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Record-breaking Number of Entries for eBay, Ashoka Social Innovation Competition
SAN JOSE, Calif.-July 20, 2011- Public voting begins today at Changemakers.com to select the ten finalists in the Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a ...
- Source
- Changemakers
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Encouraging Agricultural Efficiency through Microfinance: Implications for Food Security
Maybe those that work in development are sick of hearing this little factoid, but for those who are out of the loop, let’s repeat it just one more time: the majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas. As expected, many of these are highly dependent on agriculture, whether or not it is their primary economic activity. So if they live in communities dedicated to agricultural production, then why is it that many of them still suffer from hunger? To begin with, their own...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Silicon Savanna: Mobile Phones Transform Africa
The buzz at Pivot25, a conference for mobile-phone software developers and investors held this June, is all about the future of money. Ben Lyon, the 24-year-old business-development VP of Kopo Kopo, wants $250,000 to produce his app for shops to process payments made by text message. Paul Okwalinga, 28, describes his money app - called M-Shop, it allows you to buy travel tickets and takeout via mobile phone - as "not reinventing the wheel but pimping it." Kamal Budhabhatti, 35, claims Elma, t...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The $720 House That’s Built in a Week and Lasts Two Decades
The world’s cheapest car is manufactured by the Tata Group. So is the cheapest water filter . Now the Indian company is setting its sights on the housing market with a $720 flatpack home that can be constructed in a week. The basic flatpack model is 215 square feet, consists of coconu...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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The New Microfinancing: SMS-Based Layaway to the Rescue
Microfinance , the Nobel Prize-winning initiative to turn aspiring Third World entrepreneurs into self-sustaining CEOs, has long been the only game in town when it comes to offering developing world entrepreneurs a viable and sustainable form of funding. But other financial instruments may work just as well--if not better--at supplying small farmers around the world with capital and a path out of poverty. ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bill Gates Wants to Reinvent the Toilet for the Third World
Bill Gates thinks the modern-day flush toilet isn’t good enough. Most of the developing world can’t afford to use it, and poor sanitation spreads diarrheal diseases. So the Gates Foundation is challenging universities to build a better toilet-latrines that are hygienic, generate energy and don’t require running water or a septic system. The fo...
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Improving the Quality of Rwanda?s Milk, While Turning a Profit
Good, quality milk is one of the most nutrient-rich natural beverages available. Containing a healthy dose of at least nine essential vitamins and minerals, milk can be, quite literally, a lifesaver for populations suffering from an extremely nutrient-poor diet in developing countries. Yet in Rwanda , where an estimated 90% of the population is still dependent on agriculture, and ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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AP Refuses to Budge on Microfinance Legislation
Mumbai: The battle over the regulation of India’s Rs. 20,000 crore microfinance industry is far from over, with Andhra Pradesh, the largest market for Indian microlenders, remaining firm on retaining its own law on the issue despite a proposed national legislation. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) extend small loans to the rural poor at higher rates than banks after sourcing money from banks. The proposal for a national MFI law "doesn’t change the fact that MFIs come under...
- Region
- South Asia
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