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

Capacity building, empowerment and participation of rural people emphasised to ensure rural develop

The Asia-Pacific region, with a total population of over 2.02 billion (in 2003), has been achieving an unprecedented economic growth over the past decades. However, there has been an acute failure to ensure equitable distribution of income among indigenous communities, disadvantageous groups and those living in the remotest territories. Institutional capacity building and empowerment and participation of rural people are key to ensuring rural development, experts said at a discuss...

Source

Financial Express (link opens in a new window)

New Report on M-Commerce

Excerpts: ...the proliferation of mobile communications in developing countries has the potential to bring a wide range of financial services to an entirely new customer base,according to a new report commissioned by the Information for Development Program (infoDev) in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the GSM Association.The infoDev report,which focuses on the use of mobiles for micro-payments in the Philippines,found that mobile-enabled commerce,or m-C...

Source

InfoDev News (link opens in a new window)

Keya Sarkar: Micro finance awards tell a story

Keya Sarkar (excerpt) To me, these efforts by a small fund like Aavishkaar or a similar micro entrepreneur award set up by a large bank like Citigroup are all pointers to the fact that micro entrepreneurs are going to be increasingly in focus. And if funding is available it is bound to spawn a whole variety of service providers which will enable these na?ve, rural, micro entrepreneurs to get ready for funding. (...)All services that are required for the mainstream ve...

Source

Business Standard (India) (link opens in a new window)

Philanthropy is flourishing , but new donors are becoming much more business-like about the way thei

Excerpt from article ... But the problem lies far deeper. ?Foundation scandals tend to be about pay and perks, but the real scandal is how much money is pissed away on activities that have no impact. Billions are wasted on ineffective philanthropy,? says Michael Porter, a management guru at the Harvard Business School. ?Philanthropy is decades behind business in applying rigorous thinking to the use of money.? Mr Porter believes that the world of giving can be transformed ...

Source

Economist.com (link opens in a new window)

Health Tips On Your Cellphone

While the youth are said to be keeping away from unfriendly HIV testing centres, an innovative local marketer has put these information literally on their fingertips - in mobile phones. A service started two months ago - Interactive Healthcare Solutions - and which has already won a prestigious British award is proving popular especially with teenagers enquiring on issues to do with venereal diseases, smoking, drinking, and drug abuse. Initial statistics make interesting ...

Source

African Woman and Child Feature Service (Nairobi), Arthur Okwemba (link opens in a new window)

Segway creator unveils his next act

I thought this news article was worth highlighting - an excellent example of a successful entrepreneur using his talents to design products specifically to meet the needs of people living at the base of the pyramid. The article originally appeared here .

Source

cnn.com

Remittances Dwarf Aid, Investment in Kenya

Kenyans in the diaspora are contributing an equivalent of 3.8 per cent of national income through remittances. In the year 2004, for instance, Kenyans living and working abroad remitted about Ksh35 billion ($464 million), which overshadows the net foreign direct investment (FDI) of Ksh3.6 billion ($50.4 million), which accounted for 0.41 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Migration is an important issue in Kenya, with the country both a significant destin...

Source

The East African (Nairobi), Philip Ngunjiri (link opens in a new window)

BARCELONA (Dow Jones) -- The phenomenal growth of mobile phone subscriptions in countries like India and Sudan is putting pressure on infrastructure and handset providers to start tailoring some of their products to these emerging markets. Of course, demand for mobile phones in India, China, Eastern Europe and Africa is not a new phenomenon. But until recently, the likes of Motorola and Nokia were more focused on producing fancier phones in their battle for market share in...

Source

Dow Jones Newswire (link opens in a new window)