Innovation and scaling of ICT for the bottom-of-the-pyramid

Scaling represents successful diffusion that ensures sizeable impact and earnings from information and communication technology (ICT) innovations in emerging markets. Practice can still be shaped by dualistic views - innovation vs diffusion, pilot vs scale-up, lead firm vs other actors, technical vs social. Synthesising the literature that challenges these dualities, this paper creates a systemic perspective that is particularly appropriate for scaling of ICT to bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) markets. That perspective is then instantiated through the case study of a successfully-scaled ICT innovation that has reached millions of poor consumers: the Kenyan m-money system, M-Pesa. It finds that scaling of this ICT system can be understood as a four-stage process of exploratory, incremental then aggressive growth, followed by (attempted) standardisation. Throughout these stages of scaling, ongoing adaptive innovations have been fundamental and have been both necessitated and shaped by the BoP context. These innovations have been more socio-technical than technical, and have emerged from a growing variety of actors and locations closer to poor consumers than the lead firm. The lead firm has buffered the unfamiliarity of BoP markets by approaching them through the ‘middle-of-the-pyramid’ and by intensive learning. At times, its planned ‘shifts’ in scaling strategy have triggered adaptive innovations. At other times, emergent innovations and learning lead to incremental ‘drifts’ in lead firm strategy. ICT firms wishing to scale goods and services for BoP markets must therefore recognise the multi-locational, continuous, and emergent nature of innovation, and develop processes to monitor and address those innovations. </jats:p

A MARKET-BASED APPROACH TO 3D PRINTING FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA

The purpose of this report is to create the foundation for further study of a market-based approach to 3D printing as an instrument for economic development in Ghana. The delivery of improved products and services to the most underserved markets is needed to spur economic activity and improve standards of living. The relationship between economic development and the advancement of technology is considered within the context of Ghana. An opportunity for market entry exists within both the bottom of the economic pyramid and the mid-segment market. 3D printing (additive manufacturing) has proven to be a disruptive technology that has demonstrated an ability to expedite the speed of innovations and create products that were previously not possible. An investigation of how 3D printers can be used to create improved products for the most underserved markets within Ghana is presented. Questions are asked to elucidate how and when adoption of 3D printers and 3D printed products may occur in the future. Based upon the existing barriers to adoption, 3D printing technology must improve before widespread adoption will occur in Ghana

Investigating the role of ICT intervention in grassroots innovation using structural equation modelling approach

Research on information communication technologies (ICT) for entrepreneurship development is burgeoning, yet our understanding of the use of ICT in support of grassroots innovation remains unclear. This paper examines the moderating role of the use of ICT on the relationship between grassroots innovation (GRI) and entrepreneurial success (ES). The study involved 400 grassroots entrepreneurs selected from three states in India, and the moderating effect of the use of ICT was analysed using moderated structural equation modelling. The results revealed that the use of ICT partially moderates the relationship between the new learning practices and economic benefits. It also partially moderates the relationship between local solution and economic benefits, but it fully moderates the relationship between networking capabilities and economic benefits, where the relationship is stronger when the use of ICT is high. Furthermore, the study found that the use of ICT does not moderate the relationship between new learning practice and non-economic benefits, relationship between local solution and non-economic benefits and relationship between networking capabilities and non-economic benefits

