2007年VOA标准英语-World Bank Boosts Entrepreneurs with Social Goa

By Michael Bowman
Washington
19 April 2007

It has been said that the best social program is a job. But a new generation of entrepreneurs is going beyond providing employment in developing nations to embracing and promoting social progress as part of their business model. With the backing of the World Bank, they are helping¹ transform poverty-plagued regions from the Americas to Africa to Asia. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, where a group of such entrepreneurs recently met with World Bank officials.

School children gather around a mobile Internet classroom in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh's Bithoor village (file photo)

Seven years ago, Satyan Mishra launched a campaign to bring Internet access and web-related services to India's vast rural areas -- which are grossly under-served by the country's main information and telecommunications providers. At first, he says, he faced formidable obstacles.

"India, fundamentally, is not a very entrepreneurial-friendly country, he said. "We have some great entrepreneurs in the cities, but in the villages it is very difficult to even think of doing something on your own. We have always looked at ourselves as a welfare economy."

"Empowerment is directly against the bureaucratic² system. The bureaucrats³ like people to be dependent on them. If information is the key, if people have the knowledge, then they are not dependent. And that is not good for the bureaucrats," he continued.

But Mishra's idea caught the attention of the Grassroots Business Initiative of the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, which saw the initiative's potential to link rural India to the global economy, boost access to information and services, and spawn⁴ commercial and socially beneficial activity.

GBI backed Mishra's vision with financing and technical assistance. Today, his company, Drishtee, oversees⁵ a network of more than 1,500 Internet kiosks in villages across India, and aims to add thousands more in coming years.

While Mishra forged Drishtee, American entrepreneur Jeremy Hockenstein fell in love with Cambodia during a visit to Phnom Penh. Hockenstein, who has a background in information technology, launched a data entry firm in Cambodia with a unique business model.

"Our incoming employees are paid about three times the average income in the country," said Hockenstein. "The heart of our program is that employees work half a day -- go to work six hours a day and go to school the other six hours a day. Most of our employees are in their early 20s. This is a way for them to have both a first job experience and to further their education."

The enterprise, called Digital Divide Data, also has the support of the Grassroots Business Initiative. DDD has almost single-handedly forged a new industry for Cambodia and helped generate entrepreneurial activity.

"Former employees of ours have gone on to start other firms. And so I think we have played our role and within Cambodia put it on the map, [demonstrated] that it is possible to have an IT [information technology] sector⁶. We can do this," said Mishra.

Most new businesses require venture capital. But seed money is not always available in remote, underdeveloped regions of the world. Even where start-up funds are available, many investors⁷ shy away from ventures that emphasize social development rather than focusing exclusively on the bottom line.

That is where the Grassroots Business Initiative comes in. GBI Director Harold Rosen says he is proud of both Drishtee and Digital Divide Data, and hopes they can serve as models for other ventures.

"Both of them are making big strides towards becoming self-sustaining businesses," he said. "But they are also doing something wonderful developmentally for people that usually do not get that much help out of the trickle-down [economic] approach."

Other GBI-backed enterprises include a network of low-cost pharmacies⁸ and clinics in Kenya, an association of female handicraft artisans in Swaziland, and an initiative to engage indigenous⁹ people of the Amazon in creating paper products from readily grown plants.

Rosen says he sees GBI as playing a role in a larger battle to promote sustainable development on the world stage.

"It is fine to view the poor as a potential market, but they also need to create wealth. And, to take care of the poverty problem, we are going to have to find ways for people to make a sensible decision to stay in rural areas, and ways for them to make a living, and maybe even better their lives," said Rosen.

GBI's services begin with a diagnostic phase in which business ventures are evaluated, and needs and obstacles identified. An action plan is then formed, with targets for business development and social goals, followed by an assistance program to launch and sustain the operation.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

3 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

4 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

5 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

9 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。