Digital Divide - WRI

S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N

DigitalDivide

IS THE

A PROBLEM OR AN OPPORTUNITY?

Divide

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W e hear much today about the “digital divide” – the gap between those who have access

to the wonders of digital technology and the Internet and those who do not. When I

address this issue I use an even stronger term: digital apartheid. What is at stake is today’s

technology “have-nots” – especially the young – and whether they may find themselves marginalized

for life, because they lack the skills and tools to participate in our globalized, knowledge-based

economy. This is true in America and in

the rest of the world.

If digital apartheid persists, we all lose.

The digital have-nots will be poorer, more

resentful of progress than ever and will

not be able to become the skilled workers

or potential customers that are needed to

sustain the growth of the Internet economy.

So the private sector is eager to tear down

the wall between the digital haves and

have-nots.

One reason why I am an optimist on

this issue is my vantage point as Chairman

of America’s Promise – The Alliance for

Youth. Our mission is to endow young people with the character and competence they need to

become successful adults by promoting Five Promises to Youth: caring adults, safe places, a healthy

start, marketable skills, and opportunities to serve.

Marketable skills increasingly mean digital skills, and high-tech companies have been among our

earliest and most enthusiastic allies in equipping young people for careers in the digital economy.

Oracle Corporation created a $100 million foundation to provide network computers and computer

training to students and teachers in American schools. America Online developed a Web site,

AOL@School, to help teachers and students tap the educational resources of the Internet. Cisco

Systems is setting up 2,000 Networking Academies in high schools and colleges throughout the

United States to train students to design, build, and maintain computer networks. IBM will provide

$10 million in technology and technical services as part of its Teaming for Technology program.

Another new initiative, PowerUP, is an alliance of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the YMCA,

AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers, and a number of high-tech companies. It provides computer training

to young people who otherwise might not get it.

The progress America’s Promise has made in giving disadvantaged American youngsters access

to digital technology helps to dramatize what can be achieved through private and public/private

initiatives. What has been done here can be done worldwide. The private sector has the incentive,

as well as the resources and ingenuity, to lead the world in realizing this critical goal.


A Special Message from General Colin L. Powell, U.S.A. (ret.)JE

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BUSINESSWEEK / DECEMBER 18, 2000


No one disputed how difficultit will be to provide six billionpeople with access to digital

networks and the opportunities,services, and social empowermentthey can provide. But speaker afterspeaker made the case for real busi-ness opportunities in creating a newportfolio of digital products andservices to meet the needs of devel-oping regions and to address growingenvironmental challenges. Theseopportunities for creating profits andsocial benefits – digital dividends –and novel business approaches toachieve them were the focus of theconference. Among the highlights:■ Hewlett-Packard Chairman and

CEO Carly Fiorina not only

Creating Digital Dividends

Strategic DirectorAllen HammondWorld Resources Institute

Special Projects DirectorSue Swarzman

DesignSundberg & Associates Inc

Conference PhotographyChad J. Klassen

WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTECreating Digital Dividends was prepared in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, an independent thinktank that specializes in taking ideas into action on global environment and development issues.www.wri.org/wri/

Special thanks to John Bergan

A NewBusiness

Frontier


IS THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE A PROBLEM OR A BUSINESS

OPPORTUNITY? That is the question that brought leading

executives from digital companies to a meeting October 16-18 in

Seattle. The powerful answer that emerged from the conference,

shared by nearly all participants, was that the digital divide is

both an urgent problem and a potentially significant opportu-

nity. As Internet founding father and WorldCom Senior Vice

President Dr. Vinton Cerf put it, “The Internet is for everyone.”

underscored the importance andthe historical significance of theglobal transformation now under-way, describing it as a “digitalrenaissance,” but also eloquentlycalled for the digital industry tostep up and play a crucial role inthat transformation – as business.She also put her company’s moneybehind her vision, announcing anew HP division focused on“World e-Inclusion” that expectsto sell, lease, or donate $1 billionin HP products and services indeveloping countries next year.

■ University of Michigan businessguru C.K. Prahalad, in a spell-binding presentation that receiveda standing ovation, shared a compelling analysis of the marketopportunity serving the “bottomof the economic pyramid” – thefour billion people with incomesless than $1,500 a year – and gaveinspiring examples of real businessesalready tapping that opportunity.

■ Renowned KPCB venture capitalistVinod Khosla argued the powerof entrepreneurial energy to drivebeneficial change, and pointed out the potential for a historic

Highlights of the Creating Digital Dividends Conference


partnership between the increasinglytalent-constrained but capital-richindustrial world and the capital-starved developing regions withtheir huge pools of under-utilizedhuman talent, from incipient programmers to entrepreneurs.

■ RealNetworks Chairman andCEO Rob Glaser described howdigital tools can become agents ofsocial progress. He cited theinherent ability of the Internet to“route around” censorship andthus help ensure the openness ofsociety. He described the impactof broadcasting globally over theNet in 50 different languagesfrom 90 different countries onsocial consciousness. He alsoannounced the creation of theRealNetworks Foundation wherethe company will put five percentof each quarter’s profits, to fosterthe progressive social impact ofdigital technologies.

■ Amazon.com’s Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos pointed to the hugeefficiency gains possible from dig-ital technologies and e-commerceand their potential to reduce environmental impact. He alsoemphasized that developingregions could leapfrog traditionaldevelopment by skipping entirelayers of infrastructure.

■ Entrepreneurs provided specificinstances of how new businessmodels could transform social and environmental problems into profitable opportunities. Martín Varsavsky, Founder andChairman of Jazztel, describedthe remarkable public-privatepartnership, Educ.ar, that helaunched with the government ofArgentina. The initiative plans to

use private money and e-commerceskills to put 10 million Argentinestudents online in four years. IqbalQuadir, the entrepreneur behindGrameenPhone, described howthat venture, by aggregatingdemand, is profitably providingcommercial phone service to poorrural villages in Bangladesh.Jonathan Campaigne describedthe digital tools he has developedto help expand PRIDE AFRICA,the microfinance entity thatserves 100,000 poor clients in six East African countries. These entrepreneurs were joined by spokespersons for nearly a dozen novel business models or

untapped new markets for digitaltechnologies, including GeorgeWeyerhaeuser Jr., Senior VicePresident for Technology at theforest products giant that bearshis family name. (See case studies.)

