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

Father of Microloans Sees end to Poverty

Envision a world with poverty museums -- places where children would go to learn of a dismal way of life extinct, of malnourishment, illiteracy and premature death. When 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus mentioned the concept Tuesday in speeches at the Microsoft campus and later at the University of Washington, he got chuckles from the audiences. But Yunus was serious. We can create this day very soon. It doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. It c...

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Seattle Post Int. (link opens in a new window)

Mother of Kenyan Microcredit Expands into Health Insurance, Housing for Poor

She feels all the work she’s done in her life has been preparation for what she is doing now: giving hope to the thousands of poor people living in slums around the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. But Ingrid Munro says it’s the most important job she’s ever held in her life, though it isn’t exactly an easy job, as it entails convincing the desperately poor that there is a way out of the poverty trap. They don’t believe in tomorrow; to them everything is now, s...

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Embassy Canada (link opens in a new window)

Tags

housing

Social Entrepreneurs Make a Difference

Bringing water to the parched fields of Brij Wasan right on the outskirts of Delhi, is a project that has converted dry patches of land to acres of fertile soil. And with it changed the lives of over 450,000 farmers. All is happening out of a posh south Delhi office of Amitabha Sadangi, CEO, International Development Enterprises. It’s one of the many projects by India’s social entrepreneurs that’s using the international interest in the Indian economy to effect ...

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NDTV Profit (link opens in a new window)

UN Launches Project For Micro Entrepreneurs in B`desh

A new United Nations backed development project has been launched to help nearly 120,000 Bangladeshi micro entrepreneurs, 90% of whom are women, expand their small enterprises and develop new ones. The UN International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) will provide USD 35 million of the estimated USD 60 million finance for enterprise development and employment creation project. A new United Nations backed development project has been launched to help nearl...

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Zee News - India Edition (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Shuttleworth plugs open source for Africa

Ubuntu founder and IT entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth tells Computing SA that picking open source software was not only good for South Africa but also important for the rest of the African continent. Shuttleworth says the goal for any country, including SA, should be sustainable economic growth, part of which is derived from the contribution made from a technology perspective. In this context it is wealth creation that matters, since the former will potentially generate high-qual...

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Tectonic (link opens in a new window)

Social entrepreneurship: When Go-Negosyo Went Flat

FOR THOSE of you who?ve retired from employment, and plan to start a business and at the same time ensure handsome points in the pearly gates of heaven, I have two words for you?social entrepreneurship. Basically, it means the application of entrepreneurship principles to create, manage, and operate a business directed at solving a social problem, like poverty for instance. Unlike traditional businesses, the key result area of social entrepreneurship is not profitability,...

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The Manila Times (link opens in a new window)

Little Enthusiasm Over Anti-Poverty Campaign

The enthusiasm among social groups in Mexico and Central America for the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)is not reflected by the general public, which has displayed scant interest in this week’s event. In Mesoamerica, made up of Mexico and the countries of Central America, there will be street demonstrations, academic and student forums, and a variety of cultural activities. However, large crowds are not expected to gather, as they regularly do for political rallies a...

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IPS (link opens in a new window)

Unleashing Little India?s Natural Enterprise

The pick-up of GDP growth in our country during the last 15 years has been truly remarkable; it has lifted about 250 million people from abject poverty. The renaissance of our economy has been driven by the deregulation of the organized sector and the liberation of the people in 1,200 larger cities (population over 50,000). Little India, a term I will use to refer to the over 600,000 small towns and villages with a population less than 50,000, has not experien...

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Sify News