Call it "grassroots capitalism."

A new initiative from Ascension Health aims to grow new businesses in Flint, Mich., by cultivating relationships not with people at the top of the socioeconomic ladder, but instead with those near the bottom rungs.

The approach is a nontraditional way to "incubate" businesses and create new markets in communities at "the base of the world's income pyramid," explained Marcy Buren. She is project director of Flint-based Enterprising Health, the business-development initiative Ascension Health created last June in partnership with its Genesys Health System of Flint and the not-for-profit organization Enterprise for a Sustainable World of Ann Arbor, Mich.

HYDERABAD, India -- Can growing vegetables on India's slum rooftops and holding cooking classes in slum alleyways make a difference?

That is the contention of a new program that's about to begin in a 100-acre slum in the capital city of India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The country has seen hundreds of programs over the years designed to combat malnutrition. The latest aims to clear out the garbage, create a patchwork of small organic farms to grow vegetables that can be sold in the market, and then employ a team of 23 local women to demonstrate healthy cooking and good food hygiene.