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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 — South Asia

Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa’s Success in India

Source: Knowledge@Wharton Network
M-Pesa, the mobile-based money transfer and payment service that has been highly successful in Kenya since its launch in 2007, is now available in India by Vodafone, working through its fully-owned subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL), and ICICI bank, the country’s largest private sector bank.
TAGS:banking, financial inclusion, mobile banking, technology
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 — No Region Specified

Change.org scores $15M from Omidyar Network to grow the world’s largest petition service

Source: VentureBeat
Popular social petition service Change.org has raised $15 million in new funding — cash that will help it further build up the “world’s largest petition platform.”
TAGS:social impact, technology
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — No Region Specified

Rockefeller Foundation To Pump $97 Million Into African Digital Jobs

Source: Forbes
The Rockefeller Foundation has announced that it will pledge $97 million to create jobs in the digital field in Africa as part of its ongoing initiative to create jobs for young Africans in the rapidly growing information and communications technology (ICT) enabled sectors in the continent.
TAGS:impact sourcing, Rockefeller Foundation, skill development, technology
Thursday, May 02, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

How solar panels are leading the fight against malaria

Source: Business Green
Kenyan island aims to become free of the disease thanks to solar-powered, insecticide-free mosquito traps
TAGS:public health, solar, technology
Wednesday, May 01, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Meet The Entrepreneur Working To Challenge Nokia, Blackberry And Samsung In Africa

Source: Forbes
Alpesh Patel, a Ugandan-born entrepreneur, served as director of sales in Africa for Motorola before quitting the American telecommunications giant to launch Mi-Fone, an African mobile phone brand.
TAGS:mobile applications, mobile phones, technology
Monday, April 15, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Sierra Leone: Using Technology to Save Lives

Source: All Africa
The telecommunications industry and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have teamed up to use mobile phone technology to save lives in Sierra Leone.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology
Monday, April 15, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

New Dalhberg Study shows how the Internet will drive development in Africa

Source: Press Release
Despite widespread agreement on the web’s potential to transform lives and reduce poverty, there is little information about how policymakers and investors should capitalize on this potential.
TAGS:mobile applications, technology
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

New plan to ensure universal health care in Somalia

Source: IRIN
Every Somali citizen will have access to basic healthcare by 2016 if a new, government-led strategic plan achieves its aims.
TAGS:health care, technology
Monday, March 25, 2013 — No Region Specified

A Plan to Chart Heart Risk in 1 Million Adults in Real Time

Source: The Wall Street Journal
Researchers are launching a major study that will marshal the power of smartphones and other personal technologies in an effort to develop new strategies for preventing and managing heart disease.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology
Friday, March 22, 2013 — South Asia

Deepa Gangwani: Fomenting Change for Indian Trash Collectors

Source: PBS Newshour
A shocking incident involving her maid and a trash collector helped set Deepa Gangwani on her quest to help the poor communities near where she lived in India.
TAGS:Poverty, social enterprise, technology
Monday, March 18, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Mozambique turns to technology in battle against tuberculosis

Source: The Guardian
New machine expected to cut TB diagnosis time dramatically, enabling speedier treatment in Maputo and beyond.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology
Thursday, February 21, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Full speed ahead: AfDB’s plan for a Pan-African information highway

Source: Devex
The African Development Bank has installed a common information technology platform in 13 countries and the African Union Commission.
TAGS:technology
Friday, February 08, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

In Microsoft’s ‘4Afrika’ launch, a surprising game-changer

Source: Devex Impact
In the next three years, the Microsoft Afrika Initiative aims to “help place tens of millions” of smartphones in the hands of African consumers, bring 1 million small and medium-size African businesses and nonprofits online, train 100,000 African university graduates (and find jobs for 75,000 of them), and pilot low-cost wireless broadband in Kenya using “white-space” spectrum.
TAGS:consumer products, poverty alleviation, technology
Thursday, January 24, 2013 — Latin America

