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Record 128 Million of World’s Poorest Received Microloan in 2009
More than 128 million of the world’s poorest families received a microloan in 2009-an all-time high, according to a report released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Assuming an average of five persons per family, this means that loans to 128 million poorest clients affected some 641 million family members, which is greater than the combined population of the European Union and ...
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Crowdfunding Equity ? the New Age of Co-created Finance
By Luke Lang The web’s ability to interact and organise communities of people has been highlighted recently with the emergence of crowdfunding platforms that create a vital lifeline to much needed finance for thousands if not millions of public, private and social enterprises. Although there are now a multitude of crowdfunding sites that allow people to contribute small amounts of money in support of a creative idea or project, in return for rewards, the most recent devel...
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Ex-Starbucks Exec Helps Develop Global Eye Banks
Some 10 million people suffer from corneal blindness. It’s relatively rare in the U.S., and if you have it, you’re likely to have a corneal transplant and your vision will be restored. But in the developing world, where most corneal blindness occurs, it’s a different matter. Now, a Seattle-based nonprofit is applying lessons learned in the coffee business in its efforts to bring sight to as many people as it can. Tucked away in a downtown Seattle office building is one...
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PPAF Sets Up Wind Turbines, Solar Panels for Power Generation
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), in partnership with Aga Khan Planing and Building Services- Pakistan (AKPBS-P), has set up wind turbines and solar panels to provide environmentally friendly electricity to approximately 6,500 people in 29 villages of district Thatta in Sindh province. According to PPAF sources, the AKPBS-P, with the support from PPAF, the World Bank and the contribution by the village residents in the form of unskilled labour, installed 29 wind t...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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The Middle East’s Other Boom: Entrepreneurship
Just as 1960s counterculture was responsible for the ’80s high-tech explosion, the revolutionary wave sweeping the Middle East will trigger a boom in entrepreneurship-but this time the change will be measured in months, not decades. Like many people, I have been watching the events unfolding in the Middle East with a jaw hovering somewhere near the floor. And curiously enough, many of the thought...
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India Set to Regulate Microlenders
NEW DELHI - The Indian government plans to introduce a bill to regulate microfinance institutions that will seek to prevent them from charging very high interest rates and taking deposits, a senior finance ministry official said Friday. The bill, which will be in line with a central bank-appointed panel’s recommendation, is likely to be placed before parliament this year. Microlenders like sector leader SKS Microfinance Ltd. give loans as little as $20-$25 to small entrepreneu...
- Region
- South Asia
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Accion Extends Credit Guarantees Worth $1.5 Million to 2 MFIs
New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) Non-profit group Accion International today said it has extended credit guarantees worth USD 1.5 million to two micro finance companies in India. Accion has issued a USD 1 million standby letter of credit (SBLC) for its partner Swadhaar FinServ and another guarantee worth USD 500,000 to Bihar-based Saija Finance. The credit guarantees helped Swadhaar FinServ and Saija Finance secure loan facilities to the tune of Rs 50 million and Rs 30 million, ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Start Ups: Rising Tide of Angels Boosts Seed Capital
Scores of angels are descending on India’s booming entrepreneurial sector as risk capital for very early stage firms emerges as a profitable investment category. In Mumbai, early stage investment firm Seedfund ha...
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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