Hasta La Gadget!

Today, Google is announcing they’re updating Chrome for iOS users. With the refresh, Google’s browser will get a Material Design makeover for iOS, as well as optimizations meant for iOS 8. It will also take advantage of the larger screen real estate made possible with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Interestingly, Google is supporting Handoff for iOS, and will … Continue reading

In the last 20 years, more than 70 million women in Latin America have joined the work force, reducing extreme poverty in the region by 30% in the past decade alone. Low-income women, particularly those with very small businesses in the informal sector, have been participating in the labor force at much higher rates in the last 10 years than higher-income women. Despite these advances, many challenges persist, and the region continues to have one of the highest rates of inequality in the world.

These realities underscore the important role that women, especially low-income women, must play in the economic growth of their communities. Any actions to ensure their financial and social inclusion need to be multidimensional and market-driven if they are to be sustainable, and must include the support of a cross-section of committed partners. Most importantly, we believe that women hold the key to their own development, and they must have a strong voice in that process.

Many of the women we serve are indigenous, have not completed primary education and have experienced domestic violence. They live in poor communities in urban and semi-rural areas and are heads (or de facto heads) of their households. They work tirelessly to raise their children and provide for their families, primarily as vendors in the informal sector, without social benefits or safety nets. They are at very high risk of chronic disease but do not seek preventive healthcare services because every minute away from work takes out of pocket the money they need to survive.

In 2014, in an effort to better understand these needs in light of rapidly changing social, political, economic and technological contexts, we conducted independent research and interviewed 1,000 clients and non-clients in Peru and Mexico. The results provided five key insights and challenged many long-standing assumptions about the circumstances, behaviors and values of our clients. Organizations like ours often avoid this kind of research because of limited budgets or capacity, but we have found it to be invaluable in reshaping our approach.

1. Clients are not all the same

This might seem obvious, but in day-to-day discourse, it can be easy to forget that clients seek out microfinance and development for different reasons and at different stages of their lives. Research made it possible to identify three distinct client types: occasional users of credit, seasoned customers and regular Pro Mujer clients. Occasional customers use credit to solve small crises and work to become debt-free as quickly as possible. Seasoned clients are savvy in comparing their options and use loans strategically to circumvent small household and business emergencies and to repay other loans. The final and largest group consists of women who are frequent and long-term Pro Mujer clients. They often stay with us not because of the loans themselves, but because of the sense of solidarity they feel with their communal bank peers and the emotional support they receive from Pro Mujer staff. Poverty is complex — a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. As a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, we believe we must continue to develop more diverse products and services to address client needs.

2. They have options…

The assumption that low-income women are passive recipients of development interventions is outdated. Though access to credit was once not available for these three kinds of borrowers, for-profit microfinance institutions are now filling the traditional banking void. Even some traditional banks have begun adapting their business models to reach these populations and potential revenue streams. In fact, in the two countries where the study was conducted, credit is abundantly available, particularly in urban areas. According to a 2012 MixMarket report, 53 microfinance institutions were operating in Peru, serving more than 3.6 million people with a gross loan portfolio upwards of $10.7 billion. In Mexico, 3.8 million clients work with 40 institutions that have a gross loan portfolio of more than $3 billion. The ubiquity of these institutions translates into more access and more options for clients.

In addition, it is often assumed that low-income women have no access to technology because of a lack of formal education. We have seen, however, that their children, who often work very closely with them in their businesses, are bridging this technological divide. They learn how to navigate the Internet at school and are helping their mothers become more connected with the outside world. This means that microfinance institutions need to do a better job at differentiating and marketing themselves across a wide variety of channels in increasingly crowded markets.

3. …but clients are becoming more dependent on financial institutions

Though more skilled in terms of choosing their options, clients are also becoming more dependent on these financial institutions. Over-indebtedness as a result of taking out multiple loans from multiple lenders is a major risk. Predatory lending has exacerbated and low-income women can easily find themselves vulnerable to risky loans. This means that Pro Mujer must increasingly provide training and support to help women navigate not only our loans, but also others that would place them at increased risk of falling behind and deeper into poverty and indebtedness. This also threatens the health of lending institutions and the microfinance industry overall, at a national level, and can have a negative impact on economic growth in the countries of activity. Responsible lending practices and adhering to client protection principles are paramount to mitigating these risks.

4. Marginalization and scarcity influences decision-making

Price, disbursement speed and customer service are the key drivers in our clients’ decision-making processes. This is because they often find themselves experiencing four conditions, three of which place them at tremendous risk and vulnerability: 1) poverty, which means that they rarely have the money they need to feel secure, and therefore, price matters first and foremost; 2) a state of recurring emergency, in which they are consistently vulnerable to the next emergency that can be caused by a day out of work, a sick child, a leaky roof, all demanding speedy disbursement; 3) marginalization, isolation, neglect and at worst, abuse, which means that they want to be treated with respect. The fourth condition is a positive one: the low-income women surveyed are driven, proud and industrious. They do not take well to hand-outs and accept that they have a role to play in turning around the situation of their family.

