NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Active

Equal Exchange

Lauren Abendschein — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:53:26 -0500

Managing Organization: Equal Exchange

Activity URL:

http://www.equalexchange.com

Activity Description: Equal Exchange was founded in 1986 to create a new approach to trade, one that engages consumers and builds relationships through cooperative principles. The company is structured as a for-profit, worker-owned cooperative. Every worker-owner invests in the company, and over 300 outside shareholders have invested as well.

Equal Exchange trades directly with democratically organized small farmer cooperatives. Producers are given a guaranteed minimum price that provides a stable source of income as well as improved social services. Equal Exchange also facilitates access to credit for producer organizations.

MicroCredit Enterprises

Lauren Abendschein — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:42:08 -0500

Managing Organization: MicroCredit Enterprises

Activity URL:

http://www.mcenterprises.org/

Activity Description: MicroCredit Enterprises is committed to reducing poverty by mobilizing private investment capital to finance micro-businesses of poor families throughout the developing world. MicroCredit Enterprises gears its entrepreneurial results to produce jobs, sustain micro-businesses and improve human lives.

MicroCredit Enterprises leverages the collateral assets of individuals and institutions to borrow debt capital in the United States which is channeled through overseas, locally-run, non-governmental microfinance organizations in order to make thousands of tiny business loans to local entrepreneurs. MicroCredit Enterprises' reverses the cycle of poverty in economically distressed countries using the tools of the marketplace to provide self-help opportunities to millions of impoverished women and their families.

Net1

Ana Escalante — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:37:33 -0500

Managing Organization: Net1

Activity URL:

http://www.aplitec.co.za/aplitec/net1groups/index.htm

Activity Description: Net1 is a provider of smart card technologies and systems that create a secure and affordable transacting channel between formal businesses and the “un-banked” and “under-banked” populations of developing countries who have no or limited access to traditional banking facilities.

Net1 has developed the UEPS (Universal Electronic Payment System) that makes use of their patented FTS (Funds Transfer System) methodology to provide a fully integrated payment, switching and settlement system suitable for multiple applications and services, meeting the requirements of the un-banked and under-banked populations.

Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Medical Sciences

Ana Escalante — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:17:52 -0500

Managing Organization: Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Medical Sciences

Activity URL:

http://www.narayanahospitals.com/

Activity Description: The scheme was launched for the farmers of Karnataka who are members of agricultural cooperative societies. In the event of a sudden health problem, even the farmer who has some land and cattle finds himself at the mercy of the local moneylender who charges exorbitant rates of interest when he needs to deposit money for treatment. The scheme has proved to be a boon to the rural community who spirals into depths of debt and suicide, due to the illness, crop failure, famine and drought.

Wulff Capital

Ana Escalante — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:05:22 -0500

Managing Organization: Wulff Capital

Activity URL:

http://www.wulffcapital.com

Activity Description:

Wulff Capital assists African entrepreneurs in commercializing their health innovations. These innovative products can improve wellbeing and lower health costs on a global scale. Product commercialization can create new jobs and protect botanic diversity.

Due Diligence
Their extensive network of business incubation professionals recruit the best innovations and entrepreneurs to participate in Wulff's program. They screen these entrepreneurs for passion, expertise, and ethics. Then they screen their products for market demand, competitive environment and profit potential.

The Spark Group

Nitin Rao — Sun, 20 May 2007 05:34:56 -0500

Managing Organization: The Spark Group

Activity URL:

http://www.thesparkgroup.net

Activity Description:

The Spark Group is an idea incubator working at the grassroots level in India. Using insights from academic research, the Spark Group develops promising ideas into commercially viable business ventures that deliver valuable services to poor communities. The Spark Group is funded, in part, by the IFMR Trust and is supported by The Boston Pledge.

Spark's founding team has over 50 years of experience in world-class organizations such as McKinsey, Microsoft, Deloitte, IBM, Procter & Gamble and the World Bank.

Funded by the Network Enterprises Fund, Spark's advisors hold positions of eminence in organizations like Harvard University, MIT, The Boston Pledge and ICICI Bank.

The projects include Spark Accreditation - in which for a fee, any school can receive a letter-grade evaluation of its quality. Another project is Spark Guru - a teacher assessment service where trained teachers would be sent to identified schools and enhance the learning capabilities of children. Also in the pipeline are initiatives in the space of technology solutions for microfinance and education investment.

TransFair USA - Fair Trade Certifiers

Lauren Abendschein — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:53:28 -0500

Managing Organization: TransFair USA

Activity URL:

http://transfairusa.org/

Activity Description: TransFair USA's mission is to build a more equitable and sustainable model of international trade that benefits producers, consumers, industry and the earth. They achieve that mission by certifying and promoting Fair Trade products.

TransFair audits transactions between US companies offering Fair Trade Certified™ products and the international suppliers from whom they source, in order to guarantee that the farmers and farm workers behind Fair Trade Certified goods were paid a fair, above-market price. In addition, annual inspections conducted by FLO ensure that strict socioeconomic development criteria are being met using increased Fair Trade revenues.

Population Services International - Social Marketing

Lauren Abendschein — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:06:38 -0500

Managing Organization: Population Services International

Activity URL:

http://www.psi.org/

Activity Description:

Population Services International (PSI) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that harnesses the vitality of the private sector to address the health problems of low-income and vulnerable populations in more than 60 developing countries. PSI achieves its mission principally through social marketing of family planning and health products and services, and behavior change communications.

Men on the Side of the Road

Lauren Abendschein — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:42:22 -0500

Managing Organization: Men on the Side of the Road

Activity URL:

http://www.unemploymen.co.za/

Activity Description: Men on the Side of the Road (MSR) is giving thousands of unemployed men in South Africa the vital skills, tools, and social infrastructure to improve their lives. Extremely high unemployment rates in South Africa have forced men to stand on the side of the road, looking for temporary work and accepting low wages and abuse. MSR founder Charles Maisel saw the potential for these day laborers to recognize and utilize their own strength to create change from the bottom up.

Digital Divide Data

Lauren Abendschein — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:11:33 -0500

Managing Organization: Digital Divide Data

Activity URL:

www.digitaldividedata.com

Activity Description: In developing countries like Cambodia and Laos, low levels of education and poverty reinforce each other. Young adults are often forced to forgo education and take unskilled low-wage jobs. The situation is even more difficult when compounded by a physical disability, deceased or missing parents, or when young women are subjected to the horrors of the sex trade. Digital Divide Data is connecting the power of education and training programs with real job opportunities for disadvantaged individuals.