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

VW considers ’people’s car’ for new markets, by James Mackintosh

Volkswagen is considering going back to its roots as the maker of Germany’s people’s car by building a ?3,000 ($3,700) vehicle for emerging markets. The carmaker, which became Europe’s largest through the success of the low-cost Beetle, set up a team to examine how to make a car for ?3,000 a year ago, insiders said. But the company has not yet decided whether the 3K Project will go ahead. The project is part of a move by developed-world...

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Financial Times

Coca Cola to Invest $150m in Nigeria, by Francis Ugwoke

The centerpiece of the integrated agricultural project will be a farm at Agenebode, Edo state which will grow citrus and pineapple. This is expected to be a big boost for agriculture in Nigeria as well as enhancing rural development. The investment will also be used to set up a Non Carbonated product centre(NCP) that will produce a wide range of juice concentrates and products using raw materials from the Agenebode farms. The senior adviser Mr Carl Ware recalled that Coca-Cola was the...

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This Day (Lagos)

Science and Technology Research, by Clive Cookson

Related to the lack of scientific innovation is the absence of a risk-taking entrepreneurial culture, which is reflected in turn in a shortage of venture capital to fund companies spun out of research laboratories or universities. Lam Kong-Peng, director of Singapore’s Biomedical Research Council, talks of the need to educate Asian investors, who tend to be more cautious than western investors. We are trying to create a new risk-taking culture of innovation and e...

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Financial Times

Lack of investment is the real tragedy in Africa, by Kurt Hoffman

Whatever else happens as a result of the Make Poverty History campaign, lowering the risk perception of private capital with regards to investing in Africa and in African entrepreneurs should be its single most important goal. Those in charge of the campaigns will claim they have done what they can: engaging with big business and trying to make African countries more investment-friendly. But this will not be enough to persuade bankers - especially local bankers - to open their loan bo...

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Financial Times

US, African businesses partner for economic development

The business climate on the continent of Africa is changing for the better as last year, Africa saw the highest rates of return on investment of any region in the world. Many international investors have already learned that they can earn money along with their African partners while making significant contributions to improving African economies-critical to addressing poverty. Now Americans, particularly small and medium business owners, are waking up to the win-win oppor...

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Angola Press

Training Will Open Doors, by Lesley Stones

A project billed as the largest technology training programme yet run in rural Africa has come to an end with 96 students graduating in Mogalakwena. The students completed a year of training at a technology-oriented community centre sponsored by Hewlett-Packard (HP). During the year they helped to launch an open-source software centre, built their own websites, developed their own business plans and were trained as call-centre agents. The mixture of skills is designed to p...

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Business Day

Joint science academies’ statement: Science and Technology for African Development

Science, technology and innovation are familiar issues to the G8. In 2000 in Okinawa, G8 leaders established a task force to address the global digital divide, and at the 2003 summit in Evian, G8 leaders endorsed an action plan for science and technology in sustainable development. There is a clear continuing need for these important initiatives. We would like to stress, more generally, the fundamental importance of science, technology and innovation in tackling a wide range of problem...

Rwanda says R&D is critical to national development, by Talent Ngandwe

Rwanda has identified a major role for science and technology in efforts to rebuild the nation, which eleven years ago was torn apart by genocide when more than 750,000 people were murdered. According to a draft policy on science, technology and innovation policy, Rwanda will integrate science and technology into all sectors of the economy. The national science, technology, scientific research and innovation policy outlines plans to apply science to Rwanda’s problems i...

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SciDev.Net