This feedback challenges the long-standing assumption that providing low-income women with access to services is enough to keep them as customers. Instead, research shows that they want high-quality service that helps them address their financial needs in a quick, easy and price-competitive manner, and that they are committed to paying for the privilege of good services. Clients value — and pay for — added-value services such as affordable healthcare and business training. However, these services are availed of only if marketed and explained to clients in a way that addresses the conditions of their lives (as opposed to something that is “good” for them). Finally, services must be delivered in an easy and convenient way, without disruption to their lives and itinerant responsibilities, such as arriving at work on time, making a living, repaying loans and caring for their families.

5. Women want more than a mere transaction

This was clear from women from all walks of life in both countries of research. They seek a relationship based on mutual trust and respect that recognizes their capabilities and supports them on their journey towards greater agency and empowerment. The centers are safe and supportive environments where women can interact with others in similar circumstances, addressing another dimension of the scarcity of their experience by granting them respite from the daily stresses of life.

Study results indicate fundamental shifts in many long-standing assumptions. Our research will extend to clients in other markets to help expand approaches and offerings so that clients can own not only their own businesses but also their destinies.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and The World Economic Forum to mark the Forum’s Annual Meeting 2015 (in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, Jan. 21-24). Members of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship represent a select community of social entrepreneurs who are engaged in shaping global, regional and industry agendas in ways that improve the state of the world. Read all the posts in the series here.

David Packman respectfully invokes the spirit of famed writer David Foster Wallace to pay homage to Roger Federer as he reaches 1000 wins on the ATP Tour.

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Driving back home along the coast last weekend, my journey was accompanied by the dulcet tones of a sports radio broadcaster. He was discussing the fact that “Roger” was in action this very evening, playing in the Brisbane final against Milos Raonic in a bid to notch up his 1000th win at ATP level.

Roger versus Raonic. It made me wonder how many other current sporting greats are recognizable — and openly discussed — by only their first names. It’s certainly a select few. It’s been that way in Australia with Roger as long as I can remember. We’re a colloquial bunch, but nonetheless, I’d like to imagine this is a global phenomenon.

As it turned out, Roger accounted for the big Canadian — one of the young brigade trying to prematurely oust the Swiss maestro from his throne — in three sets that night and subsequently took his place among the very greatest legends to have won 1000 matches since the Open era began in 1968, namely Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

♦◊♦

Watching his run to the title last week, it looked like the Federer of old, sweeping his opponents aside, including win number 999, where he nonchalantly eased past Grigor Dimitrov — next in line for the mantle of “he of the beautiful style”. It was very fitting.

In a discussion of Federer’s most recent milestone, one could list his achievements — but they are too many to mention — and in fact, there is really nothing more that can be said about the man than already has. This is simply a story about truth and beauty.

The Federer technique is homage to the history of the game. It’s classic and sublime — stunningly beautiful. Remarkably, it has stood the test of time. We’ve been blessed to witness the ultimate in sport — the contest between beauty and the beast — as the rise of the aggressive two-fisters and the Goliaths with the bludgeoning serves have attempted to topple him. It’s been a battlefield but at 33-years-old, he has largely withstood the barrage, currently still second in the world and looking this year as likely a threat to the top spot as anyone.

He said on Monday with a wry smile that he was happy to hang around for a few more years to let the younger guys get the opportunity to play against him and “beat up on him a bit” — his skill is only matched by his humble respect for the game and his place in it.

♦◊♦

With that in mind, I can think of no better opportunity than to revisit the work of arguably Federer’s greatest admirer and one the most talented writers of his generation, David Foster Wallace.

Author Zadie Smith once described Foster Wallace as “a visionary, a craftsmen…he’s in a different time-space continuum from the rest of us.” I think the same can be said of his muse.

The world lost Foster Wallace to suicide at the age of 46 but so much remains — including his spectacular essay “Federer as religious experience”. For fans of either man, I urge you to read it. Here is a sample:

A top athlete’s beauty is next to impossible to describe directly. Or to evoke. Federer’s forehand is a great liquid whip, his backhand a one-hander that he can drive flat, load with topspin, or slice — the slice with such snap that the ball turns shapes in the air and skids on the grass to maybe ankle height. His serve has world-class pace and a degree of placement and variety no one else comes close to; the service motion is lithe and uneccentric, distinctive (on TV) only in a certain eel-like all-body snap at the moment of impact. His anticipation and court sense are otherworldly, and his footwork is the best in the game — as a child, he was also a soccer prodigy. All this is true, and yet none of it really explains anything or evokes the experience of watching this man play. Of witnessing, firsthand, the beauty and genius of his game. You more have to come at the aesthetic stuff obliquely, to talk around it, or — as Aquinas did with his own ineffable subject — to try to define it in terms of what it is not.

