NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Remittances - Comments

India's expat community

Manuel Bueno — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:00:16 -0400

A study published last year by the World Bank called "Unleashing India's Innovation" estimates that about 2% of India's population, 20 million people, live abroad, where they earn the equivalent of two-thirds of India's GDP. This is the link to the study: 473021/3876782-1191373775504/indiainnovationfull.pdf...

Japan's Economy and Currency

Anna Coulling — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:24:21 -0400

As a full time currency trader in the UK, I thought I would add my comment to your post and in particular with regard to the Yen, the US dollar and the Japanese economy. In simple terms I believe there are several things to remember when considering the dollar yen or investing in yen assets. Firstly, the economy is unlike any other in the western world. It is highly dependent on its export markets which in turn are highly dependent on the strength or weakness of the yen. This in turn affects the speculation on the yen and in particular the carry trade which has been a favourite for many years due to the very low interest rates. This is likely to continue for some time to come and my own personal view is that the rates may be cut later this year back to 0.25%. Now bear in mind that a strong yen will adversely affect exports, and the interventionist Bank of Japan will ensure that this does not continue. In short, a recipe for a weak yen to dollar relationship for the foreseeable future. My personal view is that the pair will bounce back from below the psychological 100 barrier, back to somewhere between 105 and 110 in the short to medium term.

Good info

R Dilip Kumar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:30:31 -0400

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Comment on Al, mobile banking

Peter van Dijk — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:39:16 -0400

Dear all, I am more than surprised by the absence of common sense and depth of analysis that seems to found Mr. Al Hammond's reasoning. Reading his focus on the apparent great trends in mobile telecommunication and laying that next to the needs for financial services with the poor and rural peoples of this world. This naivite is near criminal in itself. If Mr. Hammond would only work daily in environments where the rural poor are uninformed, uneducated and distrustful of depositing the money they depend on for day-to-day life, their so strong need for guaranteed safe alternatives to the unsafe, unstable environments they now manage their money in, he would be ashamed of his for me unbearable lightness of arguments. I hope soon he will take (any kind of) responsability for the losses of money of poor people through fraud and mismanagement, especially in structures motivated by socio-political objectives. If things were so simple, then it will be a piece of cake for the great minds of Muhammad Yunus, Prof. Jefrey Sachs (UN SG Advisor) and Sam daley (MicroCredit Summit Director), and their widespread following and funding to reach the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) in now less than 5 years isn't it with microcredit. I bet my career they will not reach those goals and they will not take responsibility. For Micro-Finance to achieve its potential, which it certainly has, it requires full ownership, long-term commitment and capabilities of governments in the countries that face mass poverty challenges. If they do not take that responsibility, structure the process and acquire the right skills, and if socalled donors do not integrate their support fully into those local processes, FAILURE is guaranteed, obviously. Just to end with a simple question: how do you think 100.000% inflation rate in Zimbabwe can be reduced and by whom other then the population with its government? That directly affects the value of money and of financial services - where is the role of mobile technology there or of whatever magical solution? Anything else but trying to improve government - peoples relations is but windowdressing and paparazzi entertainment (over the backs of hungering and fleeing peoples). Certainly technology can have a role, but only on the basis of sound real structures and controls that ensure and further enhance trust relationships. Kind regards, Peter

Cooperation and to support our Digital Village Project

JOHN AHAYA — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:36:19 -0400

Dear Sir/Madam We are a registered development non-governmental organisation in Kenya to support our rural community currently my organisation intend to venture in a bussines of setting up 6 Digital villages project in kisumu and siaya district to create employment to rural youths and economic development to a marginalised rural community in the region. We are facing a big capital challenges to roll out the project. kindly we are requesting to cooperate with your institution so that we can get a partner who can act as our representative to help support(fund) the project for the benefit of rural community. Kindly looking forward for your positive responseon the same and to provide you with neccesary details the organisation for your scrutiny. I remain. John Ahaya PROGRAMMES DIRECTOR(IDAP)

Info on remittances

Rob Katz — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:04:18 -0500

Ana just sent me an e-mail with a link to this issue of Migrant Remittances, a journal supported by USAID and DFID. There are some good tidbits in here, including general trends as well as research and events. Check it out.

