Under $2 Crowd
Kiva’s Addictive Cycle: Invest, Repaid, Reinvest
On July 22, I got an email from Kiva saying, "...your loan to Karimbayli Mammadov
has been fully repaid...."
Who is Karimbayli? He's the 50 year old welder from Azerbaijan that I loaned money to about a year ago (see this post and this post). You can check out his business page on Kiva here.
I'm [...]
d.light is a Bright Solution
d.light design's goal is to make kerosene lanterns extinct as soon as possible. Why do they want to do this? They think they have a lighting solution that provides a safer, brighter and more affordable light to the widely-used kerosene lantern.
You're probably saying to yourself, "But, I don't own a kerosene lantern". You're right. But, [...]
Bosch Power Tools in Rural India
I enjoy reading about companies that are making strong efforts to understand and meet the needs of people in rural, underdeveloped areas of the world.
For the most part, people in rural, underdeveloped areas of the world are shortsightedly ignored by companies and as a result new products and services aren't designed for them. I [...]
Parikrma: 360-Degree Education Model for Poverty Alleviation
Shukla Bose and her team are trying to accomplish big things in India.
They are tackling poverty in India by providing extremely impoverished children top-notch education at no cost. Parikrma accepts slum children into their schools whose parents make less than $30 per month and provides them with an education from age 5 until they [...]
International Banking is Fun
In May 2007, we did a post on "How to Become an International Banker in Four Easy Steps".
We had just made a microloan through Kiva to an Azerbaijan entrepreneur by the name of Karimbayli Mammadov to help expand his budding welding business. You can see Karimbayli's Kiva page here or just view the screen capture [...]
3A Bazaar: Retail Markets on Wheels
Driving through rural India you will run into thousands of village corner shops (or shacks) carrying everything from tea to rice to fruit to basic medicines and ointments.
These rural corner markets are all run by entrepreneurs that live on very small profit margins (as they usually get their stuff via a middleman's middleman or make [...]
Nicaragua Reality Check: iPhone? “No.” Pedal-Powered Call Shop? “Yes.”
Reality checks are healthy. They help you assess the actual situation and proceed with solutions that work in the real world.
I have had my fair share of hyping mobiles phones in Africa, Google Phones in India, and developing countries skipping low-cost laptops and jumping straight to mobile.
The future is bright for low-cost tech in developing [...]
Bill Gates Calls for “Creative Capitalism”
Bill will call for "creative capitalism" at the World Economic Forum in Davos today, WSJ reports.
What is "creative capitalism"?
Bill says that "creative capitalism" uses market forces to address poor-country needs that he feels are being ignored.
Wow. That is right up BUZZYEAH's alley. We fully support "creative capitalism" around these parts.
Bill says, "We have to find [...]
Mike Murtaugh’s Comment on Tata’s Nano
Last week I posted on Tata's new $2500 car called the Nano. It is the cheapest car ever built and Tata is aiming it at the developing nation market.
Near the bottom of the post, I said that I had messaged my friend Mike Murtaugh who is currently working in Delhi to leave a comment on [...]
Tata Nano: $2500 Car For Developing Countries
I usually don't post this frequently but I can't help myself since so many new products are popping up in the news aimed at the lower brackets of the socio-economic spectrum.
This is definitely a space that I'm interested in and as you can see in the left sidebar BUZZYEAH has a whole Socio-Economic category devoted [...]
