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Economic Development
Understand Young Companies in Your Own Backyard, Report Urges Global Leaders
![[photo - Photo: Joe Minarik]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/minarik%204778.jpg "[photo - Photo: Joe Minarik]")
The United States is currently experiencing “the worst economic episode since the Great Depression,” according to Joe Minarik, senior vice president of the Committee for Economic Development. Minarik talks about the macroeconomic perspective on the U.S. budget deficit and its impact on the U.S. economy.
Virtue seems to pay according to Professor Charles M.C. Lee whose research shows that publicly-held firms in countries perceived as less corrupt trade at bigger market premiums than those in places deemed more corrupt.
Research Resources
![[photo - Alleviate Poverty]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Please-Help.jpg "[photo - Alleviate Poverty]")
How Scholarship Can Help Alleviate Extreme Poverty.
![[photo - Digital Divide Data]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Digital-Divide-Data.jpg "[photo - Digital Divide Data]")
A hybrid social enterprise offers employment and skills training to rural youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya.
![[photo - Global Healthcare]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Global-Health.jpg "[photo - Global Healthcare]")
In an interview with Kewen Jin, the serial entrepreneurs discusses the rapid growth of China's health care industry and the idea of "innovation by subtraction."
![[photo - Medicine Technology]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Medicine-and-Technology.gif "[photo - Medicine Technology]")
A talk with a Stanford dermatologist and entrepreneur who cofounded an internet alternative to the doctors’ office.
Stanford students and faculty partner with Kenyan organizations to test ways to reduce urban poverty through novel applications of mobile phone technology.
Researchers share results and ideas for tackling extreme poverty through innovations in institutions, management, and technology
![[photo - Laurent Demuynck]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/laurent-demuynck.jpg "[photo - Laurent Demuynck]")
Sustainable farming requires growing enough product to sell at a reasonable price in reachable markets. Entrepreneur Laurent Demuynck hopes to increase the yield of mushrooms for Rwandan farmers, thereby making this nutritious, but expensive, food a staple in the country.
![[photo - Lola Grace]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Lola-Grace.jpg "[photo - Lola Grace]")
An investment banker looks to build a sustainable model for alleviating poverty in a Middle East village.
![[photo - Justin Finnegan]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Justin-Finnegan_0.jpg "[photo - Justin Finnegan]")
Mountain Hazelnuts of Bhutan has set its sights on a triple bottom line: financial gain for investors, alleviating poverty among farm families, and restoration of an eroded, hilly landscape.
Officials from developing countries, the U.S. State Department, and the United Nations met on campus with tech-savvy entrepreneurs to discuss how fast-spreading connection technologies can foster sustainable economic growth, improve public health, support agriculture, and protect the natural environment in many countries.
How Scholarship Can Help Alleviate Extreme Poverty.
A hybrid social enterprise offers employment and skills training to rural youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya.
In an interview with Kewen Jin, the serial entrepreneurs discusses the rapid growth of China's health care industry and the idea of "innovation by subtraction."
A talk with a Stanford dermatologist and entrepreneur who cofounded an internet alternative to the doctors’ office.
Stanford students and faculty partner with Kenyan organizations to test ways to reduce urban poverty through novel applications of mobile phone technology.
Researchers share results and ideas for tackling extreme poverty through innovations in institutions, management, and technology
Sustainable farming requires growing enough product to sell at a reasonable price in reachable markets. Entrepreneur Laurent Demuynck hopes to increase the yield of mushrooms for Rwandan farmers, thereby making this nutritious, but expensive, food a staple in the country.
An investment banker looks to build a sustainable model for alleviating poverty in a Middle East village.
Mountain Hazelnuts of Bhutan has set its sights on a triple bottom line: financial gain for investors, alleviating poverty among farm families, and restoration of an eroded, hilly landscape.
Officials from developing countries, the U.S. State Department, and the United Nations met on campus with tech-savvy entrepreneurs to discuss how fast-spreading connection technologies can foster sustainable economic growth, improve public health, support agriculture, and protect the natural environment in many countries.
mPowering has created an app that awards goods and services to individuals facing extreme poverty when they make beneficial choices, such as attending school or seeking prenatal care.
