Posted on October 16, 2009 by Raj Melville
Jhonatan Rotberg, was sent to MIT by Telmex, one of Latin America’s largest telcos, and teaches NextLab where he tries to bring cellular technology to the other 90 percent of the world. One of the labs startups, CelEdu, offers cellphone-based games and quizzes to teach basic literacy skills in India. Ranjani Saigal from the TIE Social Entrepreneurs Group helped connect CelEdu students to Tara Aakshar. Read the entire article at http://blog.ambientengines.com
Filed under: BOP, Information Technology, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, international development, mobile technology, social Innovation | Tagged: BOP, Education, Information Technology, Jhonatan Rotberg, MIT, mobile technology, NextLab, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Telmex | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 13, 2009 by Raj Melville
Our annual conference on Social Entrepreneurship – ForSE 2009: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs will be held on Friday October 23. This time we are working together with Babson College’s Net Impact Undergrad organization to host it at Olin Hall on Babson College’s lovely Wellesley campus.
Filed under: Conference, Investment, Micro-enterprises, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, creative capitalism, micro-finance, microfinance, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Social Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, microfinance, Conference, micro-finance, Boston, sustainable development, ecosystem, Social Business, sustainability, Social Investment, venture philanthropy, MIT, social entrepreneurship, non-profit, Sustainable ventures, Accion, universalgiving, Babson college | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 11, 2008 by Raj Melville
I came across this article that summarizes Amy Smith’s philosophy of design for low cost solutions.
Here are her 7 key points. You can read the entire article on Popular Mechanics.
Filed under: BOP, Education, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, international development, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Amy Smith, BOP, Education, innovation, international development, invention, Low Cost Design, MIT, Poverty, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainable development | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 8, 2008 by Raj Melville
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the final presentation of the International Development Design Summit at MIT – the brainchild of Amy Smith, MacArthur Fellow and lecturer in MIT’s Mechanical Engineering department. This, now yearly, event brought together nearly 60 students from 20 countries around the world to work together with a team of mentors and staff to tackle a number of design problems facing NGOs and non-profits in developing countries.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, BOP, Education, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, international development, sustainable development | Tagged: Agricultural Development, Amy Smith, BOP, design, engineering design, IDDS, innovation, international development, invention, MacArthur Fellow, mechanical engineering, MIT, Rural Development, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainable development | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 8, 2008 by Raj Melville
Tapan provided a refreshingly different viewpoint that emphasized the needs of the end user in developing countries. By harnessing technology to make things simpler, Tapan has provided platforms that make the daily grind of field workers in rural parts of the world a lot easier. For his innovative and inspiring work, Tapan was identified as one of the 35 Innovators under age 35 by MIT’s Technology Review magazine and named Technology Review’s Humanitarian of the Year for 2007.
Filed under: BOP, Information Technology, Poverty, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, international development, micro-finance, mobile technology, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Berkeley, CAM, cell phone, ekgaon, Guatemala, human-computer interaction, humanitarian, India, Information Technology, microfinance, MIT, mobile technology, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Tapan Parikh, Technology Review, University of California | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 6, 2008 by Raj Melville
The MIT-spawned OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project has finally penetrated India with a tie up with the mega-corporation Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG). After several failed attempts Negroponte, the godfather of the OLPC, has realized the way to get around India is thru the Ambanis.
Filed under: Education, Information Technology, Politics, Rural Education, Schools, Social Ecosystem | Tagged: Education, Rural Education, India, internet, MIT, Information Technology, OLPC, Negroponte, Reliance, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Businessweek, Laptop, social entrepreneurship, computers, classroom, Digital Bridge Foundation, XO, Schools, Teachers | 5 Comments »
Posted on July 27, 2008 by Raj Melville
Follow up to my post on “Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”. The Boston Globe published an interesting interview with Prof. Yunus while he was in Boston to speak at the MIT commencement. I have excerpted one of the questions below.
Filed under: Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: capitalism, grameen, microcredit, MIT, Nobel Prize, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability, sustainable development, womens issues, yunus | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 12, 2008 by Raj Melville
A couple of years ago, I met with Amir Hasson Alexander, an enterprising young man from MIT with a vision of bringing internet connectivity to the 2 Billion underserved in the farthest regions of the world. Using buses equipped with WiFi. Amir’s company provides web content to computers with no internet connection.
Filed under: BOP, Information Technology, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, international development, social Innovation | Tagged: Cambodia, connectivity, India, internet, internet kiosks, last mile, MIT, social Innovation, wireless | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 11, 2008 by Raj Melville
Earlier this year, Nobel laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus was the invited guest speaker at MIT’s 142nd commencement. In his prepared remarks to the students he outlined how he started microcredit thirty plus years ago. Today Grameen Bank, has grown to cover 7.5 million borrowers in Bangladesh, 97 percent of them women. From this beginning it has expanded to provide services and products in a number of areas. Drawing from his successes with these businesses, Prof. Yunus has refined an overarching social business philosophy that he recently published in his latest book “Creating a World Without Poverty – Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”.
Filed under: Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: capitalism, grameen, microfinance, MIT, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability, sustainable development, yunus | 2 Comments »
