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

ICICI Bank Targets 250 MFIs

Besides retail, ICICI Bank, the second-largest commercial bank, has aggressively doubled its rural microfinance and agri-business loan portfolio over a period of nine months. The outstanding in group’s total rural microfinance and agri-business portfolio has increased to Rs 10,000 crore compared to Rs 5,200 crore last year. This comes from an outreach of to 3.2 million low-income clients. Simultaneously, the bank has also increased its partner strength of microfinance institution...

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Financial Express (link opens in a new window)

THERE are hundreds of school-age children in Bulacan who, for all sorts of reasons, do not attend school. One of the obvious is poverty. Many children come from desperately poor families unable to afford school fees. Some kids just do not like school ? it has no relevance or appeal. For others, it is a case of feeling they do not belong or have missed too much, either through illness, family breakdown or because they?re too often needed at home. The National Youth Commission reports o...

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Malaya (link opens in a new window)

FYI: Morgan Stanley Boosts Emerging Markets Research Capacity

Morgan Stanley has axed 50-60 equity research jobs in Europe and the US in favor of hiring new research staff to cover equities in the growing markets of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, Euroweek reported recently. The same article says research departments across the major banks have come under pressure through competition and new demands from clients. (Ed. note - Euroweek’s article is behind a firewall - we’ll have to take ...

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EuroWeek via IEM (link opens in a new window)

PwC report: business needs to commit to sustainable development

A new PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report says companies will be driven by sustainable development in the next ten years. It identifies six trends that will encourage businesses to be more socially and environmentally responsible in the future. ? global markets will play a much bigger part than government policy in the decision-making process of companies, especially...

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EurActiv.com (link opens in a new window)

Pakistan: Livelihoods & micro-credit for women

Collapsed sheds, landslides and falling rocks triggered by the October 8th earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, killed more than 100,000 heads of livestock in northern Pakistan, mainly buffaloes and cows. Additionally, in the immediate weeks after the quake, many farmers were forced to sell their livestock at a very low price because of the lack of shelter and to provide food for their families. This significantly reduced number of livestock in rural areas foretells of immediately reduced inco...

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ReliefWeb (link opens in a new window)

Rural Students Benefit from the World of Computers

Born into a farmer’s family in Luocheng, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Liang Yanfang, 16, a Mulao ethnic minority girl, had no idea what a computer looked like two years ago. With her parents working away from their village in the Guangzhou, she lived with her grandma, often feeling disconnected from the outside world. But her life took a turn when she entered the four-story Deshan Middle School, probably the most luxurious building ...

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China Daily (link opens in a new window)

Market Forces, Governance, Globalisation, Innovation, Among Major Influencers

NEW YORK, April 10, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sustainable development will steadily advance over the next 10 years, with six major trends influencing industry world-wide, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report, Corporate Responsibility: Strategy, Management and Value. The challenge of creating strategies that meet immediate needs without sacrificing the needs of future generations will be driven by the growing influence of: global market forces; revisions in corporate gover...

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PrimeZone (link opens in a new window)

AS a new development approach, making markets work for the poor (MMW4P) can have a big impact in SA because it is about changing the circumstances that prevent the poor from participating more effectively and extensively in the market economy. By lowering the barriers blocking people?s participation in markets, by getting businesses to extend their activities to poor regions and by giving the poor a leg up into market activities, development agents ? public and private ? will be helpi...

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Business Day (link opens in a new window)