NextBillion - A WDI Publication

U. Project Hopes to Buy Cows for Cambodia

SALT LAKE CITY - What do University of Utah students, cows and Cambodia have in common? They are linked through a project to help people rise out of poverty. "We have some very dedicated students who have educated themselves on microcredit, its potential, the impact it can have on lives," said economics professor Wade Roberts. Members of his international economics class want to take an idea - microcredit - halfway around the world. They have only seen video or pictures of the pov...

Source

Deseret News (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Benefits of Integrating Microfinance and Health Protection Services Published

The March 2011 edition of Oxford Journals’ Health Policy and Planning has published a paper that examines the benefits of integrating microfinance with health protection services and makes recommendations that can inform policy and program design for expansion of the practice. After a review of multiple studies, the paper concludes that microfinance institutions (MFIs) are capable of contributing to health improvements by increasing knowledge that leads to behavioral changes,...

Source

PRLog (link opens in a new window)

Business & Nonprofit Leaders Highlight Investment in Women

Public-private partnerships don’t fall from the sky - they are hard work, says Hans d’Orville, assistant director-general for strategic planning at UNESCO. But the starting point is always a clear discussion. On Tuesday (March 8), D’Orville joined representatives from non-governmental organizations, private foundations and United Nations agencies in tackling the issue of working together to empower women and girls in schools and workplaces alike. The United Nation...

Source

Devex News (link opens in a new window)

Social Enterprises and the Private Sector Supply Chain

Big business is supplied by big business, and breaking into the plc supply chain is beyond most small companies. Or so is the received wisdom. But recently, a number of heavyweight corporate names, including 02 and accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), have expressed an interest in using social enterprises as suppliers. The latest to do so is building giant ...

Source

The Guardian (link opens in a new window)

Amid Japan?s Earthquake, Entrepreneurship

By Elmira Bayrasli 700 times. That’s how much stronger, the U.S. Geological Survey says , Friday’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake in northern Japan was than the one that hit Haiti at 7.0 last year. Luckily the damage and the loss of life in Japan, though in the hundreds of thousands, was not 700 times larger. ...

Source

Forbes (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

XLRI ties up with SCU

JAMSHEDPUR: The premier B school of the country, XLRI, Jamshedpur and Santa Clara University (SCU), California , USA, have signed an MoU to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in India. The two institutes have decided to collaborate where...

Source

The Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Smart Launches (BoP-Focused) P500 Phone

MANILA, Philippines-Dominant carrier Smart Communications Inc. is bringing one of the world’s most affordable phones to the country to reach the people at the "base of the pyramid" that still do not have access to basic telecommunications services. In a briefing on Thursday, Smart announced the launch of its "Panalo Phone," which would sell at a price of P499 each. The new phone, which comes in two models made by the Chinese brand ZTE and local phone maker Cherry Mobile, is set to h...

Source

Inquirer.net (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Betting on Green

"ENVIRONMENTALISTS are fiddling while Rome burns," says Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm. "They get in the way with silly stuff like asking people to walk more, drive less. That is an increment of 1-2% change. We need 1,000% change if billions of people in China and India are to enjoy a Western, energy-rich lifestyle." Forget today’s green technologies like electric cars, wind turbines, solar cells and smart grids, in other words. None meets ...

Source

The Economist (link opens in a new window)