News & Views

Note: This blog post also appeared on NextBillion.net, which is managed by the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan. I recently had the opportunity to spend time with author and professor Elmira Bayrasli. I was truly inspired after reading her book “From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary…

Brett Ritter admitted to feeling a bit nervous at the kickoff event for WDI’s new  M²GATE program where he would meet his international teammates for the first time. He worried that cultural differences and a language barrier might hinder his ability to work with his peers from the Middle…

WDI Senior Research Fellow Ted London has won the 2017 Inaugural IACMR Presidential Award for Responsible Research for his book, “The Base of the Pyramid Promise: Building Businesses with Impact and Scale.” The award was co-sponsored by the International Association for Chinese Management Research and the Community for Responsible Research…

The WDI Global Impact Speaker Series will feature a professor and author who has worked with entrepreneurs around the world. She will talk about how entrepreneurship has transformed the economies of low- and middle-income countries and how these places will produce the next generation of Silicon Valley-style innovators. Elmira Bayrasli’s…

As the first cohort of Michigan students begin collaborating online with their peers in four North African countries, WDI is seeking interested undergraduate students at Eastern Michigan University, all three campuses of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University to join the next two groups of participants for…

WDI’s Education Initiative collaborated with a university in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to develop a curriculum for a new MBA-level specialization in entrepreneurship, one of three schools the Institute has worked with in the country on building new business courses. The administration at Divine Word University (DWU) recently approved the…

In recent years, the off-grid energy business has been one of the hottest industries in low-income economies, particularly in East Africa. But a post written by an impact investing fund explaining why it was backing off investments in the sector after being active in the space was voted by…

WDI is co-sponsoring the screening of a documentary featuring college students introducing innovative products in emerging markets by applying design thinking and social entrepreneurship principles. At the screening, a WDI-managed program that offers a rare opportunity for international teamwork and entrepreneurship open to all undergraduates will also be discussed. The…

The Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, in partnership with the William Davidson Institute and Aparajitha Foundations, today announced the launch of the Michigan Academy for the Development of Entrepreneurs (MADE), a nonprofit institute that works with entrepreneurship development organizations (EDOs) in developing countries to give…

The head of WDI’s Healthcare Initiative recently spent a week in Ethiopia identifying and offering remedies for current challenges faced by the nonprofit charitable organization CURE International and its clubfoot program in that country. CURE operates clubfoot clinics in 17 countries around the world, each tasked with helping children and…