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

BAGUIO CITY-Business Circles have been talking about them for months now. But few took serious note of talks that a group of retired bankers and accountants has set up a call center to finance philanthropic work in the poorest communities of this city. Nam-ay Ti Umili Inc. (NTU), a foundation that provides business consultancy and micro-finance support for Baguio’s urban poor, formed a non-stock, non-profit call center inside the Baguio City Economic Zone on Oct. 3, 2005 for under...

Source

Philippine Daily Inquirer (link opens in a new window)

In Rural India, a Sales Force in Saris Delivers Soap, Social Change

CHOLLERU, India -- With its open sewers and mud-walled homes, this impoverished farming village of 2,200 in southern India did not look like fertile territory for an entrepreneur. But Srilatha Kadem was undeterred. Oblivious to the midday heat, she marched briskly along the unpaved streets, her cloth bag filled with soaps and shampoos and her heart with vaulting ambition. She stopped at a tile-roofed house, where a gray-haired woman in a green sari lounged in the shade of the small ve...

Source

Washington Post (link opens in a new window)

The tricky balance between provision and profit

UK water company Biwater is finding that making profits from water in poorer nations is a tough business. Biwater has just been awarded a contract to construct a new water purification plant on the banks of the Nile. The aim is to supply clean drinking water to an estimated 2.5 million residents of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The plant will become operational in 2008. The contract is worth $108 million and half of this amount will be donated by the Dutch government th...

Source

Ethical Corporation (link opens in a new window)

Kenyan Farmers Save for a Rainy Day – Whatever the Weather

By Drew Cullen Twice a month, farmer James Muthoka gets on his bike and pedals nine kilometres to KARI Katumani, an agricultural research station. Mr Muthoka owns six acres in an small, enclosed valley in Machakos, a dry, semi-arid region about one-and-a-half hours from Nairobi. The valley is filled from top to bottom with farms. The shamba (field) beside his house is four acres - and the other two acres are very far away. The farm may be small, but the land is...

Source

The Register (link opens in a new window)

BRAC Honored for Helping Poor Peoples’ Access to Health

Social Innovator of the Year Award for the year 2006 has been announced by Brigham Young University (BYU), USA, reports BSS. BRAC, a leading NGO of Bangladesh, and Scojo Foundation of USA are jointly being honoured with this award this year for their new initiatives to increase poor people’s accessibility to reading glasses, said a release in Dhaka on Sunday. This is being achieved by utilizing BRAC’s 30,000 health- workers, who were trained to carry out ophth...

Source

Bangladesh Observer (link opens in a new window)

Tanzania: “Moneymaker” Pumps Cash into Farmers Pockets

Moneymaker’ pumps manufactured in Arusha are reported to have contributed to poverty reduction by helping families start small agrobusinesses. The pumps that require no fuel enable farmers to harvest up to three times a year thus boosting their income. (...)MoneyMaker pumps are developed and marketed by KickStart a non-profit organization. USAID helps support KickStart’s program in Tanzania. (...) At the T.F.A (Tanzania Farmers Association), distributors of the MoneyMaker...

Source

Arusha Times (link opens in a new window)

Cheap Tech Hikes Water Supply

Report argues for rethinking mega-water projects by focusing on low-cost technology. By redirecting investments in water infrastructure to cheap, decentralized, and environmentally sustainable technologies, the world can meet the demand for water and energy in developing countries, according to a report released Monday. The report by the International Rivers Network (IRN) in Berkeley, California, estimates that reaching the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal of brin...

Source

Red Herring (link opens in a new window)

GreenBiz.com , 6 March 2006 - Ethical Corporation magazine has released new research comparing attitudes on business-NGO partnerships in the U.S. and Europe. According to the report, while U.S. companies are avid philanthropists, giving generously and usefully to all kinds of charitable causes, European companies have taken the lead in meaningful engagement with NGOs, say both U.S. and European observers. The findings were released ahead o...

Source

GreenBiz.com (link opens in a new window)