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

Why a New Multidonor Trust Fund in Liberia Works

Many countries are struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goals because their governments are unwilling or unable to fulfill core functions. Sudan and Afghanistan are examples of fragile states that are receiving billions in foreign aid every year but are unlikely to reach the MDGs. Among the classic repertoire of approaches to providing development assistance, few funding instruments can effectively channel resources through governments of fragile states and help them to become ...

Source

DevEx (link opens in a new window)

Africa’s Innovation Generation: Dynamos and Mobile Wiz Kids

Leapfrogging PCs, Africa’s burgeoning generation of mobile tech-savvy entrepreneurs is bursting with ideas and practical inventions, from African apps for smart phones to software solutions that address uniquely local challenges. In this installment of Mobile Message, Kenya-based Erik Hersman, a co-founder of Ushahidi , a free and open source platform for crowdsourcing information and visualizing data, writes about ...

Source

National Geographic (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Seeking America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has always been about solving problems. What distinguishes social entrepreneurs is how much their solutions improve people’s lives. They’re building companies to lift people out of poverty, improve global health, extend human rights, and protect the environment. They’re business people, too, and they take profits as seriously they take their missions. Social enterprises aren’t charities-they sustain themselves and grow because their customers pay for the value...

Source

Businessweek (link opens in a new window)

Afrilabs Links Entrepreneurs, Startups, Tech Communities in Africa

Erik Hersman, director of operations at the non-profit Ushahidi, today announced the launch of a network of startup incubators and tech communities throughout Africa. Dubbing the new ven...

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Nestle to Invest $1 Bln in Africa Over Next 2 Years

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nestle, the world’s biggest food group, said on Thursday it would invest 1 billion Swiss francs expanding capacity in Africa over the next two years. Chief Executive Paul Bulcke made the comments at the opening of a 12 billion naira factory to produce Maggi seasoning cubes in the southwestern state of Ogun in Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy. "This latest investment is proof of our commitment to Africa in which we will invest 1 billion...

Source

Reuters Africa (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

’Doing Good’ with the Profits

Jeffrey Church and Mike Stone started a bottled-water business not to get rich, but to do good. The two San Diego businessmen, who met at Harvard Business School , established Nika Water after Church took his family on a working vacation to Africa to build schools and water systems. "My family and I liked w...

Source

Sign On San Diego (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Education

72,000 More Indian Villages to Get Banking Services by 2012

(IANS) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all the commercial banks to take banking services, in any form, to 72,000 uncovered villages in India by 2012, a top bank official said here Sunday. ’Keeping with the RBI directives, the banks have been engaging retired bank officials, locals and societies as business correspondents (BC) and setting up branches to extend the banking services to unbanked rural and remote areas having population of 2,000,’ United Bank of I...

Source

IANS (link opens in a new window)

Hopes and Fears on EU?s Africa Aid

By Elena L. Pasquini Mohamed Ibn Chambas has mixed feelings about the emerging collaboration of China and Europe to help Africa meet the Millennium Development Goals. While he welcomes such a partn...

Source

Devex News (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa