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The dawn of e-microfinance
It doesn’t look like Primiya Bai Rout, a vegetable cultivator in Salebhata village of Odisha, belongs in cyberspace. Yet, there she is, with a profile that nestles right next to Niharika Padia’s from New York. It is an unlikely pairing, but what has made it possible is a loan of Rs 400, given by Padia to Rout, so she can finance her vegetable business, thanks to Rangde — an online platform that enables people like Niharika to choose borrowers like Rout from a list of microloan seekers in the most remote corners of India.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Habitat for Humanity Canada and The MasterCard Foundation partner to expand access to housing microfinance in Africa
ACCRA, Ghana, Oct. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Habitat for Humanity Canada, Habitat for Humanity International (collectively "Habitat") and The MasterCard Foundation today announced the launch of a $6.6 million, five-year partnership to expand microfinance services to maintain and improve homes for disadvantaged families in three African countries.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- housing, microfinance
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Accenture and VSO Give Entrepreneurship Award to Shoemaker from Sierra Leone
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2012-- Accenture and VSO today announced that Umaro Kargo, a shoemaker from Makeni, Sierra Leone, is the winner of the Making Markets Work for the Poor: Entrepreneurship Award.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Liberia: Lifting Liberia by Lifting Women -President Sirleaf Heightens Crusade on Women
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, addressing a Goldman Sachs Foundation Cocktail and Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Sunday, says one of the surest ways to lift Liberia is to train and empower 70% of the nation’s population, which are women and the youth.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Deutsche Bank Announces Essential Capital Fund at 2012 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Deutsche Bank announced its Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting. The commitment was to the structuring of the Essential Capital Fund (the "Fund") which defines an innovative approach to providing early stage high risk money to support the impact investing sector.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
- Tags
- impact investing
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USAID and Acumen Partner to Spur Private Debt Capital for Social Enterprises in Developing Countries
New York – Today the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund addressing poverty across Africa and South Asia, announced a collaboration to facilitate the flow of up to $15 million in private debt capital to social enterprises working to provide critical goods and services to the underserved across these regions.
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- Investing
- Tags
- venture capital
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Unilever takes HUL strategies like small packs, cheaper variants to developed markets
MUMBAI: During a 2009 India visit, Paul Polman, CEO of Anglo-Dutch consumer goods major Unilever, couldn't conceal his delight with the Indian subsidiary's strategy of offering brands with multiple price and packaging options, helping consumers trade down or up depending on the state of the economy.
- Region
- South Asia
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Using Innovative, Low-cost Solutions to Provide Safe Drinking Water in India
P.Venkatesh, a resident of Boduppal village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is a carpenter of modest means. The ever-increasing price of essentials has forced him to cut corners to save each paisa as he struggles to look after his family of four. But despite all odds and after much deliberation, three months ago he decided to make provision for yet another non-negotiable in his monthly budget -- drinking water.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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