Lobbying and bribery are both time-honored ways to seek influence. The most important difference between them…is not that one is legal and the other a crime. It’s that bribery doesn’t last as long.
There are hundreds of life saving innovations that have the potential to help women and children in developing countries. Maternova is getting them to the front lines using a new online platform.
The Grameen Foundation’s Bankers Without Borders initiative applies skills-based volunteering to poverty alleviation.
Ending poverty is beyond the reach of any single sector or actor
Indian villagers struggle to safeguard their earnings and send any extra rupees back home. Can a specially designed banking machines called Tijori, which means “safe” in Hindi, finally provide them with a solution?
The volatile combination of profit-seeking microfinance companies, minimal competition, and vulnerable borrowers has opened up dangerous potential for exploiting the poor. The microcredit industry needs to be regulated—through policies that address transparency, high interest rates, and abusive loan recovery practices.
Acumen Fund was founded in 2001 as a nonprofit social venture capital firm that uses entrepreneurial approaches to tackle problems of poverty in developing countries. Almost a decade later, the fund’s model has garnered attention, but can it change international aid?
The world’s first universal cash transfer program is in Namibia and provides cash with no strings attached
THE SPIRIT LEVEL: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett
Nonprofit accounting rules should not be forced on anyone.
The author takes a crystal ball to the 2009 economic landscape.
Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person microlending Web site, has facilitated nearly $40 million in loans to entrepreneurs worldwide.
Africa is finding Chinese investment less demanding than that of the West.
To what degree will Chinese investments in Africa add long-term value?
Chinese investment in Africa could mean new opportunities in goods, services, and employment.
Computer access costing less than $70 a person.
A new index is creating a benchmark for comparing large-scale companies serving the markets for the very poorest.
The biggest idea in private-sector charity turns out to be slopping more effectively at the public trough.
Better practices in disaster relief involve market-orientated nonprofit organizations, or social-mission-orientated, for-profit companies, playing a more prominent role.
Africa represents a promising frontier for many global entrepreneurs. In this university podcast, Thomas Gibian, chairman of Emerging Capital Partners, discusses his experiences as such an entrepreneur.
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![[photo - Photo: Lenny Mendorca]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/lenny%20mendorca%204779.jpg "[photo - Photo: Lenny Mendorca]")
Growth and renewal will be critical if the United States budget and economy are to stabilize and thrive. McKinsey senior partner Lenny Mendonca discusses the role the federal budget plays in helping or hindering research, development, and private innovation.
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The United States is currently experiencing “the worst economic episode since the Great Depression,” according to Joe Minarik, senior vice president of the Committee for Economic Development. Minarik talks about the macroeconomic perspective on the U.S. budget deficit and its impact on the U.S. economy.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
![[photo - Paul Auerbach]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/Paul%20Auerbach%204473.jpg "[photo - Paul Auerbach]")
A leader in international health shares how his team coordinated medical efforts with a wide constellation of groups in order to treat patients and save lives in the wake of the Haiti disaster.
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A discussion about the founding of Grameen Bank, lessons learned along the way, future directions, and what motivated Yunus.
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![[photo - Picture: Jessica Jackley]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/4379%20Jessica%20Jackley.jpg "[photo - Picture: Jessica Jackley]")
One grassroot philanthropy organization is using innovative microfinance strategies to empower others to alleviate poverty in developing countries.
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![[photo - Claire A. Williams and Sara Vogel]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/Panel_Discussion_Microphone_CROPPED_4_jpg_thumb.jpg "[photo - Claire A. Williams and Sara Vogel]")
Williams and Vogel speak about how they started Hope Runs, a social enterprise that provides AIDs orphans in Kenya and Tanzania with extracurricular athletic activities, and the benefits beyond physical wellness the organization creates for children.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
![[photo - James D. Wolfensohn]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/James%20D.%20Wolfensohn.jpg "[photo - James D. Wolfensohn]")
James Wolfensohn, former president of World Bank, talks about what international financial organizations are doing to promote long-term development and prosperity.
