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

Tanzania: Bank Sets Aside $5 Million to Lend to Informal Sector

Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania will set aside $5 million to assist Tanzania’s small and medium firms. Excerpt: Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania will set aside $5 million to assist Tanzania’s small and medium firms. The chief executive Hemen Shah last week told The EastAfrican that the institution had signed an agreement with PRIDE Tanzania, a small micro-provident fund, to finance the project. He said the bank’s entry into the micro-lending sector signifies it...

Source

All Africa (link opens in a new window)

Nigeria Approves 8 Microfinance Institutions

The Central Bank of Nigeria yesterday gave approval-in-principle to Accion, a United States-based microfinance company and seven others, including indigenous firms, to operate as Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) in the country. Excerpt: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday gave approval-in-principle to Accion, a United States-based microfinance company and seven others, including indigenous firms, to operate as Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) in the country. The other seven companies are ...

Source

All Africa (link opens in a new window)

Borrowing seen as way out of poverty trap

From a concept first used in the developing world, microfinance has recently expanded to Europe. Hundreds of government- and private-funded initiatives have sprung up to fill the void opened by the reluctance of European banks to lend money to the poor or unemployed. Excerpt: An elegant Parisianwoman sipping her cappuccino in a caf?on Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle is one of the last people you expect to launch into a passionate tirade about microfinance. Yet Maria Nowak is no ordinary P...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Uganda: Micro Finance Institutions Need Help

I am glad that President Yoweri Museveni appointed a minister of state for micro-finance. Ugandans will have a smile on their faces since this is a step towards poverty eradication in Uganda. However, a number of things need to be done for the business community to benefit from the micro-finance and for the government not to lose out. Excerpt: I am glad that President Yoweri Museveni appointed a minister of state for micro-finance. Ugandans will have a smile on their faces since this is a step t...

Source

All Africa (link opens in a new window)

Water scarcity affects one in three

A third of the world?s population is suffering from a shortage of water, raising the prospect of ?water crises? in countries such as China, India and the US Excerpt: A third of the world?s population is suffering from a shortage of water, raising the prospect of ?water crises? in countries such as China, India and the US. Scientists had forecast in 2000 that one in three would face water shortages by 2025, but water experts have been shocked to find that this threshold has already bee...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Tiny grants, big hope in AIDS fight

In the Mashuru area of Kenya, a single woman with HIV who had no source of income now runs a small general store, is self-sufficient and, most importantly, is eating properly, thanks to a $140 grant from World Vision. In the same region, a group of 15 women have used a $1,400 grant from the humanitarian organization to expand a small business of rearing goats for sale at market, using the added profit to care for HIV orphans and vulnerable children in their villag...

Source

Globe and Mail (link opens in a new window)

Declining water supply brings a deluge of ideas

We live in a world in which 2.6bn people consume water from unsafe and polluted sources, according to United Nations figures. Against this, it takes up to 100,000 litres to produce 1kg of beef, 75 litres to make one computer chip and 780 litres to create one litre of fruit juice, says Waterwise, a UK non-governmental organisation ? an idea known as ?embedded water?. Excerpt: We live in a world in which 2.6bn people consume water from unsafe and polluted sources, according to United Nations figur...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Microsharks

Rapid expansion of Indian microcredit leads to a turf war with the government. Excerpts: The dispute centres on one poor rural district, Krishna. Some women were reported to have killed themselves because they could not repay the MFIs. In March a top government official in Krishna temporarily shut 50 branch offices of four MFIs, seized and destroyed their records and told their borrowers not to repay their loans. He accused the microfinance groups of charging exorbitant rates. There h...

Source

The Economist (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia