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

Ugandan wins Base of Pyramid Mobile Communications Award

Mr Alex Nyika, a Ugandan software developer based in Kenya, on Monday scooped the top prize at one of Europe’s most prestigious mobile communication innovation awards. Mr Nyika, the chief executive Xrystalgenius , a Nairobi-based mobile startup, won the Base of the Pyramid award at the 2010 Mobile Monday Peer Awards that took place in Helsinki, Finland. Five finalists including United States-based Super Technologies, which emerged runner up in the category competed...

Eko India Financial Services Reaches Out to Unbanked Indians

W hen will everyone in India have a bank account? It is difficult to answer that, but Eko India Financial Services has taken up this challenge to reach out banking services to 40 per cent of the un-banked population in India. Eko helps anyone who owns a cellphone to do banking transactions in just a few seconds. Launched by Abhishek Sinha, the company helps the poor in wealth creation by saving as little as Rs 10. ...

Creating a New Asset Class for Social Entrepreneurs

The big question at this year’s Social Capital Markets conference was this: How can we unlock more investment capital for social entrepreneurs? Kevin Jones and the folks at Good Capital, the founders and conveners of "SoCap" (as it is known among its followers), believe that the pressing need in the field is to make large volumes of capital available to world-changing entrepreneurs. ...

Source

Inc. (link opens in a new window)

Zidisha Forges a Path in Microfinance Industry

In the ever-growing universe of microfinance lenders, Julia Kurnia, the 26-year-old founder of peer-to-peer lending Web site Zidisha.org, believes she has found a niche. The Sterling resident has zeroed in on educated entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Zidisha, which means "to grow" in Swahili, went live in January 2009, Kurnia has facilitated more than $16,600 in loans from 80 lenders for 30 low-income start-ups in Kenya and Senegal, while maintaining a 100 percent repay...

Source

The Washington Post (link opens in a new window)

Michigan’s Ross Business School Launches Social Venture Fund

Action-based initiative aligns with new courses to place impact investing at the forefront of entrepreneurial education. Ann Arbor, Mich. — Marshalling an increasing student interest in the social-impact investment space, the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Ross School of Business recently launched the Social Venture Fund (...

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Uncategorized

Gillette’s Latest Innovation in Razors: the 11-Cent Blade

Gillette’s newest shaving system has just one blade, a light plastic handle and a sharply lower price. And it isn’t available in the U.S. The Gillette Guard, the latest razor from the Procter & Gamble Co. unit, instead will begin hitting stores in India next week. The move by the maker of five-bladed, battery-powered gizmos reflects P&G’s aggressive push into emerging markets for new customers and growth. Tha...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

Khosla, Sun Co-Founder, Uses Capitalism to Help Poor

MUMBAI, India - Vinod Khosla, the billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was already among the world’s richest men when he invested a few years ago in SKS Microfinance, a lender to poor women in India. But the roaring success of SKS’s recent initial public stock offering in Mumbai has made him richer by about $117 million - money he says he plans to plow back into other ven...

Source

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

Deadline for NCIIA’s Sustainable Vision Grants Program is Oct. 15

There’s still time to submit entries to the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance . The deadline is October 15, 2010 These grants of up to $50,000 support university faculty and students who are developing breakthrough technologies created and commercialized for people living in poverty. The NCIIA is looking for technology innovations that address basic human needs such ...

Source

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (link opens in a new window)