Morning-ish, depending on where you are :)
I recently signed up for the New York Times "morning briefing" and LOVE it. The writing is witty, the news bites short and sweet, and very interesting. I highly suggest it if you're like me and you despise reading newspapers but want to stay informed on the world.
I'm inspired to do a quick round up of my own. These changes are more gradual than breaking news but just as significant. And since Friday is our day off here in Bangladesh, it's a good excuse to catch up on my reading.
What's going on this week:
What's going on this week:
India has more smartphones than the United States does, and sales are climbing. As India signals that its regulation towards mobile money is opening up, this will be the hotbed of innovation on digital payments, apps, e-commerce, and hopefully financial inclusion. With the world's fastest growing mobile money market next door in Bangladesh moving over $50 million in daily transactions, let's hope that lessons learned can find a way across the border (and back).
The US health care system is starting to look more like that in many developing countries--and that's a good thing. The affordable care act disrupted the status quo and changed the business calculus for the established players. Pharmacy-based health delivery has taken off, which is unsurprising to anyone who is familiar with the health care markets in Latin America or South Asia. For a great deal of medical needs, no hospital or physician is required, and costs are far lower for service delivery in simpler settings. But this spells trouble for the Mass Generals of the world, for whom the big dilemma is: "If they persist with their high-cost business model even as their customers discover that cheaper alternatives are good enough, they will be in trouble." Nothing like competition and chaos to spur new innovations! My guess is that consumers will come out the winners.
Research shows: social enterprises usually requiring a functional government, and international scale up is a difficult endeavor. Usually social enterprise is touted as the a solution to a weak state and the inefficiencies of the non-profit sector. Too many aspiring social entrepreneurs describe their "solution" as globally applicable with very little proof beyond a very convincing elevator pitch and some nice financial projections. This article digs deeper into the relationship between the welfare state and social enterprises, and why it's so hard to transfer innovations from one organization or context to another. In conclusion, "What is needed may instead be simply a renewal of the public sector, where reorganisation and more efficiency is the solution. In any case, it is not wise to be bemused by new initiatives and epochal social innovations." Good food for thought as I gear up for our 3rd annual Frugal Innovation Forum on scaling sustainably. Follow the discussions on twitter with #scalefrugal.
Yesterday was BRAC Day. When you employ close to 100,000 people and reach 135 million more, I guess you're entitled to a little self congratulations. We contributed by putting together a pala gaan (folk song) on the BRAC value of innovation and mobile money, complete with a music video (and yes, I'm in it!).
What did I miss? What did you read about this week that is eventually going to rock the world?
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