[Cc-fests&FR] Are we sure what we're getting into here?

[Ben Hart]

Ok- I was just having a look around Al Gore's various websites with the
vague idea of applying to some of his campaigns for some CC funding. (Due to
the "can't understand why there aren't rings of young people blockading coal
fired power stations" comment.) Turns out he's got himself a sustainable
investment company called Generation (http://www.generationim.com/), where I
found the following statement:
 Background

C.K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart define the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) as the 4
billion people with annual per capita income based on purchasing power
parity in U.S. dollars less than $1,500 (what is considered the minimum to
sustain a decent life).

According to some experts, the Base of the Pyramid is an untapped market
opportunity of $13 trillion in annual sales as well as significant invisible
assets. In *The Mystery of Capital,* Hernando de Soto *estimates that there
are well over $9 trillion such unregistered assets (houses, equipment, and
so on) in the rural villages and urban slums of the world." These are assets
that could be used to collateralize loans/credit to allow people to become
part of the economic system or market.* Other evidence of BoP potential
includes market demand for microfinance is close to $300 billion, as
compared to the $4 billion of current supply. Today there are over 3,100
microfinance institutions that served close to 100 million clients. And
remittances are somewhere between two and three times the level of
development aid from rich to poor countries. For example, a total of $167
billion in remittances flowed to developing countries last year.
You couldn't make it up...........

Needless to say I didn't bother sending an application form in! Although i
did ask what happens when the slum dwellers default on their payments?

Just an idea of what the new campaign is up against!!!



-- 
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth- Albert
Einstein
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