Publication: How Technology Creates Markets: Trends and Examples for Private Investors in Emerging Markets
Loading...
Date
2018-04-01
ISSN
Published
2018-04-01
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Technological progress is often associated with the creation of novel and useful products through innovation and ingenuity. Yet in several emerging markets, including low-income economies, it is often more common to adopt, adapt, and scale technologies created elsewhere.By doing so, private enterprises in these countries could use technology to create markets and expand their product and service offerings to unserved and underserved residents, a process that produces new customers, buyers, sellers, and employees. This transforms the pursuit of profits into a driver of economic growth, as well as higher productivity and living standards, and gives technology a central role in emerging market development.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“International Finance Corporation. 2018. How Technology Creates Markets: Trends and Examples for Private Investors in Emerging Markets. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30196 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Publication Banking on FinTech in Emerging Markets(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2022-01)Despite near-universal access to financial services in advanced economies, financial exclusion is stubbornly persistent in many emerging markets, leaving huge swaths of low-income populations unbanked or underbanked. FinTech companies, which apply innovative technologies to deliver such services in new ways, have begun to tap into the enormous unmet demand that this represents. These companies are starting to thrive in emerging markets, though regulatory issues, particularly weak consumer protection measures, remain to be resolved in many countries. If these can be overcome, and more progress toward universal access to digital infrastructure can be made, FinTechs will continue to scale and spread.Publication Financing Deep Tech(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10)Deep tech companies - those built on advances in biotechnology, robotics, electronics, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technologies—aim to solve complex social and environmental challenges. Today the majority of deep tech companies are being launched in developed countries, yet the solutions they can provide are applicable globally. Many of these solutions are especially critical to emerging markets, as the intractable challenges of climate, health, and connectivity, among other issues, disproportionately affect these nations. Addressing these challenges is a strategic priority for development finance institutions and governments worldwide, so financing deep tech companies and boosting deep tech ecosystems in order to deliver new solutions globally is a pressing matter. Doing so, however, requires substantial capital and carries a higher degree of risk than ordinary venture investments. This note examines the process of financing a deep tech company, including the benefits and drawbacks of currently available types of financing, and suggests examples of promising but not yet widespread alternatives.Publication Sustainability-Linked Finance(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2022-01)Sustainability-linked finance is designed to incentivize the borrower’s achievement of environmental, social, or governance targets through pricing incentives. Launched in 2017, it has now become the fastest-growing sustainable finance instrument, with over $809 billion issued to date in sustainability-linked loans and bonds. Yet these instruments are still nascent in emerging markets, which represent only 5 percent of total issuance to date. This note shares examples of recent sustainability-linked financing, including several involving IFC in various roles, to highlight how investors can utilize these new instruments in emerging markets and mitigate greenwashing risksPublication Enabling Private Investment in 5G Connectivity in Emerging Markets(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2021-04)This note proposes a high-level framework to assess challenges and policy options to enabling private sector-led investment in 5G connectivity in emerging markets. 5G is the latest mobile network technology and it has the potential to provide high-speed Internet connectivity and enable digital transformation across multiple sectors of an economy. The proposed framework leverages industry data to articulate the digital divide and benchmark the enabling environment for 5G connectivity in emerging markets. The note concludes with recommendations on policy options and business strategies, drawing from early experiences in advanced markets and major opportunities and challenges in emerging markets.Publication Enabling A Competitive Mobile Sector in Emerging Markets Through the Development of Tower Companies(International Finance Corporation, Washington, D.C., 2021-06)Sharing mobile network infrastructure through specialized companies called towercos is a business model with the potential to accelerate access to quality mobile connectivity for individuals and businesses in emerging markets. A significant number of developing countries have yet to adopt this model, however, and many others continue to struggle with competition issues within their tower markets. This note provides the rationale and policy options for a light regulatory regime that can enable the entry and sustainable development of a dynamic market for towercos in emerging markets. The note also discusses the evolution of the towerco model into small cells and distributed antenna systems, both of which help enable high-speed mobile connectivity technologies like 4G and 5G.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Policy Note on the Business Environment for Inclusive Business Models(Washington, DC, 2012)This policy note has two goals. First, to assess whether inclusive business models face specific regulatory hurdles. Second, to recommend policies that creates a business environment conducive to inclusive business. Little research has been conducted on the first goal. This note analyzes survey answers from companies that applied to the G20 Challenge. These companies were asked to rank regulatory obstacles and explain whether these obstacles created significant hurdles to their ability to serve the base of the pyramid. On the second goal, this note highlights policy recommendations for governments, development finance institutions and donors. It also includes policy measures specific to countries and contexts. Some policy measures address regulatory hurdles for inclusive business models. Others support inclusive business models by providing incentives when needed. The first section analyzes survey answers from the 167 applicants for the G20 Challenge. The starting point was to listen to businesses a logical place to begin when seeking to improve the business environment. The second section describes policy measures for business models that include the base of the pyramid as producers or suppliers, focusing on agriculture. Businesses that source from small farmers have inclusive business models because they integrate