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![[photo - Garth Saloner]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/Garth%20Saloner.jpg "[photo - Garth Saloner]")
Garth Saloner talks about the GSB's comprehensive curriculum reform in 2007 and its continuing efforts to search for ways to equip its students with the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
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![[photo - Jeffrey D. Sachs]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/Jeffrey%20D.%20Sachs.jpg "[photo - Jeffrey D. Sachs]")
Jeffrey Sachs talks about how the global financial crisis is shaping international relations and influencing countries’ paths towards economic development.
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![[Video-Bill Gates Says Foreign Aid is Threatened, but Big Ideas Can Turn the Tide]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/vacnJwzGvys/0.jpg "[Video-Bill Gates Says Foreign Aid is Threatened, but Big Ideas Can Turn the Tide]")
Just off a plane from Africa, Bill Gates visits Stanford to talk about innovation, but not the software kind. Scientists and engineers, he said, need to focus on products that help improve the lives of the world's poor even though the market directs people to help the wealthiest.
![[Video-Innovative Design Saves Tiny Lives]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/6RuNo8F-RXg/0.jpg "[Video-Innovative Design Saves Tiny Lives]")
Jane Chen, MBA '08, has a vision of a place “babies no longer die from being cold, where people no longer die from preventable causes. And where every person has the ability to choose [his or her] own fate.”
![[Video-Optimism for Developing Countries]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/oF-0W0HtHgg/0.jpg "[Video-Optimism for Developing Countries]")
"There is, perhaps for the first time in history, a reasonable chance of transforming the quality of life and the creative opportunities for the vast majority of humanity."
![[Video-Enhancing Business Education for Rural Entrepreneurs]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/5DfcGdl9_ro/0.jpg "[Video-Enhancing Business Education for Rural Entrepreneurs]")
In 2006, Stanford's Graduate School of Business students Scott Raymond and Katherine Boas took a service learning trip to Thailand and Cambodia. The result? A program that helps to alleviate poverty in Thailand that is now being duplicated at microlending organizations around the world.
![[Video-Fox Sees Bright Future for Mexico]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/qVHXps6MPPg/0.jpg "[Video-Fox Sees Bright Future for Mexico]")
Americans are mostly unaware of the enormous progress Mexico has enjoyed since a devastating collapse in the peso in 1994. Former Mexican President Vincente Fox highlights the opportunities, and also addresses the challenges, resulting from the collapse.
![[Video-Stanford's Guatemala Service Learning Trip, 2008-8]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/t0aEjOlX9lA/0.jpg "[Video-Stanford's Guatemala Service Learning Trip, 2008-8]")
Global Management Perspective: According to Tom Mercer, the trip "gets you out of the classroom" and into practical situations. It also "... gives perspective of how to deal with global management."
![[Video-Service Learning Trip to East Africa]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/LWb9Xn6JWKU/0.jpg "[Video-Service Learning Trip to East Africa]")
Stanford GSB students explore innovative models for poverty alleviation in East Africa.
![[Video-International Coffee Markets - Panel Discussion]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/BxJ64R9SFns/0.jpg "[Video-International Coffee Markets - Panel Discussion]")
Over 125 million people rely on coffee for their livelihood. What are Starbucks and the Fair Trade certification doing to help them out of the coffee crisis? This panel describes the mechanics of the global coffee crisis and explores strategies to address sustainability issues.
![[Video-Reducing Global Poverty]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/w10xzaYYrwA/0.jpg "[Video-Reducing Global Poverty]")
From disease control to global climate change, innovative business people are designing sustainable solutions to promote international development and reduce global poverty. Hear how this is happening from leaders in the field.
Just off a plane from Africa, Bill Gates visits Stanford to talk about innovation, but not the software kind. Scientists and engineers, he said, need to focus on products that help improve the lives of the world's poor even though the market directs people to help the wealthiest.