■ The former President of CostaRica, the head of Jordan’s brand-new IT Ministry, and the ChiefMinister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh provided compelling examples of what governments in developingregions can do to open markets,enact policies to encourage rapidIT and telecom development, andutilize technology to deliverimproved e-government services.

Huge New Markets?

C .K. Prahalad captivated theaudience by insisting that com-

panies should think of the poor notas a problem to be dealt with bygovernment, but as a significantmarket for business. He pointed to thescale of the untapped market – fourto five billion people that in aggre-gate have huge purchasing power.This market is now totally ignoredby most global companies. Prahaladargued that business executives needto rethink business models, products,and services developed for industrial


“We are now at the beginning of a second

renaissance, the digital renaissance.

Invention is once again the prime virtue. But

this time the tools for invention can be

extended to every corner of the earth.”

Carly Fiorina

Chairman and CEO

Hewlett-Packard

WorldCom's Dr. Vinton Cerf, shortlybefore he revealed that he was wearinga T-shirt with the message “The Internetis for Everyone,” the theme of hisremarks to the conference.

www.digitaldividend.org



non-profit development organizations,believes the new venture can be both a successful business as well as a tool to helpthose it serves lift themselves out of poverty.Villagers will access the portal at a villagecyberkiosk, owned and operated by a localentrepreneur, using a computer that displayspictures, diagrams, and simple explanationsin local languages. The service plans to piggyback on India’s extensive rural phonenetwork, supplemented where necessary bysatellite links. It will provide information onsuch vital matters as land records, healthclinics, and jobs. Users will be able to shopfor farming needs such as seeds and machineryas well as household items such as bicyclesor refrigerators, and find buyers for cropsand handicrafts without making arduous tripsto a city. The venture will operate initially inthe states of Uttar Pradesh and MadhyaPradesh, but plans to expand throughoutIndia within a few years.

TARAhaat hopes to make money and tocreate jobs, raise incomes, and unlock the purchasing power of rural communities. The company believes that opening villagesto the world outside will widen perspectives,enabling India’s people to become enlight-ened citizens and more active participants inshaping India’s future.

India’s rural areas are virtually untouchedby modern technology. Steady, year-round jobs are scarce. Information about

employment opportunities, or crop prices, orthe availability of candidates for the coun-try’s traditional arranged marriages is hard to

come by. Enter the Internet, inthe form of a start-up known asTARAhaat.com. It is attemptingto reproduce on-line the colorful“haat” or market that takes placeregularly in nearly every Indianvillage. But because this haat isdigital, it can share information,goods, services, and even poten-tial bridegrooms across a wholeregion, pooling the assets andmarket potential of many villages.

TARAhaat’s Founder,Ashok Khosla, describes the

new venture as the first Internet servicedesigned from the ground up for the needs ofrural village users. Khosla, a well-regardeddevelopment expert who for years has headed

Users will be able to shop

for farming needs such as

seeds and machinery as

well as household items

such as bicycles or refriger-

ators, and find buyers for

crops and handicrafts

without making arduous

trips to a city.

An Internet Portal for Rural India

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Tools to Transform Management of the World’s Forests


profit from forest resources whilereducing environmental impact.

Better digital maps wouldenable foresters to classify foresttype and health. Prospective forestmodeling and visualization toolscould also enable forest managersto plan more carefully and tooptimize application of fertilizeror herbicides.

Handheld devicesand laptop computersare already helpingmanagers and log-ging crews get accessto data and softwaretools in the forest.

Eventually forest managers wouldlike to use the Internet to accesssophisticated spatial analyses of forests.

Providing the tools and information servicesfor sustainable forestry could be a substantialbusiness. There are 65,000 foresters in theUnited States alone, and they manage com-mercial and other privately-owned forests witha market value of $240 billion.

Prospective forest modeling

and visualization tools could

enable forest managers to

plan more carefully and to

optimize application of

fertilizer or herbicides.

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Demand for wood is rising. So arepressures to preserve wilderness. To accommodate both, commercial

forests will have to be managed more intensively, while protecting conservationreserves and environmentally sensitive areas.But forest managers lack both the detaileddata on forest conditions and the softwaretools needed to coax more productivity and

“The Internet's openness to communication is

profound. It's benefits as a global medium,

as a medium impervious to censorship, as a

medium that lets anybody be a broadcaster,

will continue to accrue to everyone.”

Rob Glaser

Chairman and CEO

RealNetworks

countries. Companies should not takecost structures as given, he argued,illustrating the point by citing onenew business that through use of aheat shield drastically cut the cost ofrefrigeration and now profitablysells ice cream in tropical India at3¢ a serving. Another Indian com-pany provides laser cataract surgery,including counseling in several locallanguages, for $10 per patient. Hedescribed a new retail point-of-sale



system, developed in India forIndian conditions, that copes withdust and highly variable voltage,manages stock and prints invoices insix languages, incorporates a barcodescanner, is Internet enabled – andcosts less than $1,000 a terminal.Moreover, Prahalad pointed out,the return on equity for these busi-nesses is higher than that of mostmultinational corporations: “Sellingto the poor may be more profitablethan selling to you and me.”

Prahalad went on to say thatcompanies need to listen to the poorin markets like India, China, andBrazil, because they can not only becustomers, but also an importantsource of innovation. As an example,he told a story about illiterate kidsin New Delhi given access to a networked computer but with noinstruction or supervision; within acouple of months, the kids taughtthemselves to use it and to navigatethe Internet. If a software companywanted to create a universal, icon-based language for the Internet,Prahalad asked, where better toexperiment than with such kids?

One of his key insights was thataccess to digital systems is not thesame as ownership (the dominantmodel in industrial countries). Withvillage phones, cybercafes or otherpay-per-use systems, the entirecommunity becomes the customer.“It is a huge, counterintuitiveopportunity,” he concluded. “Youcannot approach these markets unlessyou have a fundamentally differentview of how to use technology.”

Reinforcing this message was3Com Chairman and CEO EricBenhamou. “What has worked sowell [in digital technology] for therelatively few may not work for the

vast majority with-out profoundredesign,” he said.What is needed is“complex researchto create radicalsimplicity” in orderto broaden accessand make digitaldevices much easierto use. A prototypethat could representa first step towardsuch devices is theSimputer, show-cased at the Digital

Dividends Idea Lab expo associatedwith the conference. Designed bythe Simputer Trust of India, thehandheld device is a powerfulInternet access tool with a touchscreen, a voice chip that can “speak”different languages, and a smartcardreader. It runs on free Linux software,can be manufactured by anyonewithout license, and is expected tocost under $200.

