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The Millennial Employment Gap: Three Lessons Learned Supporting Young Entrepreneurs
Across Latin America, about 20 million young people are neither studying nor working. Helping them find economic opportunities is one of the region's top challenges - and entrepreneurship can help, since businesses with five employees or fewer generate 60 percent of the region’s jobs. TechnoServe discusses three effective approaches for supporting young entrepreneurs, learned through its Crece Tu Empresa (Build Your Business) program.
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Press release: MetLife Foundation & Verb Launch Competition To Accelerate Financial Innovation In Bangladesh
The Bangladesh competition will attract participants that have innovative ideas or solutions to empower the over 75 million Bangladeshis that manage their day-to-day financial lives without a bank account. MetLife associates will serve as mentors and judges for the competition, contributing hundreds of volunteer hours.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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The company that turned African telcos into insurance brokers
In the early 2000s, UK-born Richard Leftley spent two weeks doing voluntary work in Kitwe, northern Zambia. During his stay, he met a woman who described her life as “a game of snakes and ladders” – no matter how hard she worked to get herself out of poverty, she kept finding herself right back where she started every time life rolled the dice against her.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Beyond the Beach: Exploring Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism provides one in 10 jobs globally, and even more in developing countries. In the Caribbean, for instance, it directly or indirectly creates nearly one in every five jobs. The Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism will explore how tourism can "create good jobs, provide opportunities for inclusion and education, and assist in preserving cultural heritage and the environment." NextBillion will be a media partner at the event.
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Indonesia: IFC proposes to provide up to $50m debt to microfinance institution MBK
The funding is expected to support the growth of the company’s microfinance portfolio, mainly targeting underserved rural women borrowers
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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- microfinance
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Press release: USAID Announces $18.4 Million in Support of Cutting Edge Innovations
Since 2010, USAID-supported DIV innovations have collectively impacted 25 million people living in poverty and resulted in $4 in funding from outside investors, lenders and philanthropies for every U.S. taxpayer dollar spent.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
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Reserve Bank of India Says ‘No’ to Islamic Banking
Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is prohibited under Islam. The issue of introduction of the interest-free banking in India was examined by RBI and the government of India, the central bank added.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- Islamic finance
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Reimagining Slums: Innovative Solutions to Bangladesh’s Urban Housing Dilemma
Bangladesh's housing deficit has quadrupled in the last decade and, in the absence of adequate measures, it is projected to increase to 8.5 million units by 2021. Due to extreme demand and lack of rent control in slums, housing prices are sky-high. BRAC's Asif Saleh and Mahira Khan say these challenges highlight an opportunity for testing out models for urban development that leverage government, private business and the development sector.
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- Investing, Uncategorized