NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Gates Foundation Outlines 7 Social Good Initiatives for 2011

Bill Gates has released his 2011 Annual Letter on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, drawing attention to seven ambitious social good initiatives. Gates stresses the need for renewed investment in foreign aid even as international budgets struggle against cuts and deficits. Gates positions himself as a representative for the world’s poorest, those who will not have a chance to lobby governments for support, writing: "Whether you believe it a moral imperative or in th...

Source

Mashable (link opens in a new window)

India?s Airtel Introduces Cash Payment by Mobile Phone

India’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, is offering its customers the facility to make payments through mobile phones, reflecting a growing interest by Indian mobile operators in addressing the large number of mobile users in the country that do not have access to banking and online facilities. Currently a large number of people in India pay in cash for goods and services, sometimes standing in long queues to pay for utilities like electricity and water supply. Bharti ...

Source

PCWorld (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Identifying a Billion Indians

In a small village north-west of Bangalore, peasants queue for identities. Each man fills in a form with his name and rough date of birth, or gets someone who can read to do it for him. He places his fingertips on one scanner and stares at another. A photograph of his face is snapped. These images are uploaded to a computer. Within a few weeks he will have an identity number. The Indian government is trying to give all 1.2 billion Indians something like an American Social Security numbe...

Source

The Economist (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Citi, Citi Foundation join hands with PMN

KARACHI: Citi and the Citi Foundation have joined hands with the Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN) to launch Phase II of their flood relief efforts. Citi, the Citi Foundation and Citi Alumni have contributed over $425,000 toward the recent flooding disaster in the country. As part of Citi Pakistan’s Phase II of flood relief efforts, they have launched a ’Microfinance and Disaster Management Capacity Building Programme’ for the microfinance industry with the PMN. Through these pr...

Source

Daily Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

Farm-Africa to Launch 150 Branded Veterinary Stores Across Kenya

More than 300,000 farmers in Kenya will have access to better animal healthcare with the nationwide launch ofa chain of veterinary stores offering standardised medical products for livestock. Farm-Africa has received funding to establish a network of 150 stores throughout the country over the next four years. The franchise is believed to be the first ...

Source

Guardian.co.uk (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Online Matchmaker Fights Poverty by Funding Businesses

A Danish entrepreneur is trying to end poverty in Africa through microcredit -- funding African businesses by connecting them with investors from around the world. Tim Vang is the co-founder of MYC4, a web-based marketplace that lets investors bid to provide loans to small and medium-sized African businesses. Bidders compete in an online auction, with those offering money at the lowest interest rates financing the loan. Typically, around 50 investors will part fund a single loan. ...

Source

CNN (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Booting Up Tanzania With Help From Google

When Joshua Stern, a graduate of Stanford with a degree in computer science, served in the Peace Corps in Tanzania from 2006 to 2007, one thing soon became clear. "The major takeaway there," he tells Fast Company , "was that the best development work being done was being done by these local groups, community-based organizations." The small groups were often the most effective--yet they had no web presence, no effective way to communicate with other small NGOs or to raise f...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Technology

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Will Mobile Money Kill banking?

Central Banks will Demand Authority over Mobile Companies Conversations at receptions, luncheons and in the hallway at the World Economic Forum in Davos can be fascinating. Over lunch I sat with former stock exchange executive who is working to set up back end payment system for money transfers by mobile. In developing nations where banking infrastructure is poor or non-existent, the growth of mobile payment transfer systems has been explosive. M-PE...

Source

Financial Post (link opens in a new window)