together a whip-round in the pub, think again. Social enterprises are organisations with all the profit-making enterprise of corporate organisations but whose bottom line has as much to do with social benefit and sustainability. Here’s how to unleash some of that entrepreneurial spirit. 1. Be hard-headed. Social entrepreneurs (SEs)need all the qualities of commercial entrepreneurs. They take risks, gr...

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Times Online (link opens in a new window)

Paint the World Green

What chance is there that the environmental revolution will reach the bottom of the wealth pyramid wherever it may be found, from Chicago to Calcutta, from London to Lahore? Will the future be driven by trickle down, trickle up, or something more akin to what would have happened if the fabled Dutch boy had taken his fabled finger out of the fabled dike? The real problem today Prakash-Mani [from SustainAbility’s Emerging Economies program] stressed, is that i...

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Alternet (link opens in a new window)

High Performance Takes Investment

Changes in social-capital markets needed to boost nonprofit capacity. Allen Grossman (excerpt) Philanthropy’s influence on performance is far from neutral; it actually discourages management from pursuing performance as a primary objective. The conversation must begin with an analysis of how and why the philanthropic capital markets, for the most part, fail to encourage high performance in nonprofit organizations. Ironically, nonprofit executive directors consistently ...

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philanthropy journal (link opens in a new window)

Online Loans Help the World’s Poor

The internet is revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries, be they a farmer in Kenya who wants to invest in new cows or a seamstress in India who wants to open her own shop. Global Giving just enables small-scale grassroots projects to match up with relatively small donors all around the world, who want to help them make a difference, said Mr Whittle. The website is kind of like a combinati...

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BBC News Technology Edition (link opens in a new window)

Base of the Pyramid: Sustainable Business from the Bottom up

Martin Fisher and Upendra Bhatt are two of the most important people you’ve never heard of. And that’s fine by them. They would rather be popular among poor Kenyans and Indians than featured in the Western press. What do they do that’s so important? They are social entrepreneurs: Fisher’s KickStart and Bhatt’s Aavishkaar harness the poor’s ingenuity and entrepreneurship to build profitable businesses serving basic needs; from efficient irrigation and kerosene stoves to I...

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GreenBiz.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

British Firms Launch Regional Computerization Plan for African Schools

(from http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/02/28/167@55882.htm) The Barclays Bank and a British- based computer firm, Digital Link Monday unveiled plans to boost the ongoing New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) electronic learning in secondary schools in East Africa. The new initiative launched in Nairobi, will spearhead the rollout of computer laboratories in school...

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crienglish.com (link opens in a new window)

How mobile telecommunications in the MENA region are creating jobs and improving everyday life

The mobile phone industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs inside and outside the industry, boosting economic growth and fostering social harmony and security, according to a new report released today. MTC, the fastest growing mobile operator in the region, published the results of a first-of-its-kind detailed survey of the industry, ?Mobility for One Language, Diverse Cultures? at the 3GSM World Congress at Barcelona. ...

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Mobile Africa (link opens in a new window)

Macedonia’s Wi-fi Dream

(editor’s note: In 2005, Macedonia was ranked 107th by GDP-per-capita, according to the CIA World Factbook ) ?The Internet is like the sea?it?s the only way for Macedonia to work with the rest of the world,? says Mr. Cemerikic, who envisions a new economy built on information services, software, and Internet-based companies. Landlocked Mace...

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Red Herring (link opens in a new window)