SAP Invests in Emerging Entrepreneurs to Drive Innovation

Source: Press Release
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced an initial three-year, EUR 2 million commitment to Endeavor Global, Endeavor Brazil and India's National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), organizations with a comprehensive focus on high-impact entrepreneurs. As part of a new emerging entrepreneurs initiative, SAP and its partners will help accelerate job creation and responsible and sustainable business growth for emerging entrepreneurs, who will be selected via the Endeavor and NEN networks. With an initial focus on Brazil and India, SAP and its partners plan to expand into additional emerging markets.
TAGS:technology
Monday, January 07, 2013 — No Region Specified

GravityLight: the low-cost lamp powered by sand and gravity

Source: The Guardian
Two London designers have developed a gravity-powered lamp that could sell for as little as £3, bringing light to remote regions in developing countries
TAGS:renewable energy, technology
Wednesday, January 02, 2013 — South Asia

The Gyaner Haats – knowledge bazaars – of Bangladesh

Source: The Guardian
Faruk Ul Islam explains how his charity is developing networks that build on official channels to reach deeper into communities
TAGS:rural development, technology, telecommunications
Thursday, December 27, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

VMK launch 'first African-designed' smartphone and tablet

Source: BBC
A smartphone and tablet said to be the first designed by an African company have beenlaunched.
TAGS:mobile phones, technology
Friday, December 14, 2012 — No Region Specified

Mobile Technology a Game Changer in Developing World

Source: CIO
As much disruption and upheaval as the Internet age has brought to far-flung industries like education, energy and finance, the emergence of mobile computing has a much greater potential for change on a global scale, a group of experts said on Thursday.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, mobile banking, technology
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

The Machine that Will Help End TB

Source: MIT Technology Review
Nearly 1.5 million people die from tuberculosis every year, even though most cases can be cured with routine antibiotic treatments. One country’s fight to get the ancient scourge under control has an unlikely hero: a simple diagnostic test.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology, tuberculosis
Monday, December 03, 2012 — South Asia

Patnis purchase stake in Grameen Capital India

Source: Business Standard
Grameen Capital India (GCI) has announced that Amit Patni and Arihant Patni have acquired a stake in the company from original investor IFMR Trust. The Patni's after exiting their software services exports company to iGate in a $1.2 billion deal have started Nirvana Venture Advisors, a venture capital fund with focus on the internet space in India.
TAGS:impact investing, technology, venture capital
Thursday, November 08, 2012 — No Region Specified

Mastercard Inc : The SEEP Network Partners with MasterCard to Promote Innovative Uses of Technology

Source: 4-Traders
Washington, DC, November 7, 2012 - The SEEP Network's two-day 2012 Annual Conference titled, "Building Inclusive Markets: Impact through Financial and Enterprise Solutions" kicks off on Wednesday, November 7 in Arlington, VA.
TAGS:corporate engagement, financial inclusion, social impact, technology
Monday, November 05, 2012 — South Asia

Can the 'American Dream' be reversed in India?

Source: BBC
America's Silicon Valley has always been a hub for some of the brightest and best Indian immigrants to start businesses. Now, in a reversal, more people from the US are moving to the sub-continent with their ideas.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, startup, technology
Thursday, November 01, 2012 — Latin America

QMágico’s co-founder talks social entrepreneurship and education in Brazil

Source: The Next Web
Thiago Feijão was one of the panelists speaking at Entrepreneur Week Brazil, which took place for the first time in Rio de Janeiro last week. As the co-founder of edtech startup QMágico, he talked about social entrepreneurship and education opportunities in Brazil.
TAGS:education, social entrepreneur, technology
Friday, October 26, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Group mitigates poverty with alternative building technology

Source: Creamer Media's Engineering News
JSE-listed energy and chemicals group Sasol’s enterprise development vehicle, ChemCity, believes alternative building technology (ABT) has the potential to curtail unemployment and poverty – two of South Africa’s most pressing issues.
TAGS:infrastructure, poverty alleviation, technology
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Technology a pathway out of poverty

