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CONTENTS

1. Just Announced! Pro Bono Consulting from Columbia School of Business MBAs

2. New Projects in the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse: Datamation IT Training-and-Hiring Program for Needy Women (India), Information Brokers (Costa Rica)

3. Make the Clearinghouse Work For You! My Desktop

4. Discussion Spotlight Computer Trash or Computer Treasure?

5. Funding Opportunities: COL-PROTEIN, infoDev Incubator Support Center (iDISC)

1. Pro Bono Consulting from Columbia School of Business MBAs

Could your project benefit from free business development consulting services? Digital Dividends has partnered with Columbia University's new Global Business and Development Laboratory to provide Clearinghouse projects with 160-320 hours of free consulting from its MBA candidates. Teams of 2-4 students will work with projects via e-mail and phone throughout the fall and deliver a final end-product (a report, a financial model, a business plan, a case study, etc) to the client project in December. Consultant teams may also travel to visit and work at the client project site for 1-3 weeks in January, depending on the availability of travel funds.

MBA students are an average of 27 years old with 5 years of business experience--they are professionals who have the potential to make considerable contributions to the projects they work with. If your project would benefit from free consulting services, please contact Digital Dividends for more information.

2. New Projects in the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse: Datamation IT Training-and-Hiring Program for Needy Women (India), Information Brokers (Costa Rica)

22 new projects have been added to the Clearinghouse since our last newsletter. Among the highlights...

Datamation, a leading IT services firm in India, has partnered with several local non-profits to implement a socially responsible--and financially advantageous--strategy for growing its pool of skilled employees: training and hiring poor, previously unskilled women. With Datamation support, local women's groups provide free basic computer training with a focus on simple but high-demand skills like data entry. Datamation then hires qualified training graduates into salaried positions in the company. These women now make up over 140 or 10% of the company's total employee base, and Datamation is working to expand the program. Learn more

The HP e-Inclusion Team has developed a business concept based on marketing IT-based services locally, through motivated business entrepreneurs, in distant regions in developing countries. IT-trained local entrepreneurs, known as "Information Brokers," go door-to-door selling e-mail access, Web browsing, and information download services for nominal fees. The brokers have been warmly welcomed by clients--villagers who have no other means of access to Internet communication and information tools due to distance, illiteracy, lack of computer knowledge or fear of the technology. Learn more

*You can view and comment on these and other projects when you visit the Clearinghouse

3. Make the Clearinghouse Work For You! My Desktop

The Digital Dividend Project Clearinghouse provides access to more than 600 projects worldwide. As a registered user, you can use the "My Desktop" feature to help organize and manage the project data according to your own individual needs. "My Desktop" provides you with one-click access to all of the projects and ideas you've submitted, as well as to projects other users have sent to your DropBox. The Desktop also contains your Alert Box, which automatically notifies you when new projects you are interested in are added to the Clearinghouse. Registration in the Clearinghouse is free.

To create your own Desktop and more, register now

4. Discussion Spotlight: Computer Trash or Computer Treasure?

One man's trash is another man's treasure. As many of the projects in the Clearinghouse demonstrate, there is a desperate need for computers, even 'obsolete' ones, in the developing world, particularly in schools. While some programs recycle and refurbish these computers abroad, there is an issue of exportation of hazardous computer waste from developed countries to the developing world. What can be done on a macro level to address this problem? How do your programs and organizations deal with this issue?

Al Hammond gives us an idea: "Despite problems, I think that there is a huge need for used computers in developing countries. The key to tapping this treasure on a larger scale is more automated mechanisms for facilitating corporate write-offs or donations and an automated "marketplace" where donors and recipients can find each other. DevelopmentSpace is becoming something close to the latter, and several groups are developing approaches to facilitate donations and tax write-offs."

"But these are short-term solutions for the next several years. What will begin to become available by then are digital access devices specifically designed for conditions, needs, and price points in developing countries. A 4-in-1 computer (4 keyboards and monitors sharing a single CPU) for telecenters that HP Labs in India is developing is one example. New circuit and imaging device fabrication techniques--printing them in sheets--will drive prices even lower, while getting rid of some of the toxic materials found in today's CRT monitors. I expect to see $100 devices that will meet the needs of many people at the bottom of the economic pyramid--and will enable far more widespread access to IT tools and services."

Do you have any ideas? Share your opinions

5. Funding Opportunities

COL-PROTEIN
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is now accepting proposals through its PROTEIN (Poverty Reduction Outcomes through Education Innovations and Networks) program. Providing expertise and limited financial support, the competition is open to established not-for-profit organizations seeking to address challenges relating to food security, environmental protection or rural development in Sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia. The application deadline is August 15, 2002. For more information or to apply online, click here

infoDev Incubator Support Center (iDISC)
The infoDev Incubator Initiative wants to establish the first common repository of knowledge, best practices, experience and services - specifically targeted to address the challenges and opportunities facing technology and business incubators in developing countries. infoDev is seeking an organization to run the Incubator Support Center (iDISC), which will provide informational, organizational, and technical support to incubators from developing countries during the implementation of the Incubator Initiative. Interested organizations, including for-profit, not-for-profit, and public-private consortiums may apply before September 2nd, 2002. For more information, click here