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WDI’s Development Consulting Services has been selected to provide strategic advice to Kazakhstan Economic University (KazEU). The award was given by the European Foundation for Central Asia (EFCA), which conducts the work of the Eurasia Foundation in Central Asia. A WDI team of consultants will travel to the Kazakhstan city of Almaty in the coming weeks to make recommendations for modifying the university’s mid-term and long-term strategic plans. This will strengthen the university’s market position, enhance its educational services, and improve its management structure. 

The first group of graduates from the Goldman Sachs Entrepreneur Certificate Program recently met for a reunion. The reunion was an opportunity for the 29 women, who graduated from the program in February 2009, to receive additional business training, network with other program graduates, learn about funding opportunities, address specific challenges they’ve faced, and complete a detailed survey on their professional and personal development since graduating from the program. The survey results were positive - three-fourths of the women with a business at the start of the program reported a growth in profit since graduation with a majority of the women reporting growth of at least 10%.

The director of GE Healthcare’s Rural Health Research and Development will speak at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12 in Room E1550 at the Ross School of Business. A reception will follow. Rex Widmer’s talk, “A Rural Health Initiative for the Base of the Pyramid: GE Healthcare’s Vision and Strategy,” is part of the WDI Global Impact Speaker Series.

WDI's Development Consulting Services, along with several partners in Jordan, is organizing the first international conference on natural resources management in that country. The aim of the conference is to address integrated natural resources management by gathering all the stakeholders and decision makers to discuss why it is important for the sustainability of the ecosystem.

Ted London’s MBA course on business strategy and poverty alleviation at the base of the pyramid begins Nov. 3. For the second year in a row, the fall B class will be offered at night. Growing interest by Evening MBA students prompted the Ross School to make the class available then. About 100 students are expected to take the class.

Stuart Hart, director of WDI’s Green Leap Research Initiative, will talk about food security at an upcoming conference in Washington, D.C. Khalid Al-Naif, director of WDI’s Development Consulting Services, will moderate a panel discussion on the topic following Hart's speech. Hart will be the keynote speaker on the second day of the five-day SEEP (Small Enterprise Education and Promotion) Network Annual Conference called Powering Connections ’09.

WDI has been awarded a three-year grant by Higher Education for Development (HED) to partner with Mentouri University in Constantine, Algeria to improve the school’s capacity to provide effective teaching, curriculum, and research in English and business management. Using real-world learning and experiences, the partnership will create a career center, develop English language training curricula, and enhance the faculty’s ability to teach a modern business management curriculum at the university. WDI also will implement a collaborative “train the trainer” program while also engaging the private sector to integrate key skills and knowledge that is needed in the workplace.

About 50 services marketing executives will attend a two-day Strategic Services Marketing Management program starting Oct. 15 in Panama City, Panama organized by WDI. It will be taught by John Branch, a WDI faculty affiliate and faculty member at Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Branch recently sat down for a Q&A on services marketing.

The base of the pyramid (BoP) presentation by Ted London and Stuart Hart on Oct. 1 is now available for viewing. London’s presentation is available in Windows Media Player or QuickTime. Hart’s presentation also is available in either Windows Media Player or QuickTime. London and Hart discussed how the BoP field has evolved in the 10 years since the idea was first articulated. The talk, part of the WDI Global Impact Speaker Series, took place in Blau Auditorium at the Ross School of Business. The two also gave their views on what has been learned so far, the challenges ahead, and the future opportunities.

Work has begun on the Expanded and Sustained Access to Financial Services (ESAF) project which was recently awarded to WDI and its partners by USAID. The goal of the program is to build a more inclusive financial sector in the West Bank Territories by increasing sustainable access to financial services for households and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

During the program inception stage, WDI was able to pinpoint where the weaknesses and potential for growth lay in each institution and how to address them. As a result, the areas of WDI’s technical assistance – and its budget - were expanded significantly. “Post-conflict economic growth and policy reform have been two of the long-standing core competencies of DCS,” said Khalid Al-Naif, DCS director.

Three of the top scholars on the Base of the Pyramid topic will discuss how the field has evolved in the 10 years since the idea was first articulated. The talk, part of the WDI Global Impact Speaker Series, is at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1 in Blau Auditorium at the Ross School of Business. Stuart Hart, Ted London, and C.K. Prahalad also will give their views on what has been learned so far, the challenges ahead, and the future opportunities.  

Like many women in Rwanda, the 1994 genocide was full of tragedy and heartache for Placidie Murebwayire. Unlike most women in her country, she was able to use the hardships from that time to motivate her to become a successful businesswoman. To accomplish this, however, took a reunion with her long-lost mother, a return of her faith, and a resumption of her education.

Since the February conclusion of the first Goldman Sachs Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, Anastasie Nyirabukeye – one of two grand prize winners of the business plan competition that capped the six-month program administered by WDI - has made some changes to her business. One of the first changes was how Nyirabukeye, who owns a lumberyard, furniture manufacturing business, and construction company, manages her staff. Prior to being selected for the program, she said spoke harshly to her employees. She thought that was the only way to get them to work properly.

 

A new online resource for faculty interested in teaching finance and sustainability has been created by WDI’s Educational Outreach (EO). The resources include materials used in Professor Gautam Kaul’s “Finance and the Sustainable Enterprise” course at Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Teaching cases and notes, the course syllabus, commentary on class sessions, and a community forum all can be found online at GlobaLens, EO’s website that serves as an aggregator and distributor for international business teaching materials. Access to the resources, however, is limited to those educators registered with GlobaLens. Here is a YouTube video of Kaul discussing his course.

WDI, in partnership with the College of Engineering and the School of Art and Design, has designed a multidisciplinary course in social entrepreneurship. Moses Lee, a research associate with the Institute’s Educational Outreach initiative, will be one of the instructors.

The newly redesigned Davidson Institute Review, WDI’s twice-yearly newsletter, can be read online. Click here to read the newsletter. The 28-page summer newsletter, the largest ever, chronicles the activities of the Institute for the past six months and also looks ahead to planned events in the next half year. Including in this issue are articles on WDI’s work in Rwanda, the death of Institute founder Bill Davidson, a look at the summer internships, and updates on the research and program initiatives.