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

Yunus Says Borrowers Are Core of Grameen Bank

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is facing challenging times. On March 2, Bangladesh’s central bank ruled that he must step down as managing director of Grameen Bank, the institution he founded in the 1970s to get small loans to poor farmers without collateral. The success of Grameen won Mr. Yunus international acclaim and helped spawn the global microfinance industry. The bank and Mr. Yunus shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. But Mr. Yunus is facing pressure at home. ...

Source

The Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Gates Foundation: $23 Million for Health Diagnostics in Bihar

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $23 million to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of diarrhea, tuberculosis, kala azar and childhood pneumonia in the Indian state of Bihar. The funding will go toward an international non-governmental health organization that will lead an initiative to improve prescription practices across Bihar’s private health sect...

Source

Devex News (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Bangladesh Ready to Compromise on Yunus Dispute

Bangladesh says it is ready to compromise with Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, who was dismissed as chief of the microfinance bank he founded. The country’s finance ministry said Wednesday the government is ready to find a solution to the issue and that Yunus must come forward to help resolve the matter. The statement comes a day after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake expressed concern about the effect of Yunus’ departure from Grameen Bank on civil s...

Source

VoANews.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Experts Warn Africa Must Learn from India’s Microfinance Problems

It has been lauded as one of the most promising ways of using the market to reduce poverty and boost economies in some of the world’s most deprived areas. But in recent months the work of microfinance institutions (MFIs), which provide small loans to poor people with no access to traditional banking services, has come under scrutiny after a spate of suicides in the Indian province of Andhra Pradesh was linked to borrowers’ inability to repay their loans. The news made inte...

Source

CNN (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Tata Signs up MIT Energy Guru for Power from Water

Bangalore: In the first such effort, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata has signed on a leading scientist from the globally renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to commercialize cutting-edge research that promises to produce cheap power from water. Daniel Nocera, a professor of chemistry and energy, and his group of elite scientists at MIT attracted attention from Tata when he heard they had found a way towards one of science’s holy grails-to imitate photosynthesis, the ...

Source

livemint.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Nokia Extends Mobile Money Service to Union Bank in India

Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) , the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, has started supplying mobile banking services for a Union Bank of India offering aimed at phone customers who don’t have bank accounts. The Union Bank Money Powered by Nokia service is available in Gurgaon and will be released nationwide over the next few months, the Mumbai-based bank s...

Source

Bloomberg (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Microfinance Under Fire

By DAVID BORNSTEIN At Fixes, our focus is typically on implementing new or underutilized ideas to help those in need. But sometimes it’s just as important to protect institutions that are already working well. Which is why I’m writing today about the Grameen Bank, the Bangladeshi organization that won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with its founder Muhammad...

Source

The New York Times Opinionator (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Sa?d Business School: US Marines Call on Social Entrepreneur in Afghanistan

When Connie Duckworth received a call from the office of Commanding General of the Marines First Expeditionary Force operating in Afghanistan, she was surprised to say the least. Ms Duckworth is a social entrepreneur working in poor rural communities in Afghanistan well beyond the theatre of war. The Marines, however, had heard about her approach to developing sustainable economic growth within these communities and wanted to learn more. Ms Duckworth’s social venture ARZU has been w...

Source

The Financial (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Education

Region

North Africa & Near East