Africa represents a promising frontier for many global entrepreneurs. In this university podcast, Thomas Gibian, chairman of Emerging Capital Partners, discusses his experiences as such an entrepreneur.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
Growth and renewal will be critical if the United States budget and economy are to stabilize and thrive. McKinsey senior partner Lenny Mendonca discusses the role the federal budget plays in helping or hindering research, development, and private innovation.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
The United States is currently experiencing “the worst economic episode since the Great Depression,” according to Joe Minarik, senior vice president of the Committee for Economic Development. Minarik talks about the macroeconomic perspective on the U.S. budget deficit and its impact on the U.S. economy.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
Jane Chen, MBA '08, has a vision of a place “babies no longer die from being cold, where people no longer die from preventable causes. And where every person has the ability to choose [his or her] own fate.”
A leader in international health shares how his team coordinated medical efforts with a wide constellation of groups in order to treat patients and save lives in the wake of the Haiti disaster.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
A discussion about the founding of Grameen Bank, lessons learned along the way, future directions, and what motivated Yunus.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
One grassroot philanthropy organization is using innovative microfinance strategies to empower others to alleviate poverty in developing countries.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
Williams and Vogel speak about how they started Hope Runs, a social enterprise that provides AIDs orphans in Kenya and Tanzania with extracurricular athletic activities, and the benefits beyond physical wellness the organization creates for children.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
James Wolfensohn, former president of World Bank, talks about what international financial organizations are doing to promote long-term development and prosperity.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
For millions of people across Africa, motorcycles can be a key to effective health care. A well-maintained fleet of vehicles and motorcycles to connect patients, medical expertise, and medicine is sometimes the most vital link in the health delivery supply chain. A new case written for the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum describes one successful program.
![[photo - David P. Baron]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/baron-david-p_22.jpg "[photo - David P. Baron]")
Inspired by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Jessica and Matt Flannery experimented with micro-lending connecting Ugandan entrepreneurs to friends and family through a pilot internet trial. Kiva, the first person-to- person microlending organization was born.
![[photo - Jesper B. Sorensen]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/sorensen-jesper-bottger_2.jpg "[photo - Jesper B. Sorensen]")
As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.
![[photo - Garth Saloner]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/saloner-garth_1.jpg "[photo - Garth Saloner]")
Endeavor selects promising entrepreneurs and helps them develop and grow their businesses through mentorship and guidance. In 2007, founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg looked at the organization's expansion strategy.
![[photo - Garth Saloner]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/saloner-garth_0.jpg "[photo - Garth Saloner]")
By 2007, Kiva had gone through a rapid growth phase. The case recounts the debut of the first online person-to-person microfinance organization and looks at the founders' plan for future development.
![[photo - David P. Baron]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/baron-david-p_23.jpg "[photo - David P. Baron]")
Banco Compartamos has been providing microloans to the poor in rural areas of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico, since 1990. It became one of Mexico’s most successful banks. Critics, however, claim that Compartamos departed from the true spirit of microfinance.
![[photo - Garth Saloner]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/saloner-garth_2.jpg "[photo - Garth Saloner]")
Equity Bank, a microfinance services provider, experienced a remarkable turnaround in the early 1990s. What strategy did the CEO pursue to accomplish such a feat?
![[photo - David P. Baron]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/baron-david-p_18.jpg "[photo - David P. Baron]")
Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This first part of the case describes the organization's initial considerations.
![[photo - David P. Baron]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/baron-david-p_19.jpg "[photo - David P. Baron]")
Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This second part of the case explores the company’s experience with a distribution program.
![[photo - Hau L. Lee]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/lee-hau-l_2.jpg "[photo - Hau L. Lee]")
Riders for Health is a U.K.-based nonprofit dedicated to the improvement of transportation systems for health workers in Africa. In 2007, after 11 years in existence, the organization was at a critical point and had to decide what strategies were necessary to expand.
For millions of people across Africa, motorcycles can be a key to effective health care. A well-maintained fleet of vehicles and motorcycles to connect patients, medical expertise, and medicine is sometimes the most vital link in the health delivery supply chain. A new case written for the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum describes one successful program.
Inspired by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Jessica and Matt Flannery experimented with micro-lending connecting Ugandan entrepreneurs to friends and family through a pilot internet trial. Kiva, the first person-to- person microlending organization was born.
As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.
Endeavor selects promising entrepreneurs and helps them develop and grow their businesses through mentorship and guidance. In 2007, founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg looked at the organization's expansion strategy.
By 2007, Kiva had gone through a rapid growth phase. The case recounts the debut of the first online person-to-person microfinance organization and looks at the founders' plan for future development.
Banco Compartamos has been providing microloans to the poor in rural areas of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico, since 1990. It became one of Mexico’s most successful banks. Critics, however, claim that Compartamos departed from the true spirit of microfinance.
Equity Bank, a microfinance services provider, experienced a remarkable turnaround in the early 1990s. What strategy did the CEO pursue to accomplish such a feat?
Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This first part of the case describes the organization's initial considerations.
Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This second part of the case explores the company’s experience with a distribution program.
Riders for Health is a U.K.-based nonprofit dedicated to the improvement of transportation systems for health workers in Africa. In 2007, after 11 years in existence, the organization was at a critical point and had to decide what strategies were necessary to expand.
What explains the enormous differences in incomes across countries? This paper returns to two old ideas: linkages and complementarity. These forces considerably amplify distortions to the allocation of resources, bringing us closer to understanding large income differences across countries.
Policy makers need to understand how early-stage companies in their own area work, rather than try to create another Silicon Valley, says Stanford management professor George Foster. He is coauthor of a new report published by the World Economic Forum.
In summary, we find evidence that firms in developing countries are often badly managed, which substantially reduces their productivity.
Virtue seems to pay according to Professor Charles M.C. Lee whose research shows that publicly-held firms in countries perceived as less corrupt trade at bigger market premiums than those in places deemed more corrupt.
Since the 2008 market crash, banking interests and economists have clashed over how much of their operations banks should fund with equity as opposed to debt. Bankers and others often say that, "equity is expensive." A recent paper, coauthored by three faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, argues: "Quite simply, bank equity is not expensive from a social perspective, and high leverage is not required in order for banks to perform all their socially valuable functions."
![[photo - A. Michael Spence]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/spence-a-michael_0.jpg "[photo - A. Michael Spence]")
This paper discusses key findings of the Commission on Growth and Development’s report. It identifies ways developing countries can grow and how to encourage private investment.
![[photo - John McMillan]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/mcmillan-john_2.jpg "[photo - John McMillan]")
Analyzing a variety of cross-national and sub-national data, this paper argues that high adult mortality reduces economic growth by shortening time horizons. It finds that a greater risk of death during the prime productive years is associated with higher levels of risky behavior, high fertility, and lower investment in physical capital, and that adult mortality explains almost all of Africa's growth tragedy.
![[photo - A. Michael Spence]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/spence-a-michael.jpg "[photo - A. Michael Spence]")
This article summarizes a session of the 2007 World Economic Forum on Africa, entitled "Unleashing Opportunity: A Blueprint for Africa's Growth." In the debate the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, invited the business sector to engage governments in a frank discussion about the issues and challenges they face in investing in Africa.
![[photo - Brian S. Lowery]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/lowery-brian_5.jpg "[photo - Brian S. Lowery]")
This paper provides evidence that individuals infer what people should have from the way inequity is described. In the reported experiment, participants give more to a subordinate actor when inequity is described in terms of “less than” rather than “more than,” and take more from a dominant actor when inequity is described in terms of “more than” rather than “less than."
![[photo - Saumitra Jha]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/jha-saumitra.jpg "[photo - Saumitra Jha]")
This ethnographic study examines the processes by which residents of Delhi's slums gain access to formal government services and develop their own (informal) modes of leadership.
![[photo - Robert Burgelman]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/grove-andrew_0.jpg "[photo - Robert Burgelman]")
This seminar helps participants develop strategically informed action plans that are imaginative, inspiring, and workable in highly dynamic environments. Through informed debate and the writing and presentation of position papers, participants evaluate and hone their views on the seminar's critical themes.
