My year-long stay in India focused on introducing a smokeless chulha technology into a poor, urban community through a generation of grassroots demand and locally fulfilled supply. The objective of the project was to achieve sustainable, developmental progress with minimal external financial contribution or future support. Using a variety of techniques, from controlled experiments to interactive meetings, the families of Behrampura, Ahmedabad, began to see the benefits of a new, more appropriate and beneficial type of cooking stove.

Research has shown that private schools for the poor provide a better quality of education than government schools. However, they face the challenges of a regulated education sector where government approvals are extremely hard to get. Private entrepreneurs or “edupreneurs” are denied finance by banks. Those serving low income communities are unable to charge high fees and are therefore forced to recruit unqualified, inexperienced teachers who cannot deliver a high quality of education. What then is the solution for parents from low-income communities who want their child to receive a decent quality of education at an affordable price?

In Zambia, raising cattle is a risky business. A whole range of diseases attacks the country’s herds with depressing regularity, killing hundreds, if not thousands of cows with each outbreak. The cost of disease weighs most heavily on the rural poor — a large percentage of rural households depend on cattle to a certain extent, to ensure their livelihoods. Here, as in many parts of Africa, cattle are a traditional store of value, a kind of bank account on hooves.

“Thank You!” a villager exclaims to the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT) team. He points over to his concrete house, “I built that from money I earned growing tomatoes! ALT Projet Radio taught me how to grow tomatoes!” The ALT team had never before met this man, but their encounter was a powerful reminder of the linkages between education, information, and empowerment that their radio network reinforces.

It is undeniable that immigrants are a tremendous economic force, both here, in the United States, and abroad. Their enthusiastic participation in international workforces, combined with a propensity to fulfill economic niches, creates for them a role as potential market catalysts. In the United States, and in other international settings, immigrants are predominantly an “untapped” market resource in and of themselves. Investigation into the nature of immigrant culture has sparked an interesting plan of action to integrate them further into our national business model.

Spearheading the revolution of providing quality healthcare to the needy, Aravind Eye Hospital (AEH), Madurai, has won as many accolades from management gurus for its effective business model, as from its millions of patients. And why not? From a 11-bed Hospital in Madurai to the largest provider of eye care services in the world, Aravind has come a long way indeed.

Kishore Biyani, whose Future Group changed the country's retail landscape through unconventional ways, is taking a step further by exploring possibilities of tapping the potential of urban slums. On the heels of setting up neighbourhood new format stores named KB's Fair Price shops, the group is toying with the idea of taking retailing to the bottom of the pyramid in urban areas -- the slums.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will invest in VenturEast Proactive Fund in India, which will support early-stage businesses that are building globally competitive technologies as well as mature sector businesses that will use technology to build leadership. An important approach of the fund will be to back businesses that help address the digital divide, helping technology reach more people at the “bottom of the pyramid” as well as serving the needs of small and medium enterprises.

Like so many others who found their fortune with Microsoft, Peter Bladin left the company and embarked on a second career to try to make the world a better place.

From his office in Seattle, Bladin has set his philanthropic sights on Africa — much like his former boss, Bill Gates. But Bladin is not aiming to distribute vaccines and bed nets. He has a much different weapon for the war on poverty.

A mobile phone.

A surge in investment in solar power is bringing down costs of the alternative energy source, but affordability problems still dog hopes for the 1.6 billion people worldwide without electricity.

The sun supplies only a tiny fraction -- less than one tenth of 1 percent -- of mankind's energy needs. But its supporters believe a solar era may be dawning, boosted by western funding to combat oil "addiction" and climate change.

Governments from Japan to Germany and the United States are helping the public wean themselves off fossil fuels.