MiCash Customer Service Horrible

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:53:54 -0500

I agree with you about how hard it was to activate, now imagine trying to send money. My experience was that MiCash customer service is absolutely horrible. I had such a hard time sending money and it took about a month for my mother to finally be able to pick up the money. They kept telling me the money was available at the bank, but it wasn't. My mom is sick and she really needed the money to pay medical bills. After that I still had about $15 on the card, but I couldn't withdraw it anywhere and customer service wouldn't help. Finally I just threw away the card and decided to use Western Union in the future.

trying to activate this

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:21:34 -0500

trying to activate this micash card is like pulling teeth. i got this card as a gift and i'm on day #3 trying to activate for $10.00. i called and a rep took all of my (personal)info. he told me to call back to activate and i keep getting a recording! not worth the frustration!

MiCash

Orinario — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:25:53 -0500

MiCash aspires to make big money on illegal immigrants who send money outside the country. Too bad illegal immigrants want nothing to do with MiCash, mainly because their products don't work and their fees are too high.

ha ha

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:48:32 -0500

Post above this is funny as hell, but VERY true!! Lou Dobbs 2008 Wake up lazy Americans...

Reply to Lorenzo Zambrano's comment on NextBillion.net

Ana Escalante — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:39:53 -0400

I took some time to think about Mr. Zambrano's comment on my blogpost. I was distressed when he implied that I was being an irresponsible writer, so I went back and questioned my assumptions about Cemex's Construmex program and market realities that it faces. Here are my thoughts.

The Business Week article that I quoted briefly from in my Construmex post may provide additional context for my initial commentary:

"A bakery employee who works the night shift since the family came to the U.S. illegally in late 2003, Moreno is paying for $10,000 worth of cement, gravel, and bricks for the four-bedroom house he's building on the outskirts of the Mexican capital…Just as some U.S. companies are tapping the undocumented market, some Mexican companies see opportunity in following customers who head north of the border. After all, many migrants straddle both worlds -- working in the U.S. but maintaining homes in Mexico. So far most cross-border efforts are housing-related campaigns conducted through U.S. branch offices. Grupo Famsa, a Monterrey-based retailer of home appliances, has nine stores in California and three in Texas, where migrants can buy a product and have it delivered to relatives in Mexico."

I admire Cemex as a company a lot. They host many programs for the people living in the 'Base of Pyramid,' and they have positive and coherent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. I did not mean to discredit Cemex in any way, and I feel that perhaps Mr. Zambrano may have misinterpreted my comments. I was not implying that Cemex employs illegal workers or has illegal practices. What I meant to say was that companies taping into 'immigrant' markets often face these issues because documented and undocumented workers often coexist in the same space, and are all part of the same target market.. Any of the remittance market companies (Western Union, Aryty…) encounter the same dilemma when they decide to market and sell their services to immigrants – by default, they should know that at least a percentage of their potential clients may be undocumented. It is not the responsibility of these companies to discriminate based on visa status. A market is a market, and the role of business is to identify and serve these markets, within the existing laws.

It is neither required nor appropriate that companies discriminate by asking for their clients' visa status before selling most goods and services to them. But if a corporation is aiming to tap these markets, it should have some type of 'foreign policy.' It is not a bad thing or a good thing. There is a huge potential for profit serving the immigrant market. If not Cemex, it will be some other company selling construction materials in the US to build homes in Mexico because it's a very good business and addresses inefficiencies in the current system of remittance transactions. People – regardless of their 'legal' or 'illegal' status in a country- still need to live, eat and build their homes. And, in fact, Cemex's Construmex program actually supports the desire of Mexican immigrants to return to their families and their homeland by enabling them to construct a better future for themselves and to build more prosperous communities in Mexico.

Cemex and immigration

Rob Katz — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:55:51 -0400

Thank you for your comment. The sentence has been removed and an editor's note informs readers of the incorrect information. NextBillion.net apologizes for the error.

Inorrect information

Lorenzo Zambrano, CEMEX CEO — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:07:20 -0400

"...businesses catering to illegal immigrants, because of their illegal status..." Very irresponsible comment, please erase this information, since we adhere and abide by all U.S. Laws including Immigration Laws as a Cemex business segment based out of the United States.

Remittance

Antony — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:51:13 -0400

Hi, We are involved in setting up a global remittance initiative, and are actively seeking partners in different parts of the world. Please contact me if you are intertested in exploring this further.

MiCash

Pedro — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:16:59 -0400

I luv MiCash because I am illegal and I want to make as much money as possible, pay no taxes and send it all home. Thees is a great country. I luv Uhmereekah.