One major company that seemedto “get” Prahalad’s message is HP.Their new World e-InclusionInitiative, according to Debra Dunn,Vice President for Strategy and Corporate Operations, will openbranches of HP labs in China andIndia to develop solutions thataddress the basic needs of people inthose countries and will create an“ecosystem of partners” around theworld. The company is launchingthis new initiative not only becauseit thinks it is a good business oppor-tunity, but also because it believesthat the “digital renaissance” willlead to an explosion in human andsocial advancement. “We must giveeveryone everywhere a chance toparticipate in the benefits of thisdigital age,” Dunn said. “HP is pas-sionate about working to improve


“Don’t look at the poor and say there is no

hope. Selling to the poor may be more prof-

itable than selling to you and me. This is

where the future is. Opportunities are every-

where. This [digital divide] is not about lack of

opportunity; it is about lack of imagination.”

C.K. Prahalad

Professor of Business Administration

University of Michigan

One of C.K. Prahalad's examples of how digital technologiescan create opportunities concerns these women who bringtheir milk to this cooperative in rural India. Then they log onto the Internet to check the price of milk in neighboringtowns before deciding where to sell their product.




tion software. Mike McCue,CEO of Tellme Networks,explained that such systems, nowbeing deployed in the UnitedStates, could readily be adaptedto other languages and couldenable access even for those whoare illiterate.

■ Much cheaper, smaller, and easier-to-use “carry-along” computers,part of a ladder of technologiesthat will expand access, accordingto Mark Anderson, President ofStrategic News Service.

Also coming, said Kevin Werbach,Editor of Release 1.0, are peer-to-peer networking technologies that letpeople swap music or informationor transact business directly witheach other, and more powerful loca-tion-based computing tools that couldenhance environmental management.

Are Digital DividendOpportunities Real?

Beyond technology, the corequestions at the conference

concerned access, financing, and the readiness of many developingcountries for massive private sectorinvestments in digital infrastructure.As Kevin Werbach pointed out, withthe Internet “access is everything”

“The developing world may have the oppor-

tunity to skip entire layers of infrastructure…

telephone poles with all the copper wire…

billions of dollars on malls… that could save

a tremendous amount of energy, building

materials, time, and money.”

Jeff Bezos

Founder and CEO

Amazon.com



the lives of the four billion people atthe bottom of the economic pyramid.”William B. Plummer, Nokia’s Vice President for Government andIndustry Affairs, agreed. He said,“Providing the technologies to connect people everywhere is anurgent social mission.”

Enabling Technologies

One conference panel consideredemerging technologies that

promise to enable broader access andcould also be disruptive of povertyand environmental mismanagement.Vivid examples included: ■ Non-geostationary satellite net-

works linking rural areas directlyto the Internet. Russ Daggatt,Vice-Chairman of ICO-Teledesic,pointed out that such systems areinherently egalitarian, becauseoperators of such systems wouldnecessarily have to provide “thesame quality and quantity of capac-ity to Africa as to North America.”

■ Third generation or 3G cellularphones that will provide high-speed, mobile access to theInternet without a computer.Kennet Rådne, President ofEricsson Internet Solutions,pointed out that mobile phonenetworks are expanding so rapidlythat they are likely to become themost common means for accessto the Internet.

■ Voice-enabled access to theInternet, based on voice recogni-

A conference panel considered enabling technologies – from satellites to speechrecognition software to mobile Internet devices – that might be disruptive of the digital divide, of poverty, and of environmental mismanagement. (l to r) Russ Daggattof ICO-Teledesic, Mike McCue of Tellme Networks, Kennet Rådne of Ericsson, Mark Anderson of Strategic News Service, and Kevin Werbach of Release 1.0.



In poor countries, most people – in all,half the world’s population – still live inrural areas. Village phone service is rare,

Internet service non-existent, and povertywidespread. In Bangladesh, for example, 90percent of the country’s 68,000 villages haveno phone service of any kind and averageannual income is less than $200 per person.It might not sound like a promising com-mercial telecom market, but appearances canbe deceiving.

Since 1997, GrameenPhone has providedcommercial cellular services in Bangladesh,operating primarily in urban areas. A subsidiary,working with the microfinance organization

Grameen Bank, provides servicein rural areas via local entrepre-neurs, usually women. Each localentrepreneur owns and operatesa cellular phone that typicallyserves an entire village. Villagerspay for phone calls in cash, bythe minute. Grameen Bank helpsby loaning the entrepreneursmoney to buy the phone and

collecting payments from them for phoneusage on behalf of GrameenPhone.

These shared-access village phones arevery profitable, generatingrevenues that now average$1,200 per year perphone, more than threetimes as much as thecompany’s urban phones.Each phone serves anaverage of nearly 70 customers – in effect, tapping the buying powerof a whole village. Per

Providing Rural Phone ServiceProfitably in Poor Countries


Grameen Bank helps by

loaning the entrepreneurs

money to buy the phone and

collecting payments from

them for phone usage on

behalf of GrameenPhone.

phone revenues have more than doubled intwo years of service, and some phones inlarger villages generate revenues in excess of$12,000 per year, in one of the world’s poorest countries. A study by the CanadianInternational Development Agency showsthat the village phones also have a big socialimpact. For villagers, access to phones oftensubstitutes for a trip to Bangladesh’s capital,Dhaka, that could take days and cost manytimes as much as the call. Villagers also usephones to find out current market prices fortheir crops, arrange remittances from familymembers working abroad, and obtain urgentmedical help.

If it works in Bangladesh, how about inrural areas elsewhere? If phone and perhapsInternet services can be provided profitablyto rural communities through shared access,then opening up such regions to commercialtelecom competition may be an effective wayof stimulating rural development and providingsignificant social and economic benefits toimpoverished areas. The business opportunityalso seems large enough to stimulate privateinvestment: becoming the phone companyand the Internet service provider for nearlyhalf of humanity.

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because once people have access,they can get everything else virtuallyfree. And because of shared-accesssystems, universal global access maycome more rapidly than is generallyexpected. “My estimate,” predictedInternet architect Dr. Vinton Cerf,“is that half the world’s populationwill be online by the year 2010 –about the same fraction that haveaccess to the phone network today.”

