Economic Development

Over half of Indonesia’s tropical forest is considered to be “degraded” as a result of commercial timber practices and conversion to agriculture coupled with inefficient reforestation programs. Paris Sembiring, a paddy-cab driver turned nursery entrepreneur, has created a business model that empowers and provides economic incentives for people to get involved in seedling development to drive a more in support of the reforestation movement in...

Ram is generating a systems-changing way of delivering credit services to the poorest individuals by blending peer-to-peer lending with a strong back-end delivery system that controls interest rates. By carefully prequalifying citizen organizations (CO’s) and establishing robust back-end processes, he repurposes CO’s to act as branches and for the first time, deliver loans at interest rates as little as 8.5% p.a.

Ram questions the...

In Bihar, the poorest and most underdeveloped state in India, vegetable farmers are locked into an inefficient and extractive system currently controlled by middlemen.  But Kaushlendra has re-engineered the value chain so that small-scale farmers organized as majority shareholders in their own producer companies bring vegetables to local collection points where his organization transports the produce to refrigerated distribution centers...

Muthu Velayutham orchestrates a diverse, integrated suite of development programs in rural India that enable poor communities to build wealth through coordinated business ventures and the stewardship of natural resources.

Samuel Goldman has invented an inexpensive, universal solar-powered lighting solution which will reduce health hazards and carbon emissions while simultaneously enhancing productivity. His lighting solution can leapfrog a grid network without the use of electricity. Such versatility renders Samuel’s solution applicable for both rural and urban regions. In addition to improving health and safety standards, the solar powered solution also...