World Resources Institute
Date Initiated: January 2002

Markle's work with the World Resources Institute (WRI) generated greater understanding within the business sector about the potential of information and communications technologies (ICT) in developing nations. Using case studies of entrepreneurs in developing nations, along with additional research and new analytic work, WRI demonstrated the market and development potential of technology-oriented enterprises in poor countries.

The case studies were assembled in a report to show how businesses can serve the world's poor, profitably--delivering social and economic benefit in developing nations while also making a return on their investment. This report co-sponsored by the Markle Foundation and the World Resources Institute focuses on innovative business models--many of them made possible by increasingly available digital technologies--to address these untapped markets.

The report, which was published in the Harvard Business Review, also details the social benefits of bringing poor communities into the market and providing them with efficient and affordable access to basic goods and services. "Serving the Poor, Profitably" was co-authored by noted business scholar C.K. Prahalad and by Allen Hammond, World Resources Institute's chief information officer.