In the run-up to next month's annual GBSN conference I participated in the World Economic Forum on Africa and the annual meetings of our African partner organization, the Association of African Business Schools (AABS) in Dar es Salaam. Once again, several GBSN deans and faculty were actively involved in WEF discussions. Scores of social entrepreneurs showcased their achievements and aspirations, and advances in affordable IT and in particular mobile phones created an ever-expanding space for such initiatives. So, for example, in Nairobi's largest low-income area, Kibera, access to cell phones is virtually 100 percent - those who don't own a phone buy time for pennies from others. The educational potential of cell phones for the "bottom of the pyramid" have barely been explored, and I expect an explosion of innovations, including forrays into basic business literacy. AABS continues to be a vibrant institution, and offers, among other member benefits, the only All-African benchmarking for local business schools.

Our members web portal, GBSN Connect will be unveiled June 10 at our annual conference. Among others it will serve to forge new collaborative knowledge-sharing channels and enable students seeking experiential field projects to match their interests with those of emerging market companies and non-profit organizations. I am looking forward to the launch.