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India Microfinance Body: Sector Facing Survival Threat
MUMBAI -(Dow Jones)- India’s microfinance sector could be all but wiped out if immediate steps aren’t taken to rescue it, after authorities in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh initiated steps to tighten its grip over their lending activities, the president of a local representative body said Friday. "By Dec. 31, if this situation continues, there will be no microfinance sector in 2011," Vijay Mahajan of Microfinance Institution Network, or MFIN, told reporters on the sidelin...
- Region
- South Asia
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Africa Agriculture Fund First Close at $135 Million
PRESS RELEASE ---- 29 November 2010 The African Agriculture Fund (AAF), a private equity fund designed to respond to the food crisis that severely impacted the continent in 2008 in the wake of escalating food prices, reached its first closing at US$ 135 million in November 2010. AAF investment thesis primarily lies in food production, processing and distribution in cereals, livestock farming, dairy, fruit and vegetabl...
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Impact investment ?A Burgeoning Asset Class?
"Impact investment" - an embryonic market in which investors aim to achieve positive social or environmental gains - is beginning to emerge as a separate asset class and should be treated as such, says a report from JPMorgan and the Rockefeller Foundation . The study claims to be the most comprehensive look to...
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Social Entrepreneurs Boost Cooperation to Reduce Poverty in Asia
Innovative thinkers working for social change converged in Seoul, Monday, in a bid to boost cooperation towards alleviating poverty and other problems in Asia. Some 300 agents of change known as social entrepreneurs - those who apply fresh paradigms to solve pressing human issues - gathered in southern Seoul for the second major gathering of the Asian Social Entrepreneurs Summit. On the first of two days of dialogue at the Kyoyuk Munwha Hoekwan Hotel, tackling pove...
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Currency War: The Stakes for Africa
By Sanou Mbaye As a result of chronically deficient demand in the aftermath of the 2008-09 financial and economic crises, global imbalances are on the rise again, as is the risk of protectionism. The US thinks China is undervaluing its currency to support its industry. The situation could lead to an "international currency war". What does this herald for African...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Union Bank to Enter Microfinance Arena in AP
State-owned Union Bank of India (UBI) made its maiden foray into the micro-credit arena Monday (Nov. 22) with the launch of a new scheme covering 20 mandals in Andhra Pradesh, a state where microfinance activities were hitherto the preserve of private companies. "We have decided to lend 20 mandals about Rs 50 lakh each and we would extend this to about 100 mandals in this fiscal, which will be about Rs 50 crore by way of cash credit facility. T...
- Region
- South Asia
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Understanding the Financial Landscape for Social Enterprise
The Social Investment Business’ Sue Peters examines the impact changes in the funding, lending and investment markets are having on social enterprise The financial climate for people running or setting up social enterprises is like that for business owners or any other entrepreneurs at the moment - the banks aren’t lending. Either finance isn’t available, or banks say the economic situation means they aren’t able to lend the a...
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Brazil’s Cash Transfer Scheme Improving the Lives of the Poorest
Rumour has it that when senior civil servants at the Department for International Development (DfID) tried to interest the development secretary Andrew Mitchell in cash transfers, they couldn’t get anywhere. One morning he came across a column by my colleague Aditya Chakrabortty and was converted. Within a short space of time the "must rea...
- Region
- Latin America