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Bill Drayton receives Prince of Asturias Award in International Cooperation
Oviedo, Spain - June 8, 2011. Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in International Cooperation today, Spain’s highest honor and Nobel equivalent. An international jury deliberated over the 25 finalists from 18 different countries who were under consideration for this award, before making the announcement live via satellite. Recipients are awarded 50,000 euros, a specially commissioned Joan Miró sculpture, a di...
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- Ashoka.org
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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The $300 House: A Hands-On Approach to a Wicked Problem
When the New York Times printed " Hands Off Our Houses ," an op-ed about our idea for a $300 House for the poor, we were both delighted and dismayed - delighted because the $300 House was being discussed, and dismayed because authors Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, co-founders of the Institute of Urbanology , didn’t seemed to have read the series of blog posts about our id...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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ACCION Brings Microfinance to Manaus, Brazil
ACCION International inaugurated on Tuesday a new microfinance institution, ACCION Microfinancas in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas in Brazil’s northern region which is a largely underserved microfinance market. ACCION Microfinancas, which launched unofficially when it began lending operations on February 1st of this year, has Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) among its co-investors....
- Region
- Latin America
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Paper Gains on Early Investment in SKS Microfinance Largely Evaporate for Sequoia Capital
Since its initial investment in SKS Microfinance, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), Sequoia Capital, a US-based venture capital firm, has experienced significant gains on paper followed by partial losses of those gains. Before other venture capital firms were investing in SKS, Sequoia invested USD 11.5 million in the MFI [1]. By the end of 2008, venture capital firms had invested a total of USD 75 million in SKS [1]. SKS went public in July 2010, and its share price reached...
- Region
- South Asia
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Former U-M Students Help Honduran Farming Community Make Coffee More ’Local’
After several service trips to the mountainous villages of La Union, Honduras, former University of Michigan student Andrew Boyd was inspired. He wanted to do more, but wasn’t sure how he could make an impact. His passion led to a microfinance organization that focused on something the people of La Union already knew - coffee. And now thanks to his efforts, the Honduran farming community gets a rebirth, and Ann Arbor is d...
- Region
- Latin America
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GAVI Unveils New Vaccine Price Reduction Deals
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization said June 6 that it had secured commitments from four pharmaceutical companies to lower prices of the vaccines they manufacture. GAVI said Panacea Biotec had committed to cut down its prices by up to 15 percent, while Serum Institute, which had already reduced its prices to $1.75 per dose, had pledged to continue providing the mo...
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From Victims to Entrepreneurs
JAIPUR: A 23-year-old victim of domestic violence, Sudha Sharma, (name changed) of Jaipur is learning basics of social entrepreneurship at a workshop organised by an NGO - Centre for Social Development (CSD) in the city. Until a few months ago, she was physically assault by her inlaws but now she lives separately and is planning to open a small tailoring unit here. Like Sudha, there are 29 other ...
- Region
- South Asia
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The End May Be Nigh for Microfinance in India
Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said a few weeks ago that "hopefully, sooner rather than later" there will be national rules governing microfinance institutions that would trump the law imposed by Andhra Pradesh last year that has gutted the business model of private microcredit companies. Mark Stoleson, chief executive officer of Legatum, a Dubai-based investor in the industry, was in Delhi this week with a warning: Act now, or face what he termed a "Lehman Brothers at ...
- Region
- South Asia
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