Conclusion

C.K. Prahalad’s 2005 classic The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid clearly documents the market opportunity for goods and services that address the needs of the world’s poor (those living on less than $2 per day). Prahalad’s research debunks the idea that the poor have no purchasing power, underscoring the exact opposite: Experimentation and innovation in these markets can lead to significant returns.

Addressing the needs of the poor is a tremendous opportunity, not only in terms of potential profits for successful companies and entrepreneurs but also in terms of reestablishing dignity for an often-overlooked population.

As the decreased costs of computing and increased availability of bandwidth (coupled with the ubiquity of the mobile handset) foster the growth of mobile money, mobile health, and mobile agriculture in emerging economies, the need for global oversight and governance becomes increasingly critical. The democratization of computing and network technologies means that efforts to improve human welfare will no longer be blocked by issues like physical access or entitlement. The issues that will continue to plague human progress are timeworn and two-fold: greed and corruption. Mobile and cloud technologies are not capable of addressing the corrupt practices and underlying greed contributing to inadequate supplies of food and shelter in both emerg....