farmers in their value chains. Small farmers are often considered base of the pyramid if their income is low or they lack basic goods or services. The third section describes policy measures for business models that include the base of the pyramid as customers particularly models that provide affordable housing, health, education and basic financial services. In many countries basic services are still mainly provided by the public sector or recently privatized companies and more stringent regulations often apply. This section describes regulations and policies that affect inclusive business models in these sectors. The fourth section describes roles for governments, development finance institutions and donors in supporting inclusive business models. The business environment is important because companies that do business with the base of the pyramid need to understand new markets, understand the market behavior of base of the pyramid customers, appraise new risks and develop new systems, business processes and training. Companies with inclusive business models also face perceptions from investors and lending institutions that the base of the pyramid is riskier than other markets.Publication Transforming East African ICT Sector by Creating a Business Engine for SMEs(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011)For the purposes of this project, the East African countries included in the study were Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The focus for this project was Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as for-profit or nonprofit organizations with less than 50 employees and not exceeding USD 1,000,000 in annual revenues/turnover. The main output of this project was a proposed program of interventions to drive transformational change. To succeed in this ambitious endeavor, the project articulated clear objectives and designed a blueprint for implementation including levels of resourcing, budget and monitoring metrics. Over the course of the project the team conducted brief surveys with over 90 entrepreneurs, over 50 percent of who had 3-10 years of experience in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and primarily worked at companies with 5 employees or less.Publication IFC Mobile Money Study 2011(Washington, DC, 2011)Sri Lanka's population is still largely rural, nearly 85 percent lives outside of cities. There will probably be rural-to-urban migration in the future, which represents a potential opportunity to m-money providers. People working in cities often wish to repatriate their savings to their rural families conveniently and at a low cost. Income is fairly evenly spread across Sri Lanka s provinces, with the exception of the Western Province where Colombo, the largest city, is situated. Its GDP per capita places Sri Lanka near the average of comparable Southeast Asian countries. Malaysia is clearly an outlier with a considerably higher GDP per capita, but Sri Lanka s GDP is higher than that of the Philippines, where m-money has taken off dramatically. Poverty is less of a problem in Sri Lanka relative to countries like Bangladesh or Cambodia, where GDP per capita is much lower. The key point is that Sri Lanka is at a different stage in its economic development and is unlikely to have the same socioeconomic conditions that made m-money in Kenya accelerate so rapidly.Publication A Harvest of Practical Insights(Washington, DC, 2012)This IFC SmartBook is a compilation of sixteen IFC SmartLessons that presents practical lessons learned by staff from across the IFC and the World Bank on approaches for engaging in agriculture that have led to success. Agribusiness is a crucial economic sector, for food security of course, for managing water stress and ecosystem services, but also as a source of employment in emerging markets. The report includes the following lessons. Sowing the seeds of sustainability : a case project with Unifrutti, IFC, and smallholder banana farmers in the Philippines, by Natalie Macawaris, Colin Taylor, and Carla Zamora-Galinato. Harvesting the fruits of your hard work, frustration, and patience : implementing an agribusiness project in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by Hazem Hanbal and Selcuk Tanatar. Taking Haitian agriculture to the cloud : implementing google apps for government at the ministry of agriculture, by Diego Arias and Nicolas Weber. Fish farmers meet new technology: raising the aquaculture productivity of small farmers in Assam, by Grahame Dixie and Manivannan Pathy. Grain by grain : from Punjab to global - lessons from the breadbasket of India, by Jay Lurie and Neeraj Gupta. From crisis response to sustainable strategy : addressing food security in Nepal, by Gayatri Acharya and Mirella Hernani. Adapting to climate change in Bangladesh : stress-tolerant seeds for stress-prone regions, by Anika Ali and Mrinal Sircar. Assessing the carbon benefits of improved land management technologies, by Ademola Braimoh. The fun and the defiance of innovation : going redd in the forests of Mexico, by Graciela Reyes Retana, María Carolina Hoyos, and Laurent Debroux. More than just hot air : carbon market access and climate-smart agriculture for smallholder farmers, by Johannes Woelcke. Go lite ! Increasing scale and impact by combining diagnostics and training lessons from the Ukraine food safey project, by sarah ockman. Keeping it fresh! : how new packaging and distribution improved the fruit and vegetable supply chain in Ukraine, by fedir rybalko and ebbe johnson. To WII or not to WII? : practical lessons from implementing weather index insurance for agriculture, by the Agricultural Risk Management Team of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank. Supporting smallholders while promoting farmer-controlled cooperatives in china, by Achim Fock and Jun Zhao. Connecting fruit suppliers and processors : a comprehensive approach in Ukraine, by Oksana Varodi. It's all about teamwork : unlocking opportunities for agribusiness in Ukraine, by Alberto Criscuolo and Shaela Rahman.Publication Responsible Debt Collection in Emerging Markets(Washington, DC, 2012)Emerging market economies have been experiencing high credit growth and high delinquency rates amongst retail banking customers in recent years. However, collections practices have not always kept pace with this rapid growth; many collectors still rely on relatively unstructured processes and weak oversight frameworks. It is therefore important to consider how fair and ethical treatment of borrowers can be better promoted in these markets. To this end, International Finance Corporation (IFC) commissioned a study in 2009 to examine the question of what guiding principles should financial institutions follow to raise their responsible and ethical standards in collections. IFC has subsequently commissioned Oliver Wyman to study existing global retail debt collections practices and recommend tangible actions that lenders and collectors can take to promote responsible and ethical standards in the field. The conclusions of this study are based on field research conducted by IFC and Oliver Wyman, industry experts analysis and opinion, and a survey of institutions in 20 emerging markets.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.