Growth Opportunity: Enabling Tech Innovation In Emerging Countries
Non-profit organizations and technology companies in emerging nations are empowering women, saving livelihoods, and reviving crumbling economies
- How inequality is deepening: 11 percent of the population are in extreme poverty
- Examples of how technology and smart collaborations are improving prospects
- How organizations could to more to provide tools and education to the most in need
More than a quarter of a billion more people will sink into extreme poverty by the end of 2022, according to Oxfam calculations. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as someone living on less than US$2.15 daily. So what does this mean for growth in terms of personal development and the health of local economies in the most-impacted countries?
The post-pandemic combination of rising global inequality, broken supply chains, and surging food and energy prices—a situation worsened by the ongoing war in Ukraine—could push 860 million people below this mark before the year is over. Considering the United Nations projected the world population to hit an all-time high of eight billion in November 2022, almost 11 percent will live in extreme poverty.
Wealthier nations will likely recover quicker from the crises, thanks to record sums borrowed at ultra-low interest rates. However, it will be incredibly challenging for emerging countries as they will be forced to service their debt instead of prioritizing sustainable growth.
If the coronavirus crisis has taught business leaders anything, it is that organizations must collaborate and position people and the planet before profit. As governments worldwide continue to be slow to take action for meaningful change—whether combatting the climate crisis or supporting digital entrepreneurs—citizens are increasingly looking to businesses for inspiration.
Boldness and growth are two of the Art of Smart’s four pillars for smarter decision-making, and on this occasion, they go hand in hand. The boldest and most selfless example of this in recent times is the clothing brand Patagonia. In September 2022, founder Yvon Chouinard gifted the US$3 billion outdoor-apparel retailer to a trust and a non-profit organization. “Earth is now our only shareholder,” he said.
Pleasingly, there is a growing list of smaller-scale examples where boldness and innovation—a third Art of Smart pillar—are helping people, especially in emerging countries, and enabling sustainable growth. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and technology companies are collaborating to create meaningful change and opportunities for those who need it most.
For instance, in India, Ideosync Media Combine (IMC), WeWork and StrongHer Ventures are all upskilling and empowering women. Elsewhere, the Celo Foundation and Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV) are creating digital employment for Kenya’s youth, Betterfly is giving people in Latin America a leg up, and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) has come to the rescue of smallholder farmers.
Empowering women in India
In 2019, IMC—an NGO that provides marginalized communities with digital media and information literacy skills—created a 16-week program to teach girls living in Delhi’s slums how to navigate and take control of the digital space to make their voices heard. “Through our program, the girls have learned how to create videos, conduct podcasts, spot fake news on social media, report online bullying, and seek employment,” continues Arora.
There are countless success stories. Thanks to the confidence and skills gained through the program, one young woman left a violent marriage. Another alerted her local authority about an overflowing drain via a video on social media. The blockage was cleared the following day.
Additionally, WeWork India and StrongHer Ventures—the world’s first venture-capital firm primarily focused on women—have launched Arise, a program to boost female entrepreneurship. The Economic Times reports that Arise will involve more than a million women in India over the next five years. It hopes to double the number of female leadership positions and reduce the gender wage gap by 50 percent.
Social barriers, limited digital literacy, a lack of financial independence, and online harassment all contribute to a lower rate of smartphones and mobile internet usage among women and girls in India. Through our program, the girls have learned how to create videos, conduct podcasts, spot fake news on social media, report online bullying, and seek employment.
Offering employment in Kenya
MCV partnered with the Celo Foundation—a US-based non-profit organization using innovative blockchain technology to support the growth and development of the open-source Celo Platform—to enable Kenya’s youth to generate income through digital microwork. Digital microwork means breaking down large technology projects into thousands of small tasks that may be completed in minutes and can be done from anywhere, anytime, using a smartphone.
“We ran many pilots in the last two years to show how digital microwork can solve Kenya’s unemployment issue and how stablecoin simplifies international micro-payments,” says Kou. “Through the pilots, we taught hundreds of young people to access digital microwork and get paid in stablecoins [a type of cryptocurrency],” he adds.
Mercy Corps and the Celo Foundation are not the only ones supporting people in Africa. Equally impressive is the work being done by the AATF by providing smallholder farmers with efficient, affordable agricultural technology that boosts production and incomes.
AATF has many initiatives under its belt to increase crop yields and improve the health of harvests. These include Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Pod Borer Resistant Cowpea Project, and Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-processing Project (CAMAP).
Enabling healthy habits in Latin America
Through Betterfly, companies can offer life insurance to their employees. The coverage expands as they keep registering healthier habits using an app that includes telemedicine, psychology, nutrition, fitness, and other services. Plus, they may transform their healthy activities into donations to small causes. Further, Betterfly has donated three million meals to children, planted 300,000 trees, and supplied millions of liters of clean water.
The bold actions of Patagonia’s founder gained headlines. Still, as seen in the above examples, small-to-medium-sized organizations, NGOs, and NFPs, are collaborating to uplift the people in emerging countries.
Following their lead, business leaders across various sectors can join forces and take action to preserve the planet and its inhabitants, achieving sustainability and long-term profit and growth. After all, as Wendell Berry, an American novelist, and environmental activist, says: “The Earth is what we all have in common.”
Key takeaway questions
- As a leader, could you—and your organization—do more to support and empower the most in need?
- How are you supporting your local communities and engaging with them to grow a mutually beneficial ecosystem?
- With a global economic recession looming, are you doing enough to support your employees, financially and in terms of wellbeing?
- To what extent could your organization “do a Patagonia” and make Earth a stakeholder?