Venture capital financing, thefuel for rapid innovation in technol-ogy, is not yet widespread outsidethe United States. It is mostlyunavailable in developing regions,

except to enable a few “foreignentrepreneurs to come to theUnited States and sell their productshere,” as Dan Rosen of FrazierTechnology Ventures put it. “Weneed to find a way so that the nextwave of venture investment outsidethe United States leads to creationof new markets in the developingcountries themselves.” TomAlberg, Managing Director of theMadrona Venture Fund, proposeda possible mechanism to do that – a new kind of venture fund withlower rate of return expectationstargeted directly at such markets.

The digital opportunity task force,launched at the G-8 economic

summit in July 2000, intends to helpclose the global digital divide. Whatwill it do? The details are still beingworked out, but the hopes are clear.As Markle Foundation PresidentZöe Baird described them: createstrategies to help government, busi-ness, international organizations, andnon-governmental organizations(NGOs) work together; developcountry-specific strategies with andfor developing country governments;and support specific projects. Kathy Bushkin, AOL’s ChiefCommunications Officer, said thatthe key for the task force and forclosing the digital divide will be“collaboration between companiesand NGOs, between companies andgovernments, and between countries.”

Will such efforts be enough?Can private sector investments toclose the digital divide, even if sup-ported by governments, interna-tional agencies and non-govern-mental groups, really help alleviatepoverty, improve human welfare,and create new tools to reduce envi-ronmental harm? Possibly, but call-ing attention to the health needs ofthe world’s poor was MicrosoftChairman Bill Gates. He arguedthat poor people need more basic



“The Internet is the best tool we have had

for creating wealth and for redistributing the

opportunities to create it since the steam

engine – wealth created not from our dimin-

ishing supplies of raw materials and natural

resources but from our limitless reserves of

creativity, intelligence, and information.”

Stephan Schmidheiny

Founder and President, Avina

Chairman, Grupo NUEVA

Are We Ready for Universal Connectivity?

Stephan Schmidheiny, Founder of the World Business Council forSustainable Development, described obstacles in business and in gov-ernment to creating digital dividends and called for a rethinking ofroles and for new partnerships among business, government, and civilsociety. He emphasized that education is now utterly critical to enableindividuals and countries to participate in the digital economy, andurged business to accept education as a strategic corporate issue aswell as a social issue. Schmidheiny also described how the growing useof digital networks by civil society is likely to bring almost completetransparency for large businesses and for government. “Are we readyfor this? I’m not quite sure.”

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates argued for the overriding importance of meetingbasic needs, such as health, in poor communities.



things than access to technologyand doubted the business opportu-nities in indigent communities.Vinod Khosla also expressed cautionabout the goal of universal access,arguing that connectivity is mostimportant for the perhaps 10 per-cent of a population who can be

Can Digital Community CentersSave Remote Communities?


In most developing regions, governmentsare hard-pressed to provide the servicesneeded to keep civic and cultural life

functioning. Schools often lack supplies,health care may not be available in the com-munity, and isolation is the rule.

One bold attempt to change this patternis underway in Costa Rica. A local founda-tion and the MIT Media Lab are recyclingold shipping crates into newly-wired digitalcommunity centers. The goal of these LittleIntelligent Communities (LINCOS) is togive rural villages access to a post office, aschool computer lab, a small medical center(linked to specialists by telemedicine), a largescreen for videos, as well as e-mail, fax, andInternet services – tools that villagers can

use to improve their quality of life. Theeffort plans to expand from today’s sevenunits to sites throughout CentralAmerica, Asia, and Africa. At thesame time, the Media Lab will usethe LINCOS units as testbeds forbusinesses that could power economicand community development.Successful models will be franchised.

The LINCOS strategy, still beingrefined, is to offer governments morecost-effective service delivery, com-munity residents new economicopportunities, and online vendorspotential new markets. If it succeeds, remote might no longer have to mean isolated.



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Sentrepreneurially active and createwealth. Nonetheless, the new initiatives and prototype venturesconsidered at the conference gener-ated tangible enthusiasm, and theconsensus of those attending wasoptimistic about the prospects forcreating digital dividends. Most

attendees seemed to agree thatFiorina’s vision of a digital renaissanceand Prahalad’s business strategies fortapping the market at the bottom ofthe pyramid were on target. AsWorld Resources InstitutePresident Jonathan Lash put it,“We should not minimize the obstacles – they are real. But if the opportunity is also real, then it is too important to ignore.” Mark Malloch Brown, head of theUN’s Development Programme,summed up the conference this way: “If we can make this a technology for all rather than forthe few, then we are seeding anextraordinary revolution in theaffairs of our world.”

“The single biggest obstacle that technology

must overcome to disseminate the benefits

to billions of people is not cost, not perform-

ance…It is radical simplicity.”

Eric Benhamou

Chairman and CEO

3Com Corporation


travelling from village to village, equippedwith a mobile data entry device similar to thatused by Federal Express delivery personneland transmitting loan data over wireless linksto a central computer. Microfinance institu-tions operating in Mexico are now testingthe use of Palm Pilots equipped with simpleaccounting software for their loan officers,and many such groups are introducing computerized accounting systems.

PRIDE AFRICA operates in six EastAfrican countries where half the populationsubsists on less than $1 a day. PRIDE linksits base of 100,000 clients to financial services,information, and markets. It has developed itsown banking software to manage micro-loansand small savings accounts and to automateadministrative tasks. The group is nowexperimenting with magnetic cards andinformation kiosks that allow even illiterateclients to access their accounts and checkloan balances, while cutting costs. PRIDE isdeveloping software that will enable it tobundle together loans from tens of thousandsof its clients and resell them to commercialbanks, opening up capital markets to finance expansion.

PRIDE Founder Jonathan Campaignepoints out that microfinance can benefitfrom the same emerging Internet-basedtechnologies that are forcing retail bankerseverywhere to rethink their business models.These include tools ranging from data min-ing to customer service and support softwareand customer relationship managementapplications. PRIDE, for example, hopes towork with partners to build an Internet-based virtual “back-office” and provide toolsthat are easier for poor clients to use – allwith the intent of making access to financialservices as widespread as the traditionalAfrican drum.

Micro-loans in their modern formwere pioneered by the GrameenBank to provide a source of credit

for poor people in Bangladesh. Today morethan 1,000 microfinance institutions offermicro-loans of between $150 and $500 to five million clients in poor rural communitiesor urban slums spread across Africa, Asia,and Latin America. Most such loans go towomen to enable them to expand small businesses. A track record of remarkablerepayment rates and success in helping

recipients climb out of povertyhave made micro-loans a favoriteof development agencies.

