NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Media Hype and the Reality of ?New? India

In a week when Delhi’s new "world-class" airport opened for business and the Indian Space Research Organisation celebrated the successful launch of five new satellites, we had a stark reminder of another India that, increasingly, many Indians feel embarrassed to talk about. A United Nations-backed study by Oxford University revealed that poverty in at least eight Indian States - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, C...

Source

The Hindu (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Frontier Investments: Focused on Mobile Banking, Microinsurance & Housing

ACCION International’s Frontier Investments Group is a double bottom line, venture equity fund focused on catalyzing a new approach to microfinance. It invests in new technologies and disruptive business models that can powerfully enhance the way financial services are delivered to the poor. Building upon microfinance’s success in "banking the unb...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Tags

housing

SME Lending: A Test to Identify Entrepreneurs

1. Do you like taking things apart to see how they work? 2. Do you enjoy going to parties? 3. Given five seconds, how long a sequence of numbers can you memorize? If your answers to these and about 150 other questions add up, you could run a small business in Nairobi. Or Lima. Or Bogotá. All because a new test identifies the traits that make for successful entrepreneurs in developing economies. The Entrepreneurial Finan...

Source

Bloomberg BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

Finance Minister to Banks: Reach out to Villages Via New Technologies

New Delhi Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked banks to adopt new technologies, such as mobile banking and telephony, to reach out to the rural population and make economic growth inclusive and sustainable. "... We have to use new technologies and IT to make banking services available and within reach of rural people at large through the services of business correspondents, mobile banking vans, mobile telephony services and no frill accounts, etc," Mukherj...

Source

Express India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Rural Business Incubators: Tool for Inclusive Growth

BIPIN and Ratan, in their twenties, manage a small business that sells food-items, rice, chapathi, vegetables, nan etc, between 10 am and 3 pm every day in Mayur Vihar, in New Delhi. They make a profit of approximately Rs 2500 (US $56) per day. They have no bank account. There is no registration with the municipality. Their business has no official and legal permission. Though the food is cooked and served in un-hygienic condition, every time their roadside hotel has a waitin...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

Fighting Poverty in Kenya by Selling Water Pumps to Poor Farmers

JIM LEHRER : Next: A California man takes a business approach to combating poverty in Africa. "NewsHour" correspondent Spencer Michels reports. SPENCER MICHELS : It’s a strange sight on the roof of a building in San Francisco: Martin Fisher, the co-founder of a nonprofit called KickStart, demonstrating a pump called the Super MoneyMaker that he developed for sale in poor countries, mostly in Africa. It’s a devic...

Source

PBS Newshour (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Japan’s Uniqlo Joins Grameen Bank to Help Poor in Bangladesh

Japan’s casual clothing brand Uniqlo and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday they would create a textiles company in Bangladesh to help poor women gain financial independence. Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo, plans to invest some 100,000 dollars to set up Grameen Uniqlo Ltd in October. The new company will source materials and make garments in Bangladesh -- including women’s underwear, school uniforms and blankets.

Source

AFP (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Eco-Friendly Water Solutions for Indian Farmers

More photos and information on International Development Enterprises - India at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10366023.stm ...

Source

BBC (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia