NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Reserve Bank of India to MFIs: Shape Up or Face Music

HYDERABAD: India’s booming microfinance segment is under the scanner, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issuing a veiled warning that it could be taken off the priority sector lending list of banks if the industry fails to improve its governance standards. This was spelt out at a meeting in late January between senior RBI officials, representatives of Sa-Dhan-the association of Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs)-and some senior MFI managers from Karnata...

Source

Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Agriculture

Region

South Asia

BoP Heavyweights Bishop, Edwards and Tooley Coming to NYC

If you are based in or around New York - or have plans to travel there in the coming months - you may be interested in two upcoming events that feature base of the pyramid subjects and experts.

Categories

Agriculture, Investing

Why We Help: A Meditation on “Giving”

There are dozens of motives for people to work in the business of development and I’ve been pondering the psychology of "giving" and what drives people to want to work in international aid, donate to charities, work for non-profits, and generally work in an environment where there is a heightened desire to help others. So what drives you?

Categories

Agriculture

Is Aid Working?

It is hard to argue with the lofty ambition to end once and for all the scourge that is global poverty. How the world should go about this, however, is much more vexed. If poor countries do not have sufficient capital, aid advocates argue that there is a moral imperative for rich ones to help. Since 1970 hundreds of billions of dollars in bilateral and multilateral aid has been sent to Africa from the developed world. G20 leaders agreed at last month’s summit London that an extra $50bn ...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Agriculture, Investing

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Time for a New Kind of Capitalism?

The global financial crisis has led to serious questions, about the state of world capitalism. Anger is still running hot and strong against what’s perceived as the selfishness and greed of those in big Western banks and corporations. But there are some entrepreneurs who believe now is the time for another kind of capitalism to grow and flourish - a more kind and compassionate form which has social good as its goal, the betterment of the lives of the world’s poorest people, and ...

Source

BBC News (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Agriculture

NextBillion.net at the Global Philanthropy Forum

Titled "Five Crises, Multiple Solutions and Our Shared Commitment to Act" , this year’s Global Philanthropy Forum promises to offer a very interesting set of talks and discussions amongst the world’s leaders in the philanthopy/ social investment space.

Categories

Agriculture

Google.org Places SME Initiative “On the Back Burner”

Here at NextBillion.net, we believe in the power of small and medium sized enterprises to spur economic development at the bottom of the pyramid.? This idea - one of the core principles of the "development through enterprise" movement that’s gaining steam in business and...

Categories

Agriculture