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Africa Looks to Its Entrepreneurs
With a majority of African nations diversifying from traditional sources of income, entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a key to economic growth. So far, entrepreneurship has yielded huge returns for entrepreneurs, and according to experts, there lies great untapped potential to drive the African continent into its next phase of development.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Connectivity for the Bottom Billion: A Call for Collective Action
In the developed world, we take the universal availability of the Internet largely for granted. That connectivity in turn creates tremendous opportunities and benefits for individuals and businesses alike. What we often forget is that less than half of the world’s population has access to the Internet. Most of the 4 billion people who live in an unconnected world live in developing countries in Africa and South Asia. The problem is particularly acute for the billion people with the lowest incomes, who tend to live in rural areas of developing countries where there is little or no infrastructure to provide connectivity. This lack of access to connectivity leaves billions cut off from the Internet and thus the ability to use it to improve their lives and economic situations.
- Categories
- Technology
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Google to Ban Payday Loan Advertisements
Google announced Wednesday that it will ban all payday loan ads from its site, bowing to concerns by advocates who say the lending practice exploits the poor and vulnerable by offering them immediate cash that must be paid back under sky-high interest rates.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- lending
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Safaricom of Kenya Talking to Banks to Grow Mobile Money
Safaricom Ltd., Kenya’s largest company by market value, is in talks with 19 banks in the East African nation to increase users of its mobile-money transfer platform, Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said after the company posted higher annual profits.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: In Global Shift, Poorer Countries Are Increasingly the Early Tech Adopters
Historically, industrial revolutions haven’t been kind to poor people. Despite the potential benefits technology can offer, the immediate impact on the lowest-paid members of society has often been negative. If it wasn’t putting people out of work, then technology was usually endangering them through hazardous working environments or long-term exposure to pollutants. And even today there is evidence that technology-driven economies are favoring just a small group of successful individuals, and thereby exacerbating inequality.
- Categories
- Technology
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GE, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship Partner for Health Challenges in Africa
GE and Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship have announced a partnership that focuses on training and mentoring social entrepreneurs working on maternal and child health innovations in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: The Business Rationale for Investing in Nature
The business rationale for investing in ecological restoration and nature-inspired biomimicrysolutions is coming into sharper focus. The business case is simply built on effectively and efficiently addressing core business issues. It is that straightforward.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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A Breath Test for Malaria
Diagnosing malaria may soon be as easy taking a simple breath test, according to researchers.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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