Source: Tech Central
It will take a century for a poor household to tweet its way out of poverty. That’s a very long time for anyone wondering where their next meal is coming from. But it’s a significant new finding because it proves once and for all that social media and access to information and communication technology (ICT) is a pathway out of poverty.
TAGS:mobile phones, poverty alleviation, technology
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Somalia's ambitions online could bring Mogadishu to the world

Source: BBC
At The Village Restaurant, a popular open-air hangout for Mogadishu's returning diaspora community, a charcoal-powered Italian espresso machine brews Somalia's best cappuccino.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, technology, telecommunications
Thursday, September 27, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Early stage investment growing in Africa tech

Source: PC Advisor
The rise of technology hubs over the last couple of years has spurred investment, helped by humanitarian agencies and VCs
TAGS:impact investing, technology, venture capital
Monday, September 24, 2012 — South Asia

How the Aakash tablet bounced back

Source: The Washington Post
Internet-connected tablets, as I’ve explained before, have the potential to positively impact billions. Cell phones improved commerce and changed society by allowing, among other things, the poorest villagers in the developing world to connect with one another. The Internet will catalyze the next leap forward by providing those in the developing world access to the same ocean of knowledge as those in wealthier societies. This will transform education and revolutionize commerce.
TAGS:consumer products, pricing, product design, technology
Thursday, September 20, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Esource: Cycling solution to gadget recycling

Source: BBC
Our desire to buy the latest must-have gadget comes at huge cost to the countries and people who deal with our electronic waste. But could pedal power offer a solution?
TAGS:sustainability, technology
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa’s best tech minds to meet at Indaba

Source: IT News Africa
Three years on, in every way that counts, Tech4Africa continues to be the premier mobile, web and emerging technology event, and this year’s conference promises to be no exception, congregating some of the best minds in ICT today and bringing a greater than ever breadth and depth of tech talks.
TAGS:conferences, mobile applications, technology
Monday, September 17, 2012 — No Region Specified

How 'Afropreneurs' will shape Africa's future

Source: CNN
(CNN) -- His full name is Idris Ayodeji Bello, but you might just call him "Afropreneur." That's the buzzword adopted by the young Nigerian to describe the bright, independent and tech savvy entrepreneurs using creative thinking and the power of innovation to take over Africa's economic destiny.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, technology
Friday, September 07, 2012 — No Region Specified

Solar lighting: Lighting the way

Source: Economist
Energy technology: Cheaper and better solar-powered electric lights promise to do away with kerosene-fuelled lanterns
TAGS:poverty alleviation, solar, sustainability, technology
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 — No Region Specified

DemystData Announces Series A Investment to Help Financial Institutions Grow Through Deeper Customer Data

Source: PR Web
Strategic investment from Accion and Arbor Partners Asia strengthens DemystData's position in the $12 billion big data marketplace.
TAGS:metrics, startup, technology
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 — South Asia

Institute for sustainable enterprise takes off

Source: Business Standard
An innovative concept to promote green technology and support entrepreneurs to build a sustainable business on this much needed space has taken shape in Bangalore. Indian Institute for Sustainable Enterprise (IISE), promoted by some well known global and Indian personalities has kicked off its operations and is set to launch its post-graduate certificate programme in sustainable enterprise shortly.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, entrepreneurship, sustainability, technology
Monday, August 27, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Innovation in Africa: Upwardly mobile

Source: The Economist
VISITORS to Kenya’s capital are often horrified by the homicidal minibuses called matatu. They swerve around potholes, seldom signal and use their iffy brakes only at the last second. They are therefore an ideal subject for a video game, which is why Planet Rackus, a Nairobi start-up, released “Ma3Racer” last year. Each player uses his mobile phone to steer a matatu down the street. The (unrealistic) goal is to avoid pedestrians. Within a month, a quarter of a million people in 169 countries had downloaded the game.
TAGS:mobile phones, startup, technology
Wednesday, August 22, 2012 — South Asia

Start-ups like InVenture flourish with technology services for micro finance firms

Source: The Economic Times
BANGALORE: A new wave of start-up companies is building technology enabled services aimed at bridging the communication gap between borrowers and lenders in the embattled microfinance industry.
TAGS:Microfinance, startup, technology
Wednesday, August 08, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria's low-cost tablet computer

Source: BBC
Nigeria's Saheed Adepoju is a young man with big dreams. He is the inventor of the Inye, a tablet computer designed for the African market. According to the 29-year-old entrepreneur, his machine's key selling point is its price - $350 (£225) opposed to around $700 for an iPad.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, technology
Friday, August 03, 2012 — South Asia

Test-driving the ‘World’s Cheapest Computer’

Source: New York Times
India’s “Aakash” project, a tablet billed as the cheapest computer in the world, hopes to revolutionize learning in Indian colleges and universities. We’ve been following the ups and downs of the Aakash project closely here at India Ink and were delighted when we were allowed to test drive the new, improved version, known as the Aakash-2, at the ministry of Human Resources Development.
TAGS:technology
Thursday, July 19, 2012 — South Asia

Innovating The Process Of Getting Technology To People Who Need It

Source: Fast Company
Having technology that will change the lives of people in the developing world doesn’t mean much if you can’t get it to them. To fix that, Essmart Global is trying to revolutionize distribution and supply chains.
TAGS:technology
Wednesday, June 06, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Virtual City gets Sh135m loan from US social fund

Source: Business Daily

Virtual City, a local software development firm, has received a Sh135 million ($1.5 million) convertible loan from Acumen Fund for the development of a mobile-based agricultural application to help small-scale farmers market their produce. The investment represents the latest capital inflows from international investors in the local information technology sector, which is emerging as a key target for venture capitalist firms.
TAGS:agribusiness, technology
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 — South Asia

Genpact to buy VentureEast-backed Atyati Technologies

Source: VCCircle
Business processing outsourcing major Genpact Ltd has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atyati Technologies, a technology platform provider for the rural banking sector in India. The terms of the transaction, including the stake acquired and the deal value, remain undisclosed. The deal is expected to close in 3-4 weeks.
TAGS:mobile banking, rural development, technology
Friday, May 04, 2012 — No Region Specified

Tech majors HP, Google and Microsoft reach out to local start-ups to gain foothold in SME sector

Source: Economic Times
Large technology companies have a clear target group in mind when they design initiatives to promote entrepreneurship. Start-ups that engage in these programmes are typically led by founders set on building the next big technology service product. But not Vanajakshi Raveendra Lokhande, the owner of a small business that makes pickles and noodles in the north Karnataka district of Bagalkot.
TAGS:small and medium enterprises, technology
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 — No Region Specified

Transformational Entrepreneurship: Where Technology Meets Societal Impact

Source: HBR Blog Network
The slow decline of industrial manufacturing in developed nations and recent failures of financial capitalism across the globe have sent us searching for a new model of economic growth. I see the two movements of Technology Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship beginning to converge into a promising solution.
TAGS:social enterprise, social impact, technology
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 — No Region Specified

Microplanet Technologies Names Daryl Skoog, Former Head of Opportunity International MIS, as Executive Director

Source: Press Release
MicroPlanet brings together a world-class team of technology professionals to support microfinance sector
TAGS:leadership, Microfinance, technology
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 — No Region Specified

Intel Releases Rugged Education Tablet for the Developing World

Source: Mashable
Intel has launched the latest device in its line of classroom computers: a tablet, Intel studybook. The Intel studybook is built to be both a rigorous education tool and a sturdy playmate. It comes loaded with Intel’s Learning Series software, including an interactive ereader and LabCam applications.
TAGS:academia, Base of the Pyramid, technology
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Tony Elumelu Foundation, Co-Creation Hub in Partnership to Give Social Technology Entrepreneurs Boost

Source: WorldStage
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), an institution dedicated to the promotion and celebration of excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship across Africa, is partnering with Co-Creation Hub Nigeria (CcHub), Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space dedicated to catalysing creative social technology ventures, in an effort to encourage innovative ideas that could help transform the social technology space in Nigeria.
TAGS:social enterprise, social entrepreneur, technology
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 — North Africa and Near East