Yet relatively few poor peoplehave access to micro-loans –about five percent of an estimated500 million potential borrowersworldwide. Major reasons areinefficient practices and theresulting high costs of processingloans and keeping records. Fewif any microfinance institutions

are profitable, so they cannot tap banks or capital.

What may change this picture is the adventof digital tools to automate transactions andincrease efficiencies. Imagine a loan officer

Today more than 1,000

microfinance institutions

offer micro-loans of

between $150 and $500 to

five million clients in poor

rural communities or urban

slums spread across Africa,

Asia, and Latin America.

Expanding MicrofinanceWith Digital Technologies



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Taking Action

One direct way to close thedigital divide is simply toprovide the technology

and resources to get the job done. Many digital companies and theiremployees are doing just that. Some of these efforts are focused on kids and schools. Others focuson under-served communities, fromisolated Native American reserva-tions to inner-city neighborhoods tocommunity groups or non-profit organizations serving communitiesaround the world. A few efforts seekto engender a global community orto use the Internet as a means ofsolving global problems. Still others

focus on connecting their ownworkers in the United States andabroad. By any measure, the outpouring of philanthropic andcharitable efforts intended to pro-vide access and skills to the digitally disconnected is remarkable.

Kids and SchoolsSean aspires to go to college andbecome a graphics animator. Latoyais directing a movie and has usedthe Web to research colleges whereshe can pursue her newfound inter-est in science. Both credit theComputer Clubhouse at Boston’sMuseum of Science with giving

their lives direction. More than acool place to hang out after school,the Clubhouse offers youths fromage 8 to 18 mentors, access to tech-nology, and the chance to developtheir own projects, together withskills and self-confidence.

Now Intel and the MIT MediaLab are working with the Museumto spread the widely-acclaimedmodel. The Intel ComputerClubhouse Network plans to create100 clubhouses around the world by2005. In addition to financial andtechnical support, Intel will provideclubhouse mentors from its employeevolunteer program. Hewlett-Packard is providing computers,printers, and digital cameras, whileCovad Communications is provid-ing high-speed Internet links. TheNetwork makes a special effort toattract young women, setting asideMondays as Girls’ Day, a featurethat attracted 15 year-old Latoya.The project expects to open 20additional Computer Clubhousesthis year and 100 worldwide overthe next several years.

Taking a similar approach,PowerUP aims to help under-servedyouth succeed in the digital age byproviding access to the Internet,mentoring, and a safe learning The Computer Clubhouse at Boston's Museum of Science gives kids from 8 to 18

mentoring as well as access to technology.

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Visitors to www.wcom.com/marcopolo will see teacher materials in six subjects for all grade levels, the results of a partnership between the WorldCom Foundation andseven leading educational organizations.

environment. The initiative bringstogether major corporations, federalagencies, and non-profit organizationsto create or enhance technology centersin U.S. schools and communities.PowerUP will provide technologycenters with 50,000 Gateway computers from the Waitt FamilyFoundation, 100,000 Internetaccounts from AOL, and 400AmeriCorps*VISTA members toserve as full-time mentors. AOLhas also developed an online, interactive system for PowerUPthat helps kids find information and develop useful skills.

Taking aim directly at schools,Sun Microsystems’ Open GatewaysProgram enables expanded access tocurricula and reference materials forstudents and teachers alike by inte-grating network computing into primary and secondary schools. Theprogram also helps teachers sharelesson plans and lets school districtsbecome more efficient by linking alltheir schools together. Sun formspartnerships with schools interestedin adopting network computing,concentrating especially on assistingthose in economically disadvantagedcommunities. Sun and its employeesare also assisting America’s Promise,

contributing 20,000 hours of servicein schools and $5 million in equip-ment and teacher training to helpprepare youth for lifelong learning inthe 21st century.

Another school-oriented effort isCompaq’s techs4schools Program,a Web-based “virtual volunteer” ormentoring effort that the companyhelped to develop and launch inApril 2000. The program establishesa technology coordinator for eachschool or school district, then linkscoordinators over the Web with ateam of volunteer mentors whohave specialized skills in areas such

as computers, networking, software,or Internet technologies. The mentors answer questions channeledto them by the coordinator via thetechs4schools Web site, so that U.S.schools can get the help they needquickly and easily, regardless oftheir geographical location. Thetechs4schools effort is part ofTECH CORPS, a national non-profit organization dedicated toimproving K-12 education througheffective use of technology, whichCompaq also sponsors.

Even where classrooms havecomputers, effective integration ofthese tools and the Internet intoeducation remains a challenge.WorldCom and a number of leadingeducational organizations havedeveloped dynamic lesson plans,links to approved educational Websites, and educational materials formany curricula and grade levels – a complete set of Internet contentfor the classroom. These tools are available to teachers on WorldCom’sMarcoPolo Web site and the sites ofits partners, and cover six disciplines

"We have to move at a tremendously fast

pace, but at the same time we have to make

investments to address infrastructure, to

address education. And we have to not be

afraid to apply new business models."

Samme Thompson

Senior Vice President and Director

Strategy and Corporate Development

Motorola





than 10 million potential users and bring in substantial amounts of private capital, thecompany plans to sell shares through an initialpublic offering. The funds raised will be usedto provide access to students and schoolsthroughout the country. The goal is to have allArgentine students online within four years.

The initiative is expected to increase thenumber of Argentines with Internet accessfrom about three percent of the populationto 25 percent or more. This huge jump in connectivity among young people is expected

to give a big boost to e-commerce inArgentina. By ensuring that students graduatewell-trained in Internet skills, the initiativewill help create the talent pool necessary toenable growth of the e-economy in thatcountry. In long run, Varsavsky hopes, widespread skills and rapid creation of newjobs will lead to more equitable income distribution in Argentina and elsewhere. Anumber of other countries are already study-ing the portal to see whether they, likeArgentina, can turn their connectivity gapinto an opportunity. Equipment suppliersand e-commerce marketers take note.

Fewer than 200,000 of Argentina’s 10million students now have Internetaccess. This digital divide is common

to most developing countries. But inArgentina, it will rapidly disappear if aninnovative public-private partnership is successful. Initiated by Martin Varsavsky,an Argentine who has become a successfulInternet and telecommunications entrepre-neur in Europe, the partnership launched a national student Internet portal,www.educ.ar, in September 2000.

