Early on at the Sankalp Forum 2011 one of the 600-odd attendees told me that the event’s buzzword would likely be “ecosystem”. It turned out to be a  pretty apt observation. From the crowded hallways to the beanbags in the networking lounge, ecosystem creation was certainly on people’s minds.

The event kicked off with Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Innovation Council, video-conferencing in from Chicago and continued to include panels about scale, impact investing, government and each of the five Sankalp sectors: education; technology for development; health, water and sanitation; clean energy and agriculture, food and rural business. » Continue reading “Sankalp Forum: Building the Socent Ecosystem”

This story originally appeared in our April 21, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Pre-paid mobile phone services are reaching markets that other technologies have not yet been able to penetrate. How can this model be leveraged in other areas of development?

For those at the bottom of the pyramid, income is not a certain entity. No fixed amount is deposited into their bank accounts – should those even exist – at the end of the month. Their income is changing—from month to month, week to week, even day to day.

Which begs the question: if a borrower’s cash flow is so uncertain, why do so many companies attempting to serve that demographic insist on fixed repayment amounts?

At least one technology, invented in the 1990s, attempted to work around that problem: pre-paid mobile services that allowed people with variable incomes and/or poor credit to use cell phones. Such consumers made an upfront payment of only as much as they could afford in return for wireless services. » Continue reading “Top Up the World”

This story originally appeared in our April 21, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Mobile money has been heralded as one way to leapfrog traditional banking for those at the bottom of the pyramid. We look at five countries that have wholeheartedly embraced the technology.

1. Kenya

Not only does Vodafone’s Safaricom serve more than 12 million through its M-PESA system, Kenya is also home to three other mobile money providers. Organizations are utilizing this technology to help women plan for pregnancy expenses and help farmers secure crop insurance. At the end of 2010, US$400 million—29% of the country’s GDP—was travelling through the M-PESA system each month. According to the Mobile Money Exchange website, while only 10% of the country could access finance, nearly 60% had access to a cell phone. » Continue reading “Where Mobile Money Matters”