NextBillion brings together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers, and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise.
Our staff scans hundreds of news sources every day to create a custom newsfeed. When the mainstream media covers the development through enterprise space, you can expect to find it here
Old assumptions - in particular, that the only way for people to be "do-gooders" was through a career at a non-profit organisation - are being challenged by 21st century realities.
Stuart Rutherford reveals the results of the Financial Diaries project and his experiences in the field.
Q: Aren't poor people too poor to save?
Stuart Rutherford: Too poor to save, too poor not to save, that’s the paradox that faces many poor and very poor people. If you’re poor, your income is not just small, it’s probably irregular and unreliable as well. Most of it is quickly spent on essentials. The result is that when you need to buy anything other than essentials (and sometimes even essentials), you just don’t have the cash to do so. If you can't buy a course of antibiotics or clothes from current income, you must find a way to buy it from past income or future income – that means using financial services and devices. The best way to access past income is withdrawing savings; and the best way of accessing future income is by taking a loan – and loans are nothing more than advances against future savings.
Ever since President John Agyekum Kufuor assumed office in 2001, he has traveled extensively, about 156 times around the world. Indeed, arguably, he could be described as Ghana's number-one tourist of the century.
President Kufuor's explanation for such trips is simple: To woo foreign investors into the country. But while the President gallops over the seas across nations in search for investors to his 'Golden age of business' Ghana, many companies back home are folding up. Yet despite his efforts, the investors are not coming; unemployment is still rife and he is complaining that the economy is not growing fast enough.
Professionals come together to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Bangalore Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global network promoting entrepreneurship, introduced its Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (EAP) on Tuesday to bring together successful local entrepreneurs with new entrepreneurs to increase their chances of raising institutional funding.
Early-stage funding in India has been the bane of would-be entrepreneurs, with starry-eyed young men and women rejoining the ranks of the employed after failing to raise any capital.
The recent economic boom in India has resulted in increased entrepreneurial opportunities for people with new, innovative product ideas, or disruptive business and delivery models. It’s a climate where startups are springing up in every area. The fear is they will die if they are not supported early enough.
“One of the key reasons for the shortage of high-quality startups in India is that, unlike in Silicon Valley, there isn’t a mature ecosystem comprised of entrepreneurs, mentors, venture capitalists, seed investors, angels, incubators, law firms, accounting firms, banks, and other elements promoting entrepreneurship,” said Sridhar Mitta, president of the TiE Bangalore Chapter. “We want to change that.”
Leading figures in the development debate, speaking at the meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, have pledged to build on the "mountain of good will" generated last year, and follow through towards the goal of eradicating poverty in Africa.
According to a press release from the Forum, they agreed that top priorities for 2006 should include: getting global trade talks back on track, exposing corruption both by givers and recipients, and investing heavily in long-term primary education in Africa.
At a time when concerns about global warming and the need for renewable energy sources are grabbing headlines the world over, it seems particularly regrettable that communities would be afflicted by the theft of solar panels.
Yet, this is precisely what is happening in rural areas of Senegal, in West Africa.
Global mobile phone shipments grew by 19% last year, helped by strong demand from emerging markets such as India and Africa, according to a study.
A record 810 million units were shipped with emerging markets accounting for half of total global sales, research firm Strategy Analytics said.
It sounds like a project that just about any technology-minded executive could get behind: distributing durable, cheap laptop computers in the developing world to help education. But in the year since Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, unveiled his prototype for a $100 laptop, he has found himself wrestling with Microsoft and the politics of software.
Mr. Negroponte has made significant progress, but he has also catalyzed the debate over the role of computing in poor nations — and ruffled a few feathers. He failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft on including its Windows software in the laptop, leading Microsoft executives to start discussing what they say is a less expensive alternative: turning a specially configured cellular phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard.
To Anyone familiar with banking in the rich world, the world of microfinance can seem rather odd. The main providers have not been motivated by anything as straightforward as making money, at least until recently. The core of the industry today consists of some three dozen multinational networks of microfinance providers, which despite their superficial similarities and inspirational rhetoric compete fiercely and fight over everything.
Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) today announced the appointment of Deborah Burand as its new executive vice president for programs.
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) January 26, 2006 -- Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) today announced the appointment of Deborah Burand as its new executive vice president for programs. A widely-respected microfinance trailblazer and lawyer, Burand will oversee GFUSA’s Grameen Technology Center, Capital Markets Group and program operations.