![[photo - Jim Patell]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/patell-james-m.jpg "[photo - Jim Patell]")
Students apply engineering and business skills to design product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures in developing countries. The aim is to address challenges faced by the world's poor.
![[photo - Renee Bowen]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/bowen-tamara-renee.jpg "[photo - Renee Bowen]")
This course gives students an understanding of international trade economics, and analyzes the political processes by which international trade policy is determined. It combines lecture and mini-case studies.
![[photo - Peter Henry]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Henry-Peter-Blair_2_0.jpg "[photo - Peter Henry]")
This course gives students the background they need to understand the broad movements in the global economy. Key topics include long-run economic growth, technological change, wage inequality, international trade, interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and monetary policy.
Mark Conroe is leveraging his real estate experience and decades of volunteer work to help build the San Francisco House of Hope, a supportive housing project for the homeless.
Eric shares lessons learned through his work at Opportunity Fund deploying over $200 million into California’s communities to create jobs and strengthen local economies.
![[photo - Jacqueline Novogratz]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/novogratz.jpg "[photo - Jacqueline Novogratz]")
In turbulent times like ours, we need “hard-edged hope,” says Jacqueline Novogratz, the much-celebrated founder of the Acumen Fund. Affirming that the world is indeed a better place now than it was 40 years ago, she traces her own journey from a childhood witnessing racial inequities all around her in Detroit to a career leading the field of social impact investing.
![[photo - Brian Cox]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Brian%20Cox_0.jpg "[photo - Brian Cox]")
The poorest regions of the world pose high risks for microfinance. Brian Cox, President of MFX Solutions, discusses how currency risk education can increase the flow of resources to Africa and other high-risk regions.
![[photo - Cate Muther (MBA '78)]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Cate%20Muther_0.JPG "[photo - Cate Muther]")
Women and economic development have long been the focus for Cate Muther. Here she shares thoughts on tackling complex and entrenched problems, the effort and relentlessness it takes, and the sources of inspiration that sustain her.
![[photo - Chari Ratwatte]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Chari.jpg "[photo - Chari Ratwatte]")
One of the first two Stanford GSB Social Innovation fellows, Chari works to provide economic opportunities to farmers in Sri Lanka.
Dave DeForest-Stalls wants to help kids stay out of gangs. He's providing mentorship and hip ways to keep youth on the straight and narrow.
Mark Cafferty is passionate about empowering individuals to be all they can be. He channels funds to employment and youth service programs.
![[photo - Court Gould (EPNL '06)]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Court%20Gould%20photo_0.jpg "[photo - Court Gould (EPNL '06)]")
Court Gould is pushing for Pittsburgh to grow sustainably. He's working hard to inform decision makers about to accomplish that most effectively.
Ruth Bolan is giving voice to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Island. She funds documentaries that bring their culture and challenges to millions of viewers.
How Scholarship Can Help Alleviate Extreme Poverty.
A hybrid social enterprise offers employment and skills training to rural youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya.
In an interview with Kewen Jin, the serial entrepreneurs discusses the rapid growth of China's health care industry and the idea of "innovation by subtraction."
A talk with a Stanford dermatologist and entrepreneur who cofounded an internet alternative to the doctors’ office.
Just off a plane from Africa, Bill Gates visits Stanford to talk about innovation, but not the software kind. Scientists and engineers, he said, need to focus on products that help improve the lives of the world's poor even though the market directs people to help the wealthiest.
Stanford students and faculty partner with Kenyan organizations to test ways to reduce urban poverty through novel applications of mobile phone technology.
Researchers share results and ideas for tackling extreme poverty through innovations in institutions, management, and technology
Sustainable farming requires growing enough product to sell at a reasonable price in reachable markets. Entrepreneur Laurent Demuynck hopes to increase the yield of mushrooms for Rwandan farmers, thereby making this nutritious, but expensive, food a staple in the country.
An investment banker looks to build a sustainable model for alleviating poverty in a Middle East village.
Eric shares lessons learned through his work at Opportunity Fund deploying over $200 million into California’s communities to create jobs and strengthen local economies.
