NextBillion - A WDI Publication

ICICI Bank, Vodafone Join Hands to Offer Mobile Banking

NEW DELHI: In order to take advantage of the mobile teledensity in India, private sector lender ICICI Bank today entered into an agreement with mobile service provider Vodafone Essar to offer financial products such as savings accounts and pre-paid instruments. This partnership is expected to bring the unbanked and under-banked population into the organised financial services ...

Source

Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

World Agriculture Threatened by Water Gluttony: Report

NEW YORK - World agriculture employs more than one billion people but is in trouble because it’s the biggest consumer of ever scarcer water and a huge producer of greenhouse gas emissions, a new report said Wednesday. Worldwatch Institute, a research group on climate, energy, agriculture and the green economy, said there had to be a revolution in investment in food and water to reverse a "frightening" long-term depletion of stocks. "Agriculture as we know it today is in troubl...

Source

AFP via Google News (link opens in a new window)

China’s Top Social Innovators to Watch in 2011

By Calvin Chin I firmly believe that China will be a leader in social innovation. But while there is a tremendous amount of dynamism and energy in this newly emerging sector, ...

Source

CNN Global (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

A Light in India

In vast stretches of the developing world, after the sun sets, everything goes dark. In sub-Saharan Africa, about 70 percent of the population lack electricity. However, no country has more citizens living without power than India, where more than 400 million people , the vast majority of them villagers, have no electricity. The place that remains most in darkness is Bihar, India’s poor...

Source

The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Quake-hit Haiti Looks to Textile Park for Jobs Boon

(Reuters) - The U.S. and Haitian governments signed a deal on Tuesday with a South Korea n garment manufacturer to develop an industrial park in quake-hit Haiti in one of the largest investment projects in the poor Caribbean country. The project with South Korea’s Sae-A Trading Company Limited is also backed by the Inter-American Development Bank and intends to breathe new life into Haiti’...

Source

Reuters (link opens in a new window)

Africa: Stanford University to Explore Entrepreneurship and Development in Continent

On Saturday, January 29th, Stanford University will host its fifth annual Stanford Africa Forum. This year the conference will explore Entrepreneurship and Development in Africa. The topic of entrepreneurship is particularly relevant to Africa. In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion in the development community that socioeconomic advancement is better achieved through business (entrepreneurship and social enterprise) than through traditional aid. Many iterations...

Source

allAfrica.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

SKS Cuts Interest Rate to 24.55%

SKS Microfinance, the only listed microfinance institution (MFI) in the country, has reduced interest rates from 26.69 per cent to 24.55 per cent. The change would apply uniformly across the country, with effect from January 11. "The company will not collect any credit shield charge, loan processing fee or card fee. With this, all effective interest rates will remain at 24.55 per cent (depreciating), or a flat 12.55 per cent a year, for all future disbursements," the company said in a f...

Source

Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

$2.5 Million Prize for Transforming Banking Sector in Haiti

SEATTLE and PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced today that Haitian mobile operator Digicel won a $2.5 million award from the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI). Digicel was recognized for being the first to launch a mobile money service in Haiti, Tcho Tcho Mobile, that meets the competition’s stringent criteria. This award,...

Source

PR Newswire (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America