Impact Investing and Inclusive Business Development in Africa: A research agenda

Impact investing aims to create sustainable social and environmental impacts for investee enterprises and communities as well as adequate financial returns. As an attractive emerging market investment strategy, it involves development finance institutions and philanthropic foundations partnering with mainstream private venture capital to create impact funds with the goal of catalysing inclusive market-based enterprise development in low income countries. In this paper, we present findings from a scoping study discussing the nature and operations of impact funds in African economies and the associated research opportunities on this topic. To facilitate the assessment, we reviewed the existing literature on impact investing, considering this along three interrelated perspectives, namely 1) impact investing as development finance policy for economic development, 2) impact investing as a development in socially responsible investing, and 3) impact investing as capacity-building for inclusive business development in African economies. The interplay of these perspectives shapes the constitution and operational strategies of specific impact funds and provide a conceptual context for understanding impact investing at country level. Drawing on interviews, email exchanges and roundtable discussions with representative global and country-specific (Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Kenya) stakeholders our analysis makes three contributions to the impact investing debate. First we explore a model for understanding the ways in which impact funds are being channeled into inclusive businesses in Africa and the associated catalytic effects on poverty alleviation, social and economic development. Second we identified and tested access to, a range of impact funds and associated sector-specific inclusive businesses for future case writing – hopefully ‘failures’ as well as ‘successes’. Finally, we reflect on some of the unanswered managerial and policy-related questions that require a more rigorous inquiry-led appraisal to better understand and enhance the contribution of impact funds to inclusive business development in Africa

The Role of ICT in Scaling Up the Impact of Social Enterprises

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can help social enterprises and other organizations working on global sustainability issues and in the human development sector in general scale their social impact. The flexibility, dynamism, and ubiquity of ICTs make them powerful tools for improving relationships among organizations and their beneficiaries, multiplying the effects of action against many, if not all, aspects of global unsustainability, including poverty and exclusion. The scaling of social impact occurs in two different dimensions. On one hand, ICTs can increase the value proposition of a program or action (depth scaling) in different ways: providing accurate and fast needs recognition, adapting products and services, creating opportunities, building fairer markets, mobilizing actions on environmental and social issues, and creating social capital. On the other hand, ICTs can also increase the number of people reached by the organization (breadth scaling) by accessing new resources, creating synergies and networks, improving organizational efficiency, increasing its visibility, and designing new access channels to beneficiaries. This article analyzes the role of ICT in the depth and breadth scaling of social impact

Balancing Profit-Making with Social Value Creation: Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons Learned

Corporate businesses and investors are increasingly aware about the potential source of profit and rich institutional ecosystem that can be ‘tapped’ to facilitate engagement with Base of the Pyramid (BoP) markets in developing countries. To be successful by making a profit from these markets and combining this by making a positive impact on poor communities means adapting a specific business approach that is not replicable from formal economies. The literature shows that corporate businesses and investors who engage with the BoP must consider investing time and money in special partnerships with local stakeholders (preferably in informal economies), making use of innovative payment methods, and taking into account gender issues to increase impact, while accepting a lower return on investment (Ngoasong et al., 2015)

Innovative Asia: Advancing the Knowledge-Based Economy - Highlights of the Forthcoming ADB Study Report

[Excerpt] The development of knowledge-based economies (KBEs) is both an imperative and an opportunity for developing Asia. It is an imperative to sustain high rates of growth in the future and an opportunity whereby emerging economies can draw from beneficial trending developments that may allow them to move faster to advance in global value chains and in position in world markets. Over the last quarter of a century, driven mostly by cheap labor, developing countries in Asia have seen unprecedented growth rates and contributions to the global economy. Sustaining Asia’s growth trajectory, however, requires developing economies to seek different approaches to economic growth and progress, especially if they aspire to move from the middle-income to the high-income level. KBE is an important platform that can enable them to sustain growth and even accelerate it. It is time for Asia to consolidate and accelerate its pace of growth. Asia is positioned in a unique moment in history with many advantages that can serve as a boost: to name a couple, an expanding middle of the pyramid—Asia is likely to hold 50% of the global middle class and 40% of the global consumer market by 2020; and the growing importance of intra-regional trade within Asia, increasing from 54% in 2001 to 58% in 2011. Many developing economies are well placed to assimilate frontier technologies into their manufacturing environment

ICT: an empowering tool for social enterprises

In recent years new models for organizations working on poverty alleviation have emerged. One of them, the social enterprise, has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners all over the world. Even if defined in different ways depending on the context, this model has an enormous potential to generate social benefits and to promote local agency and private initiative in poverty alleviation