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Want to Serve the World’s Poorest Citizens? Take Your Company Public in India
For the last 15 years or so, there has been lots of hype about “business models” that will alleviate global poverty while turning a profit. It was a premise derived from the success of the microfinance industry in providing credit to some of the poorest people in the world, who, contrary to conventional wisdom, had a higher repayment rate than the typical borrower. As the late Dr. CK Prahalad hypothesized in his landmark book, “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid”, there are several strategies that organizations fighting global poverty need to master – and that those capabilities are in abundance in the private sector. They are better at marketing. They are better at R&D and understanding price points. And they are good at partnerships when it serves their purposes. The public and non-profit sectors, alternatively, are generally not very good at any of these things.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Trending: Blending, The Fad for Mixing Public, Charitable and Private Money
MEETING the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals will require additional investments of $2.5 trillion a year in things like health care and education for the world’s poorest people, according to UNCTAD, a UN agency. A further $13.5 trillion is needed by 2030 to implement the Paris climate accord, according to the International Energy Agency, a watchdog group. It is enough to drive development types to drink—which may be how they came up with the term “blended finance”, a heady cocktail of public, private and charitable money.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Weekly Roundup: The (Possible) Impact of President Trump or Sanders on Emerging Economies
We avoid politics on NextBillion, but in ways that truly matter to our readers, this U.S. presidential campaign has invaded our territory. Many observers in recent weeks are taking a hard look at what a Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders presidency would mean for emerging economies. In this post, we examine some of the possible repercussions of two key policies advocated by the candidates.
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- Uncategorized
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Financial Products are Available – Why Aren’t the Poor Using Them?: IPA is seeking research partners to help answer that question
Take-up of mobile financial products remains low, and usage rates are often disappointing. That's why Innovations for Poverty Action is facilitating research to test solutions to this problem. We're republishing this post, which originally ran last July, since IPA is re-opening its fund for research proposals. The new deadline for Expressions of Interest applications is April 29, 2016.
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- Education
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What Africa Will Look Like in 100 Years
As Africa's population looks set to quadruple over the twenty-first century, The Telegraph digs into the data to reveal the opportunities - and challenges - facing a fast-changing continent
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Graduating Out of Extreme Poverty in Haiti … Permanently
Six years ago, microlending firm Fonkoze launched Chemin Lavi Mio, or the "pathway to a better life," pilot program. CLM is designed to move women and their families out of extreme poverty – permanently. It provides support over the course of 18 months through a carefully tailored package of asset transfers, improved housing and sanitation, water filters and, importantly, weekly visits that provide mentoring and guidance. Anton Simanowitz returns to Haiti to check on the poverty "graduation" effort as it looks to scale.
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- Impact Assessment
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John Hoffmire: The Importance of Environmental Practices in Poverty Alleviation
Alleviating poverty is a worthy endeavor pursued by many organizations. However, studies show that in some cases there are unintended negative impacts upon the environment. The goal to alleviate poverty without environmental damage can be challenging.
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- Environment
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Impact Investing’s New Theme: Themes
Bill and Melinda Gates have long worked to reduce disease and poverty. For Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, education ranks as a top cause. And Michael Bloomberg is battling climate change and gun fatalities. Of course, plenty of room for overlap exists, but you get the point: Not all philanthropists care about the same things.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
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