Legend has it Foster Wallace only spent 20 minutes with Federer to produce this epic piece — often referred to as one of sports journalism’s most famous write-arounds.

My mind wanders to what Foster Wallace would say of Federer today, over eight years since his masterpiece.

I’d suggest he’d simply comment that nothing much has changed. Federer continues to captivate crowds with his otherworldly skill — his lean physique even remains — perhaps it’s just that his experience has now led to an uncanny wisdom. An innate aspect to Federer that has somehow grown with every trophy he adds to his overstuffed cabinet.

I had plans to pull multiple quotes from Foster Wallace’s essay to enrich my words but I’ve decided against it — other to close my piece as he did.

Congratulations to Roger on a remarkable 1000 wins and to David Foster Wallace: your admiration was clearly not misplaced. May you continue to rest in peace.

The expression of truth and beauty in words as in movement — mind and body — has never been more apparent:

Genius is not replicable. Inspiration, though, is contagious, and multiform — and even just to see, close up, power and aggression made vulnerable to beauty is to feel inspired and (in a fleeting, mortal way) reconciled.

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By David Packman, International Sports Editor, The Good Men Project

Photo Credit: Flickr/Marianne Bevis

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Ever since astronomers first detected a strange flash of radio waves in 2007, they have been scratching their heads over what these so-called “fast radio bursts” might be and where they come from.

Now, an international team of researchers say they’re one step closer to solving the mystery, after capturing the strange bursts in real-time for the first time ever.

“This is a major breakthrough,” Dr. Duncan Lorimer, an astrophysicist at West Virginia University in Morgantown who was part of the team that discovered the first fast radio burst, told New Scientist.

(Story continues below.)

A simulation of CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope capturing a fast radio burst as it happened. (Video credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions)

The burst was first spotted by the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia. The Parkes’ observations suggested the burst likely came from a source near the constellation Aquarius about 5.5 billion light-years away, and passed through a magnetic field.

Twelve other ground and space telescopes then conducted follow-up observations on other wavelengths, including infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and visible light. None of these telescopes observed an “afterglow,” which allowed the team to narrow down its list of potential sources for the burst.

“The burst could have hurled out as much energy in a few milliseconds as the Sun does in an entire day,” Dr. Mansi Kasliwal, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in D.C. and a member of the team, told Astronomy Magazine. “But the fact that we did not see light in other wavelengths eliminates a number of astronomical phenomena that are associated with violent events such as gamma-ray bursts from exploding stars and supernovae, which were otherwise candidates for the burst.”

One theory that’s still in the running is that the burst came from the aftermath of a neutron star that collapsed into a black hole.

The researchers hope further observations of cosmic bursts will help them pin down the source once and for all.

“We’ve set the trap,” Emily Petroff, a PhD student at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia and one of the researchers, said in a written statement. “Now we just have to wait for another burst to fall into it.”

The findings were published online on Jan. 19 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Many are expected to tune into President Obama’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night but few will have the opportunity to hear his remarks in person — and among them will be one of the nation’s oldest living civil rights leaders.

103-year-old Amelia Boynton was invited to attend this year’s annual address by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Al.), who represents Alabama’s 7th Congressional District.

Boynton is largely known for her efforts during the peak of the voting rights movement in the 1960s. She made headlines in newspapers across the nation after she was brutally beaten by policemen during a march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965. The march was later identified as “Bloody Sunday” after Boynton and sixteen of the 600 protesters who demonstrated that day were beaten unconscious and sent to the hospital.

Her story was recently brought to the big screen after actress Lorraine Toussaint portrayed Boynton in the acclaimed and Academy Award nominated film, “Selma.”

“I feel as though Terri and I have a bond that cannot be broken,” Boynton said in a statement provided to HuffPost. “I am delighted that she invited me as her guest to hear our President give the State of the Union address. I appreciate the work of her entire staff and my assistants in Tuskegee who helped make my trip to Washington possible. I will forever remember this day.”

Sewell’s admiration for Boynton does not stop there. Boynton made history in 1964 by becoming the first woman and the first African-American to run for Congress. Although she did not win, she paved the way for Sewell who now, decades later, holds that seat in Congress as Alabama’s first African-American congresswoman.

“I am honored that Ms. Boynton is attending the State of the Union as my special guest. Amelia Boynton challenged an unfair and unjust system that kept African Americans from exercising their constitutionally protected right to vote,” Sewell said.

“She paved the way for me to accomplish all that I have today, and her legacy should inspire us not to take any of our rights for granted.”