News and Insights

Climate Week NYC: The farmer, the smartphone and what growth really means

October 1, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Growth only means something when it reaches people, like a farmer who can save her crop with a smartphone.
• Connectivity, power, transport and finance work together to drive growth.
• Private capital is essential, and the best investments deliver returns and real impact.
• For emerging economies, energy, infrastructure and jobs are part of the sustainable transition.

We talk a great deal about economic growth in terms of GDP, investment, productivity and capital. Well, I certainly do in my job. I’ll let you speak for yourself. But at The Wall Street Journal’s Journal House during Climate Week NYC (September 20-27, 2026), World Bank President Ajay Banga offered a much simpler way of thinking about it.

Setting the scene: a farmer in India

He asked the audience to think about a farmer in Uttar Pradesh, India. She sees something wrong with one of her plants. She may have limited literacy and no easy access to an agricultural specialist. But she has a basic smartphone. She photographs the diseased plant, and technology helps her identify what is wrong and what she can do about it.

Banga used the example while talking about jobs, power, private capital and some of the enormous challenges facing developing economies. Yet it was this relatively small story that stayed with me. Because for that farmer, innovation isn’t AI, digital transformation or the democratization of knowledge. It is the difference between losing a crop and potentially saving it. And perhaps that is a useful way to think about growth too.

Those of us working in business, finance, government and communications tend to discuss growth from the top down. Where is capital flowing? Which industries are attracting investment? What is government spending? Where will the next productivity gains come from?

All important questions. But sooner or later, somebody must be able to use what all that investment creates.

Our farmer needs a phone, but she also needs connectivity. She needs reliable power. If she saves her crop, she needs roads and transport to get it to market. She may need access to finance to expand her farm or withstand a bad harvest. Suddenly, that photograph of a leaf isn’t such a small story.

It connects digital infrastructure, energy, transport, financial inclusion and education. These aren’t separate policy debates. Together, they determine whether someone can participate in an economy at all.

Same principle, multiple outcomes

The same principle applies elsewhere. A healthcare worker who can access specialist knowledge can serve more patients. A teacher with better resources can give children opportunities their geography might otherwise restrict. A small business with reliable electricity and digital payments can reach customers it couldn’t reach before.

None of this sounds particularly glamorous. But it is how productive economies are built and it also helps explain why the debate about private capital matters.

Governments cannot finance every road, power network, digital connection or growing business themselves. Private investment must play a role, particularly if we want infrastructure and innovation to happen at anything approaching the scale required. But private capital isn’t philanthropy. Investors need credible returns, manageable risk and a regulatory environment they can understand. Pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone.

The more interesting question is how we create commercially viable investments that also solve genuine economic problems. I don’t think those objectives are contradictory. In fact, the best investment often does both.

There is a lesson here for the sustainability debate too. We have sometimes talked about growth, development and sustainability as though countries must choose between them. For emerging economies especially, reliable energy, infrastructure and jobs aren’t distractions from a sustainable transition. They are part of how you make one possible.

Perhaps we should communicate it that way more often. Big numbers have their place. Billions invested, megawatts generated, percentage points of GDP added. They tell us something important about scale. But they don’t always tell us whether anything has changed.

The final takeaway

So, to go back to our farmer. Yesterday, a diseased crop might have meant waiting for help, traveling to find expertise, relying on somebody else’s judgment or simply accepting the loss. Today, she can photograph a leaf and potentially get an answer in her hand.

That is technology. It is infrastructure. It is access to knowledge. And, in a very practical sense, it is economic growth.

We can measure growth in percentages and investment in billions. But eventually it must reach someone who can do something tomorrow – that wasn’t previously possible. That is the farmer, with her smart phone showing us what growth really means.

Terri Bloore is Managing Partner, Corporate & Financial Services at FINN Partners. She attended The Wall Street Journal’s Journal House during Climate Week NYC.

FAQs

What did Ajay Banga say about economic growth at Climate Week NYC 2026?
Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Journal House, Banga described a farmer in Uttar Pradesh, India, who photographs a diseased plant with a basic smartphone and gets help identifying the problem. The example shows that growth matters most when it changes what an individual can do.

How does technology support economic growth in developing economies?
Technology gives people knowledge and services that were once out of reach, like specialist farming advice, healthcare expertise or digital payments. But it only works with the infrastructure behind it: connectivity, reliable power, transport and access to finance.

Why is private capital important for development and infrastructure?
Governments cannot fund every road, power network, digital connection or growing business on their own. Private investment is needed to reach the scale required, but investors need credible returns, manageable risk and clear regulation.

Do countries have to choose between growth and sustainability?
Not necessarily. For emerging economies especially, reliable energy, infrastructure and jobs are part of what makes a sustainable transition possible.

How should organizations communicate about growth and investment?
Big figures like billions invested, megawatts generated and GDP points added show scale. They don’t always show whether anything has changed for people. Human stories, like the farmer and her smartphone, show that impact more clearly.