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

For Love or for Money? SKS Microfinance IPO Stirs Debate

MUMBAI, India (AP) - An Indian company that makes tiny loans to villagers aims to raise up to $354 million in an initial public offering, a move critics fear will encourage the microfinance lender - India’s largest - to put shareholders above the poor it serves. SKS Microfinance’s share sale, launched Wednesday, has already drawn the ire of one of the leading lights in the field. A publicly traded company’s traditional obligation is...

Source

Canadian Business (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Grameen Foundation and ThoughtWorks Partner on Microfinance Tech Platform

WASHINGTON and CHICAGO, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- ThoughtWorks, Inc., ( www.thoughtworks.com ) the global leader in Agile methods of software development, today announced a global initiative to provide software engineering services for Grameen Foundation’s Mifos platform. ThoughtWorks has established a dedicated team to advance the next-generation Mifos technology ar...

Source

PR Newswire (link opens in a new window)

Youth Consumers are Key for Godrej

If a brand is doing well, growing year after year, why does it need to transform? That’s the question Godrej must have asked itself before going for its corporate re-branding effort in 2008. Present in around 27 product categories with close to 100 products, brand Godrej suddenly donned vibrant colours whileretaining its signature style in its logo at the start of the Indian Premier League 1 in 2008. ...

Source

Hindustan Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

The New India: Social Entrepreneurship as a Family Affair

BANGALORE -- Neelam Chhiber met her husband Jacob Mathew in graduate school, the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Today, with their 19-year-old son Nishant, they are giving me one family’s story of the improvisational networking and social entrepreneurship that are all the rage in digital India. It’s not all monster business yet, and probably never will be. In the Chhiber-Mathew case...

Source

Huffington Post (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Not the Typical Charity Case: Profits from SKS IPO

Investors linked to a charity stand to receive millions of dollars when a company they supported in lending to the poor in India goes public next week. The charity, Unitus , abruptly dismissed most of its staff this month , saying it h...

Source

PortFoliio (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Why Women are Economic Backbone of Rwanda

Kigali, Rwanda (CNN) -- Six days a week Bernadette Ndizigiye puts her skillful hands to work. Stretched out on the floor of an empty classroom in Kigali, Ndizigiye and 20 other women weave baskets to earn their keep. Her job at the Agaseke Project, a government run cooperative, has earned Ndizigiye a steady wage, her first savings account, and a taste of financial empowerment. "I can pay school fees for m...

Source

CNN (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Translating Good Intentions into Good Inventions

FORT COLLINS, CO (KUNC) - During the month of July, Colorado State University in Fort Collins is hosting 48 budding entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors from 17 countries. Their mission is to work on product inventions like cheap solar water heaters that are targeted to people living in the developing world. A Business Approach to Philanthropy Being an inventor takes a lot of hard work, intelligence and a little bit of elbow grease.&nbs...

Source

NPR (link opens in a new window)

Fund Seeks to Invest in the West African Seed Industry

The West Africa Agricultural Investment Fund ("WAAIF") and Injaro Investments Limited ("Injaro") Monday announced the First Closing of the first ever West African fund focused on investing in indigenous seed production companies. The initial investors in the fund are The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Lundin For Africa Society, a Vancouver-based foundation. The launch of the fund will provide capital that is desperately needed by West Africa’s cr...

Source

My Joy Online (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa