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It Costs Money to be Poor
Predatory businesses such as pawnbrokers, pay-day lenders, rent-to-own stores, and used-car lots prey upon the poor and heavily indebted. There is a better way. A row of identical signs arranged like landing lights at an airport repeat the appealing offer: ?Borrow $200, Repay $203.?? This modern spider-to-fly invitation displayed in front of the office of payday lenders appeals to hard strapped workers who just need a boost till payday.? What?s three bucks?? Technically, s...
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Poor Pay More for City Living
Food, home, services in low-income areas cost residents a $2,800 ’poverty premium’ It’s not exactly a secret that the poor pay more for everyday goods and services than their wealthier neighbors. But a local group has just put a dollar figure on that poverty premium - about $2,800 a year for low-income residents in the Baltimore metro area. In a report released yesterday, the Job Opportunities Task Force says that residents in low-income neighborhoods often spe...
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MMA Convention to Focus on Bottom of the Pyramid
The sixth edition of MMA (Madras Management Association) All India Management Students? convention, which is scheduled to take place on September 21 and 22 will focus on ?Strategies for the bottom of the pyramid?. Chennai, Sept. 19 The sixth edition of MMA (Madras Management Association) All India Management Students? convention, which is scheduled to take place on September 21 and 22 will focus on ?Strategies for the bottom of the pyramid?. Announcing this at a conference on Wednesda...
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Brazil’s Retail Sales Signal Rise in Spending by Poor
Brazilian families in the impoverished northern states are increasing purchases of consumer goods faster than the national average, signaling government handouts are fueling growth in the region. Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian families in the impoverished northern states are increasing purchases of consumer goods faster than the national average, signaling government handouts are fueling growth in the region. Retail sales in Maranhao, the poorest state by per capita gross domestic ...
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A Health Check for Microfinance Banks
A small enterprise trader at the Maasai Market in Nairobi who fits the microfinance bank clientele profile. The MFBs have to consciously evaluate their strengths and plummet into a poor clientele with a wit and will to take risk while operating under commercial business principles. 20-September-2007: Recently, Business Daily ran what would easily be referred to as an excellent piece on Microfinance Banking in Kenya, and generally Africa. Notwithstanding the admiration there is for the...
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Africa Telecoms Summit to Promote Internet Access
A U.N.-backed Africa communications summit in Rwanda next month will seek to boost high-speed Internet access to match the continent’s explosive growth in mobile phones, officials said Wednesday. UNITED NATIONS, Sept 19 (Reuters Life!) - A U.N.-backed Africa communications summit in Rwanda next month will seek to boost high-speed Internet access to match the continent’s explosive growth in mobile phones, officials said Wednesday. The Oct. 29-30 Connect Africa gathe...
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India’s Cell-Phone Ride Out of Poverty
Struggling artisans and tradespeople in rural India are finding that mobile phones are their ticket to better sales and better lives Times are good for Ganesh Bicchwe. The festival season in India is around the corner, and in Maheshwar, a hand-loom weaving center in the central India state of Madhya Pradesh, master weaver Bicchwe’s Nokia (NOK ) 3310 mobile phone is ringing busily. A garment store in New Delhi wants 500 scarves?the broad, 3-meter-long, intricately designed, fine cotton ones w...
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Deutsche Bank Places Micro-Credit Portfolio with Private Investors
Deutsche Bank AG said Wednesday that it has set up an investment portfolio for micro-credit markets, a move aimed at making very small loans available to people in developing countries. FRANKFURT, Germany: Deutsche Bank AG said Wednesday that it has set up an investment portfolio for micro-credit markets, a move aimed at making very small loans available to people in developing countries. The Frankfurt-based bank, Germany’s biggest, said the ?60 million (US$84 million) in bo...
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