The content of the portal will be underthe control of the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry will use the site toconnect Argentina’s teachers andstudents and provide class listings,online registration, homeworkassignments, course materials,and readings. Every student inArgentina will receive an e-mailaddress and server space to create his or her own Web page.

Both students and teachers will have accessto the broader Internet through the portal;they will be able to link to thousands of Websites, but firewalls will prevent access toundesirable content.

The Ministry’s partner in the portal is anewly-formed private company, educ.ar S.A.The company will manage day-to-day operations of the portal and will have exclu-sive rights to the portal’s advertising and e-commerce potential. The income frombanner ads on the Web site, for example, willhelp to pay for operation of the portal. To tapthe commercial value of a portal with more

The [Educ.ar] initiative is

expected to increase the

number of Argentines with

Internet access from about

three percent of the popu-

lation to 25 percent or more.

Putting 10 Million Students Online in Argentina




from geography to humanities tomathematics. The WorldComFoundation also assists in teachertraining in all U.S. school districts.

One of the more remarkableefforts to close the digital dividethrough education started in a Rio deJaneiro slum. Rodrigo Baggio was amiddle class schoolteacher when hedecided to start a school for poor kidsto teach them both computer skillsand citizenship skills. He got corpo-rations to donate old computers, andtrained his best pupils to becometeachers themselves. The result is theCommittee for the Democratizationof Information Technology (CDI),which has grown into a network ofself-supporting schools in slums anddisadvantaged communities across

Brazil. Providing equipment for theseschools are major digital companiesincluding IBM. CDI has attractedinterest and imitation in a number ofother countries.

One novel computer-equippedclassroom is located at Myeka High School in rural South Africa.Solar panels power the computers, a television, and a satellite-linked connection to the Internet. Accordingto its principal, the new equipmenthas transformed the school, whichpreviously had no electricity, fewbooks, and fading morale; nowenrollments have risen, new educa-tional materials can be downloaded,and neighboring communities areclamoring for access. The school isa project of the U.S.-based Solar

Started by Rodrigo Baggio in a Rio de Janeiro slum, CDI now runs more than 50 schools in Brazil and neighboring countries toteach computer skills to disadvantaged children.

Electric Light Fund, which plansto work with companies and foun-dations to create similar schools inother rural areas.

Instead of assisting schools, somecompanies start their own. CiscoSystems now has Network Academiesin 83 countries around the world.The program is aimed at creating atalent pool and helping to solve theskills shortage that plagues theindustry. The academies offer a four-semester course that trains students todesign, build, and maintain networksthrough both formal instruction andhands-on, practical training. Studentslearn skills needed to qualify as Cisco Certified Network Associates, positioning themselves for jobs orengineering studies at a college level.



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Communities and Civil Society

In the economically depressedtown of East Palo Alto, Hewlett-

Packard is piloting its DigitalVillage Program, aimed at makinginformation and skills broadlyaccessible in under-served commu-nities. The company will developprograms for K-12 education, helpadults and kids in after school settings learn how to explore andcommunicate via the net, and helpfamilies with home-based Internettools and information. These components – HP@School, HP@Neighborhood, and HP@Home –will be developed in a three-yearpartnership with East Palo Alto andother communities so that theyserve the community’s real needs.

tions and business and foster inno-vative uses of technology within civilsociety, Ericsson’s InternetCommunity Awards (ERICA)Program runs a worldwide compe-tition to select the best ideas forWeb sites designed to serve socialpurposes. Winners each receive$100,000 in Web development serv-ices. The ERICA 2000 winnerswere announced at the CreatingDigital Dividends conference inSeattle and included the Fiji Schoolof Medicine, which will build aWeb-based telehealth network; anAtlanta-based group, PathwaysCommunity Network, that assiststhe homeless and will equip its

The company will contribute up to$15 million in cash and equipmentto three pilot communities.

A different but similarly-namedDigital Villages project takes place inSouth Africa. Managed by Africarewith support and technical helpfrom Eastman Kodak, Microsoft,Intel and other companies, it createscomputer education and resourcecenters that provide training andaccess to information technology for children in disadvantaged com-munities throughout the country.Volunteers from Lucent Technologiesand eBay are providing computersand Internet access for a school and an entire community in ruralGuatemala.

To build ties betweennon-governmental organiza-

In rural South Africa, the Solar Electric Light Fund has provided Myeka High School with solar panels that power not only a computer classroom, but also satellite-based Internet links.


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outreach teams with mobile accessto shelter information; and theGould League, an Australian conservation group that plans anonline learning simulation to pro-mote citizen education. Additionalwinners were a project to link upand help math teachers in ruralSouth Africa, and the U.S. NationalDown Syndrome Society. An additional prize, chosen by the public through online voting, wasawarded to Alley Cat Allies, whichworks to reduce the estimated 60million stray and wild cat populationthrough sterilization programs.

To help minorities and low incomefamilies gain access to the Internet,3Com’s Urban Challenge programprovides networking equipment andconsulting services to 10 U.S. cities,including Baltimore, Maryland, and

Glasgow, Kentucky. Grants to 10additional cities will be announcedin January 2001. Glasgow, for example, is building a citywide net-work to link all residents to publicschools and city services. In NewOrleans, 3Com is helping installcomputer kiosks throughout the citythat will link students who have

dropped out of school to trainingand employment opportunities. TheUrban Challenge program builds onsuccessful earlier efforts in Bostonand San Jose.

Helping minority groups tobuild Internet-based “tech centers”in cities is the goal of an AT&Teffort. Working with the National

Making Farming More Productive


because less than four percent of U.S. farmsnow use these new techniques. According toFrancis Pierce, Director of Washington StateUniversity’s Center for Precision Agriculture,the technology itself also needsimprovement. Today’s commer-cial agriculture depends on closeintegration among farmers, sup-pliers, and food companies andneeds an Internet-based technol-ogy that can accommodate far more data thanthe stand-alone PC-based tools available now.

The potential market for precision agricul-ture tools is growing rapidly. In the next fewyears an estimated 80,000 commercial farms in the United States and another 60,000 elsewhere could adopt advanced digital toolsand services.

Precision agriculture’s

benefits include higher

yields and less off-farm

pollution.

