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Patagonia, Adidas, Walmart Join Sustainable Apparel Coalition
What happens when you put executives from Walmart and Patagonia in a room? This isn’t the start of a bad joke--it’s how the Sustainable Apparel Coalition was born. The seeds of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition were planted in 2009 when Patagonia and Walmart teamed up to help the latter company create a sustainability assessment tool for its supply chain (Patagonia was also working o...
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- Education
- Region
- Latin America
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Is the Bottom of the Pyramid Really For You?
By Ashish Karamchandani, Mike Kubzansky and Nishant Lalwani Monitor’s Inclusive Markets Practice The market for products and services aimed at the bottom of the pyramid-people living in poverty in developing economies-is vast, with 4 billion people representing $5 trillion in purchasing power. However, succeeding in this market is far from easy, write Ashish Karamchandani, Mike Kubzansky and Nishant Lalwani-who lead ...
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Kopo Kopo Helps Bring Mobile Microfinance to Sierra Leone
Kopo Kopo, a software company that operates a services platform connecting mobile money to microfinance institutions, has partnered withHope Micro and Splash Mobile Money to bring mobile financial services to the country. Hope Micro customers will now be able to repay their loans via Splash Mobile Money, a service that allows users on the top three mobile networks to load cash onto their phones, send money, pay bills, withdrawcash, and buy goods. As a result, Hope Micro customers n...
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MFIs Seen as Way Forward to Boost Housing Supply
The World Bank is calling on microfinanciers to fund housing projects in Kenya to meet the high demand for affordable homes in the low-end market. The Bank said Kenya should take cue from India’s housing microfinancing concept that has already seen development of 20,000 homes for low income earners and is looking to deliver 500,000 units in a few years. Speaking during the launch of the Housing Finance report in Nairobi, Simon Walley of the World Bank said: "We need to w...
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- Uncategorized
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- housing
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Grameen Bank Founder Yunus Survives Attempt to Oust Him
Muhammad Yunus , the Nobel prize winning founder of the Grameen bank in Bangladesh , has survived an attempt to oust him from ...
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- South Asia
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How the Poor Can Least Afford Bad Design
You could call Jan Chipchase the Indiana Jones of product design. He lives in Shanghai, has a Japanese wife and just returned from a research trip in the north of Uganda, an area recently controlled by the notorious military group the
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India Budget to Help Microlenders
MUMBAI -India’s finance minister Monday announced the creation of a 1-billion rupee ($22 million) equity fund for microfinance institutions, a step that will provide the much needed financial support to smaller players. "The microfinance institutions have emerged as an important means of financial inclusion. Creation of a dedicated fund for providing equity to smaller MFIs would help them maintain growth and achieve scale and efficiency in operation," Pranab Mukherjee said whi...
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- South Asia
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The B-Town Doctors: Big Hospitals In Small Towns
Divya Raman, 35, goes to her friendly, neighbourhood family physician in Koramangala, suburban Bangalore, whenever her family members fall ill. But this is not an average neighbourhood clinic. The walls are a warm magenta and yellow, there is enough space to sit and, most importantly, it is clean. "It is better than regular clinics, as it is clean and you do not get put off by a crowd," says Raman. Manipal Hospital would be happy to hear Raman’s response. For the last two month...
- Region
- South Asia