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

CSR, MDGs and the bottom of the pyramid

To be blunt, governments and their international arms including the agencies grouped under the umbrella of the United Nations, have failed in their attempts to rid the planet of underdevelopment and poverty. Excerpt: At the core of many of the MDGs is the fact that many problems we face are linked to poverty and a lack of access to resources, including education and healthcare. Poverty breeds poverty when people do not have rights to these sorts of resources and lack the empowerment to move o...

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CSR Asia Weekly (link opens in a new window)

Fighting poverty $1 at a time

Since its beginning, the micro-finance model of providing small loans to help expand or start a self-sustaining enterprise has helped more than 8.2 million of the world’s poorest people -- in at least 115 countries -- to stand on their feet. Excerpt: It all started with $50. In 1988, that’s what it took Noni Bala Ghosh to revive her family’s business of making sweets to sell in Kholshi, her tiny village in Bangladesh. Family members had given up the business because they c...

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CNN (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Developing new market opportunities for low-income communities

A four-year program, run by the Mexican BCSD, will improve market opportunities for local entrepreneurs, creating new business networks involving MSMEs and lifting people out of the informal economy. Funding for the project comes from the Inter-American Development Bank through their Building Opportunity for the Majority initiative. By leveraging the advantages of smaller firms ? their proximity to clients, their outreach and knowledge of local needs and culture ? the pr...

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World Business Council for Sustainable Development (link opens in a new window)

Gates Foundation Awards $1.5 Million to Grameen Foundation

Grameen Foundation, a leading global microfinance organization, today announced it has received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support its work worldwide. The three-year grant will support Grameen Foundation’s strategic plan to reach five million additional new families, ensure that 50 percent of them permanently escape poverty within five years of becoming a microfinance client, and champion innovations that transform the microfinance industry. The unrest...

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Grameen Foundation (link opens in a new window)

Entrepreneurs to Benefit from Buffett Windfall

Warren Buffett’s blockbuster gift of about $31 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is great news for aspiring business owners in the developing world. The foundation is looking to use Buffett’s largesse to expand microlending campaigns in Africa and India. These programs make small loans to individuals so that they can buy equipment, such as a cell phone or a sewing machine, to start a business. At a press conference announcing Buffett’s donation, Melind...

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Inc.com (link opens in a new window)

Microenterprises – A Solution for Those Lost in Poverty

The establishment of microenterprise opportunities brings hope to many who are willing to develop their current skills and take the time to learn new ones. Excerpt: The disproportionately high levels of poverty found in many developing countries became the catalyst needed to create a formal process to help citizens of these states develop a means to earn an income. Traditional lending institutions have not been readily accessible to many of these people (particularly women). This fact brought fo...

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Bella Online (link opens in a new window)

Opportunities to profit from the honourable poor

The idea that money can be made from the poor has attracted much interest in the past couple of years, fuelled by books such as The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and Banker to the Poor.? Brazil is one market with plenty of potential. Excerpt: The real secret of Casas Bahia?s success, however, lies in its system of customer finance. Just 10 per cent of sales are paid for in full at time of purchase. Of the remainder, 20 per cent go on credit cards ? a recent innov...

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Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

SMEs would alleviate urban and rural poverty

Mr David Quaye Annang, Tema Municipal Chief Executive observed that Micro and Small-Scale Enterprises had the potential for the future growth of both employment and incomes, as well as the alleviation of urban and rural poverty in the country. Excerpt: Tema, Aug. 25, GNA - Mr David Quaye Annang, Tema Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) on Thursday, observed that Micro and Small-Scale Enterprises (MSEs) had the potential for the future growth of both employment and incomes, as well as the alleviation...

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Ghana Web (link opens in a new window)