Record harvests in the United Statesare lowering the prices farmers getfor their crops. At the same time,

farmers are under pressure to lessen theirenvironmental impact, because agriculture isthe major source of U.S. water pollution.One way to cope with both these problemsis to reduce the use of expensive fertilizersand pesticides by using computers, digitalcontrollers on tractors and harvesters, andGPS satellite links that enable a new level ofprecision for farming. These technologies,collectively known as precision agriculture,can automatically match inputs to variablelocal conditions within a field. The benefitsinclude higher yields, cost savings, higherquality produce, and less off-farm pollution.

Most of these benefits still lie ahead,

“We need to find a way so that the next

wave of successful venture investment

outside the United States leads to creation

of new markets in the developing

countries themselves.”

Dan Rosen

Managing Partner

Frazier Technology Ventures





Urban League and the NAACP, thecompany is supporting neighbor-hood centers in seven cities withhigh minority populations. Thecenters provide online training forchildren, parents, and guardians aswell as a place for children to goafter school.

A similar effort by SBCCommunications will help theNAACP upgrade its own nationalinformation network that links itsheadquarters and seven regionaloffices. The organization hopes tooffer online services to its morethan half-million members, helpingto close the gap in the availability ofsuch services to minorities.

A Global Reach

C ould the Internet someday linkall of humanity into a global

family? Something like that visionunderlies the Planet Project, anInternet-based poll of millions ofpeople from all over the world.Launched by 3Com in November2000, with the help of many othercompanies, the project combinedtechnologies in novel ways to capture a portrait of the humancondition across geographic andcultural differences. The project

also sent thousands of volunteers to remote locations to include people who are not yet linked to theInternet. The results of the poll are available in eight languages at www.planetproject.com.

The Netaid project takes a simi-lar global stance, using the power of the Internet to tackle globalpoverty. Based on an unprecedentedpartnership between the UnitedNations and Cisco Systems, it

enables Internet users to becomedirectly involved in causes they care about, track donations to specificprojects, and see the difference they make. The project guarantees thatevery dollar donated reaches theintended recipients. Visitors towww.Netaid.org can give money,volunteer a few hours of their time,or help enlist others.

Launched with rock concertsbroadcast over the net, Netaid now

Chiapas Media Project camera workshop in the region of Altamirano, Chiapas.Women who attended this workshop spoke very little Spanish; their native dialectsare Tzeltal and Tojolabal. A couple of months later, two of the attendees helpedshoot a video, Women United, about women’s collective work in this region.

Netaid seeks to use the power of the Internet to combat poverty, by linking individual donors to specific projects throughwww.Netaid.org.

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supports youth projects, providesmaterials needed for children todevelop basic learning skills, andgives expectant mothers safer birthingkits. In Peru, for example, wherehalf the population lives in povertyand nearly one in four childrenleaves school before the fifth grade,Netaid is channeling support tohelp reduce the dropout rate. The“Two for One” project is coordi-nated through the Peruvian Ministryof Education and UNICEF. Theproject selects children at the bottomof their class, typically from familiesin poor communities that have little or no education. These childrenoften have no exposure to readingmaterials, so the project helps thesefirst and second graders develop thebasic skills needed to read and write

by teaming at-risk children withhigh school teens who give themindividualized attention and encour-agement. The children gain skillsand self-confidence, while theteenage mentors develop leadershipskills – hence the “Two for One”name. Groups of eight children and

Closing the Internet Skills Gap

S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G S E C T I O NCase

the company will loan trainees the money topay for the training, guarantee placement in ajob for those who successfully complete theprogram, and even forgive the loan for thosewho stay in that job at least ayear. The company expects tomake money by charging theemployers who hire its graduatesabout $67,000 per trainee, wellbelow typical hiring costs forInternet talent today.

iGeneration CEO Toby Coreypoints out that an estimated 10million young people in the United States areinterested in an Internet career, but many ofthem don’t know where to begin. He believeshis new company can give them a hand up,while also helping to relieve the industry’scritical labor shortages.

iGeneration says it can

train a motivated young

person with virtually no

computer background to

be a Web designer in as

little as six months.

There simply aren’t enough Web sitedesigners and programmers topower the new economy. As many

as 500,000 such U.S. jobs remain unfilled. Atthe same time, social concern is rising overthe many young people, often from minoritygroups, who lack access to computers andthe skills to use them.

A start-up, iGeneration, proposes a wayto solve both problems at the same time –profitably. The company has developed asystem to assess skills, provide a personalizedtraining course that teaches the skills neededto succeed in the current job market, andcertify the competence of its trainees topotential employers. iGeneration says it cantrain a motivated young person with virtual-ly no computer background to be a Webdesigner in as little as six months. Moreover,

“In China, the Internet is not an option. It

is the place where people will get their

news, their education, everything. For

1.2 billion people, it’s going to be their

primary means for accessing the world,

[so] it’s important that it happen quickly.”

Micah Truman

Co-founder and CEO

madeforchina.com

Study



three teen mentors meet weekly fortwo months to play educationalgames and research topics of com-mon interest. The results includehigher scores in standardized testsand lower dropout rates. Netaidsupport, provided by thousands ofindividual donors, gives critically




needed supplies and training for the project, which hopes to reach16,000 children by the end ofDecember 2000.

Microsoft’s InternationalCommunity Affairs program alsohas a global reach, providing $21million in support in 67 countriesover the past year. To support learn-ing through technology, the companyhas opened 500 new computer centers over the past year in schools,orphanages, community centers and libraries, in partnership withlocal organizations in dozens ofcountries from Malaysia to Ecuador.Additionally the company helpstrain laid-off workers in China,inmates of juvenile reformatories inSouth Korea, and disabled people in

the Czech Republic in IT skills thatcan create employment opportunities.Microsoft also supports disasterrelief efforts through refugee registration kits and databases tohelp reunite families.

To help field test new IT-baseddevelopment ideas, the WorldBank’s Information for Develop-ment Program manages a globaleffort to pool public and privatesector resources in support of innovative projects. Working withMotorola and other companies, theprogram has provided grants tomore than 90 projects in all regionsof the world. Projects have rangedfrom a computerized mobile bankin Ghana to computer training for poor women in India to creating

an information network linkingwomen’s groups across Africa.Motorola also fosters digital entre-preneurship among Latin Americanbusiness students in partnershipwith over 60 universities, through itsMission XXI program.