Microfinance Giant Launches Venture Capital Fund For East Africa

Source: Forbes
Accion, an international microfinance and investment firm, has launched Venture Lab, a $10 million investment vehicle which will provide seed capital and management support to financial inclusion startups worldwide, with a particular focus on East Africa and India.
TAGS:financial inclusion, Microfinance, startup, technology, venture capital
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 — Latin America

Study: OLPC Fails Students as a Tool for Education

Source: PCmag.com
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program of low-cost laptops for developing countries has not led to any measurable impact in academic achievement, according to a recent report.
TAGS:academia, Base of the Pyramid, Impact Assessment, technology
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Why Designers Need To Stop Feeling Sorry For Africa

Source: FastCo.Design
Taking a patronizing approach to investing in Africa undermines both the country’s people and entrepreneurial promise, argue Jens Martin Skibsted and Rasmus Bech Hansen.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, consumer products, technology
Friday, April 06, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

A New Silicon Valley? Tech Hubs Spring Up in Africa

Source: FastCo.Exist
Internet access is expanding rapidly across the continent, and with it new organizations are coming to help foster a budding tech startup scene.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, social business, technology
Monday, March 26, 2012 — No Region Specified

How the Developing World is Using Cellphone Technology to Change Lives

Source: thestar.com
In Nigeria, a young girl can ask questions about sex discretely through SMS and get accurate information. After the earthquake in Haiti, survivors in remote towns could receive money for food straight to their cellphone. In Senegal, election monitors sent updates on polling stations through their mobile phones, revising an online map in real time with details about late openings or worse. Projects like Learning about Living in Nigeria, MercyCorps in Haiti and Senevote2012 in Senegal are just a few examples of how the rapid spread of mobile technology has changed life in the global south.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, mobile phones, technology
Friday, March 16, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Finding the Line Between Technical and Political Solutions to Water Challenges

Source: The Guardian
Technology can increase access to water and sanitation; other solutions seem to hinge on policy. But are the two areas distinct?
TAGS:sustainability, technology, water
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 — No Region Specified

Selling to the World's Poor Offers Huge Potential

Source: Canadian Business
It might seem counterintuitive, but setting your sights on the world’s four billion poorest people can be remarkably lucrative. Just ask Suneet Singh Tuli. The CEO of wireless-device manufacturer DataWind Ltd. says his Montreal-based company’s revenue could soar from less than $10 million last year to more than $300 million next year, thanks to the stripped-down tablet computer it developed to sell in India: “It’s an astonishing rate of growth.”
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, consumer products, technology
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 — Asia Pacific

ADB Plans to Invest $100M in Environment Fund

Source: Inquirer Business
The Asian Development Bank is expected to invest about $100 million in a multinational fund that will be put up to boost investments in environment-related technologies and projects in developing countries like the Philippines.
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund, renewable energy, technology
Friday, March 02, 2012 — No Region Specified

Now for some good news: Two books argue that the future is brighter than we think

Source: The Economist
The lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a small device with a huge potential. It can run dozens of diagnostic tests on human DNA in a few minutes. Give the device a gob of spit or a drop of blood and it will tell you whether or not you are sick without any need to send your DNA to a laboratory. In poor countries LOCs could offer diagnostics to millions who lack access to expensive laboratories. In the rich world they may curb rising medical costs.
TAGS:public health, social impact, technology
Friday, February 10, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Mobile Phones Will Not Save the Poorest of the Poor

Source: Slate
Entrepreneurs, businesses, NGOs, and governments exalt mobile technology as a game-changing tool to fight global poverty. But what if our eagerness to connect the world is inadvertently exacerbating the global economic divide? The cost of cellphone-based services is hurting huge swaths of the developing world.
TAGS:mobile phones, Poverty, technology
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Can The iPad Revolutionize Rural Agriculture?

Source: FastCo.Exist
The iPad’s fairly steep price has kept it firmly entrenched in the developed world. That’s starting to change, however, as evidenced by efforts from Exprima Media and coffee importer Sustainable Harvest to bring the iPad to coffee co-ops and farmers in East Africa, Mexico, and South America.
TAGS:agribusiness, farmers, supply chains, technology

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