Speakers:

Rob Katz, Co-Managing Editor,  NextBillion.net
Francisco Noguera,  Co-Managing Editor,  NextBillion.net

Discussion Topic:

NextBillion.net is a website and blog bringing together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise.  It is a discussion forum, networking space and knowledge base for individuals and organizations interested in the "next billion".  Our goal is to highlight the development and implementation of business strategies that open opportunities and improve the lives of the world's approximately 4 billion low-income producers and consumers.  We chose Next Billion for its dual meaning: on the one hand, the phrase represents the next billion people to rise into the middle class from the base of the economic pyramid (BoP); on the other, it indicates the next billion(s) in profits for businesses that fill market gaps by integrating the BoP into formal economies.

In this Issues in Depth call, NextBillion.net Co-Managing Editors Rob Katz and Francisco Noguera will review the state of the BoP landscape, offer some thoughts on where it will go in the next few years, and cover a few of the more interesting and controversial topics that have been discussed on-site over the years, including:

- Do the poor make bad choices?  Do we romanticize the poor?
- What’s more important – environmental sustainability or poverty alleviation?
- The challenges of scale in BoP enterprises
And much more 

About the Speakers:

 Rob Katz is a Portfolio Associate at Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Before joining Acumen Fund, he was an Associate with the Markets and Enterprise Program of the World Resources Institute.

Rob researches, writes and speaks about "base of the pyramid" (BoP) business approaches to poverty alleviation and environmental degradation.

He is the co-founder and co-Managing Editor of www.NextBillion.net, a web site and blog about enterprise and development. As a principal analyst of household survey data and co-author for The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid (March, 2007), he studied “base of the pyramid” (BoP) market structure and spending patterns extensively.

Rob has consulted with corporations, foundations, multilaterals and non-profits on their BoP strategies, and is often asked to address conferences about the same.  He is also a contributor to Worldchanging: Another World Is Here, an online magazine/blog and print book about tools, models, and ideas to build a better future.
 

Francisco Noguera is NextBillion.net's Co-Managing Editor, as well as the Founder and Editor of NextBillion en Español, a website and blog aimed to advance the development through enterprise community in Latin America.

He works at and studies the intersection between sustainable development and enterprise, supporting the New Ventures programs in Latin America (Brazil, Colombia and Mexico), fostering the creation of ecosystems of support for small and medium sized enterprises.

His experience includes work in the investment banking and management consulting industries in Colombia. Before joining WRI he worked for StratCo Consultores in Bogotá, where he worked for four years in management and strategy consulting. His interest in the intersection between business and development led him to start and manage a microfinance program in Bogotá, as well as engaging in various socially minded projects while working for StratCo. Francisco holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

Presentation materials and conference access information will be distributed via direct email following registration. 

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