Empowering Employees

Some of Corporate America’smost imaginative efforts to

bridge the digital divide have comefrom main-line manufacturing ortransportation companies. Ford andDelta Air Lines generated headlinesand delighted their employees whenthey announced commitments toprovide their workers with personal computers and low-cost access tothe Internet. Ford, for example,

Can Digital Tools HelpManage the World’s Watersheds?


Faced with the complexity of an entirewatershed, the normal human response ispolitical paralysis, so there seems little question

that better tools are needed.If commercial versions of

today’s limited proto-types became avail-able, their providersmight find a ready

market for the soft-ware as well as for the

e-services to deploy andsupport such tools. More than1,000 major watersheds through-out the world face challenges similar to PugetSound. So if Seattle’s software mavens areagain to dine on Duwamish River salmon,their professional talents may be needed bothin their own backyards and around the globe.

Watershed management is a politicalhot potato virtually everywhere.The Pacific Northwest, for

example, is under court-ordered man-date to protect and re-introducesalmon into watersheds stressedby sprawling subdivisions, log-ging, and dams.

New software tools beingdeveloped by the University ofWashington and Battelle PacificNW National Laboratories can letcommunity and tribal leaders as well as policy-makers “see” the whole Puget Sound water-shed, analyze human impacts, and explorealternatives. The software simplifies resultsfrom sophisticated models of rainfall, waterrunoff, and estuarine conditions and displaysthese virtual watersheds over the Internet.

The Pacific Northwest is

under court-ordered

mandate to protect and

re-introduce salmon into

watersheds stressed by

sprawling subdivisions,

logging, and dams.


ADVERTISER/CONFERENCESPONSOR WEB ADDRESSES

3Comwww.3com.com

Compaqwww.compaq.com

Ericssonwww.ericsson.com

Hewlett-Packardwww.hp.com

iGeneration www.igeneration.com

Intelwww.intel.com

Lucent Technologieswww.lucent.com

Microsoftwww.microsoft.com

Motorolawww.motorola.com

Nokiawww.nokia.com

Weyerhaeuserwww.weyerhaeuser.com

WorldComwww.worldcom.com

For more information about theconference or follow-up activities,log on to www.digitaldividend.org

will give every one of its 350,000employees worldwide a home com-puter, color printer, and unlimitedInternet access for $5 per month.The monthly fee will be lower in developing parts of the world.

Ford hopes to boost the computerliteracy of its workforce, help workers become savvier about theneeds of their customers, and accel-erate the company’s push to use e-commerce in every aspect of itsbusiness. It also expects to improvethe company’s ability to communi-cate with its workers and savemoney in the process; an e-mailabout a new benefits package with a link to the company’s Web site isfar cheaper than mailing a bulkypackage of documents. Ford CEO Jacques Nasser already sendsa weekly e-mail to the company’swhite collar workers.

Delta’s Wired Workforce pro-gram will do much the same for its 72,000 employees, offering unlimitedInternet access costing $12 permonth. Besides home computers,the company will offer laptops toemployees who travel, so they canlog on from Rome, Rio de Janeiro,or almost anywhere to scheduleflights, check benefits, and commu-nicate with their families. As Delta

points out, even its baggage handlersnow use digital tools, so the companyexpects to gain from the increasedcomputer skills of its workers.Enron, Avon, American Airlines,and The New York Times havebegun similar programs. ■

“Now for the first time we may have

tools that could empower people – tools

that could raise productivity, incomes,

and human welfare, and reinforce a

trend toward more transparent and

democratic governments.”

William D. Ruckelshaus

Chairman, World Resources Institute

Shakir Mack, a seventh grader from the South Bronx, and his father, Eddie Mack,learn word processing together at a Computers for Youth (www.cfy.org) Saturdaytraining session. At its completion, the Macks are free to take the computer home.

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but only if they were precisely this season’scolors, can use new technologies for colormatching that ensure the artisan can deliverjust what is needed. Design, ordering, andpurchasing can happen in real time, with Viatruensuring on-time delivery of the products,and a transparent window into the source.

The result? The retailer can offer theircustomers unique high quality products pro-duced in a sustainable, socially responsiblemanner, and a connection to the creator.Artisans get access to remote markets, reli-able incomes, and a way to differentiate thespecial nature of their work. Viatru FounderMichelle Long points out that as informationtechnologies shrink the distances betweenrural villages and developed cities, they areopening communication linkswith nearly three billion peopleliving in previously isolatedcommunities – a huge poten-tial human resource. Shebelieves that consumersincreasingly want informationabout the impact their purchases haveon people and planet and will welcome ameaningful connection to other cultures. Thecompany hopes not just to profitably linklarge retailers and small artisan businesses,but also to help sustain rural communities andthe traditional skills that are part of their –and now the world’s – culture.

Some of the most talented artisans inthe world come from developing com-munities where unique skills in making

tapestries, pottery, jewelry, rugs and manyother traditional crafts have been passed downfor generations. But many such artisans lackaccess to markets; buyers for major retailersdon’t visit Tansen, Nepal or Cochaquinray,Peru. For all too many artisans, making an adequate income means forsaking their

craft and moving to an alreadycongested city.

Can Internet commerce helppreserve the artisan tradition andthe culture it embodies? A start-up called Viatru thinks it has aworkable business model to dojust that. It is building an unusualinfrastructure to link artisans withmajor retailers over the Internet.Large mainstream retailers

interested in the traditional metal-workingskills found in Tansen, Nepal or regions ofChile, can work with the artisans over the Netto create a design for a vase or bowl thatwould sell well in their stores. A buyer inter-ested in hand-painted ceramics from Peru,

The result is unique, hand-

crafted products produced

in a sustainable, ‘socially

responsible’ manner, as

well as access to remote

markets and more reliable

incomes for artisans.

Linking Village Artisansto Global Markets


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igital technologies can increase productivity even in poor

communities. More productivity brings higher incomes and a

greater ability for people to meet their basic needs. Herein lies

a wonderful opportunity for business to link the creation of new digital

markets to the advancement of humankind and to help people everywhere

participate in the social and economic possibilities of the digital age.

These are lofty goals. But the challenge, as Professor C.K. Prahalad of the

University of Michigan reminds us, “is not about lack of opportunity;

it is about lack of imagination.”

Clearly, corporations must lead the way in creating digital dividends

for all humanity. We thank the distinguished companies who sponsored

the Creating Digital Dividends Conference and participated in this

special section for their imagination and leadership in supporting this

important initiative.

Fabric merchants in Sa'dan Village, Sulawesi, Indonesia

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Digital Divide - WRI