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Calvert Foundation Wins Fast Company Magazine’s ’Social Capitalist Award’ for 2006

Bethesda-Based Organization Selected from 125 Award Finalists; Cited for Exceptional Model of Entrepreneurship in Not-for-Profit Service Sector Calvert Foundation, which is devoted to ending poverty through investments in affordable housing, small businesses, microfinance, social enterprise, and other community-based initiatives, is a winner of the coveted Fast Company magazine Social Capitalist Award for 2006. Selected from among 125 finalists...

Source

biz.yahoo.com (link opens in a new window)

BANGLADESH: Community radio to play key role in rural development

Speakers discuss the importance of community radio in South Asia at conference Speakers at a two-day National Consultation on ’Community Radio in Bangladesh’ yesterday said community radio will play a significant role at grassroots level for rural development. They said it can focus on issues of agriculture, gender inequality, education, trade and commerce, disaster, weather, natural calamities, poverty and social problems. The speakers said ...

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The Daily Star (link opens in a new window)

AMD Intros Minicom PIC to Turkey

The cheap box that AMD hopes will allow more people to surf the web was introduced in Turkey today by Dogan Online. AMD said that only nine per cent of people in Turkey have net access. The box Dogan is pushing is bundled with Internet services from e-kolay.net, which is a division of the firm and will be sold through micro financing programmes. It will be sold at 19.95 Turkish New Lire ($14.72) a month. In old Turkish Liras that’s 19,993,625....

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The Inquirer (UK) (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

IFC’s Partnership With CAWTAR Strengthens Research on Women’s Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tunis-based Center of Arab Women for Training and Research to promote research on women’s entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa. This project will help meet demand from development institutions and women’s organizations for more research on the importance of women’s entrepreneurship for private sector development. It will ...

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IFC (Washington, DC) PRESS RELEASE (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

Rural Telecom Firms Gear Up for Rural Foray

Rajesh S Kurup Global telecommunication giants are gearing up to take a deep plunge into the domestic rural segment, where, they believe, the next battle for telecom supremacy will take place. Handset majors like Motorola and Nokia and infrastructure provider Alcatel, and Indian companies such as Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom have already taken the first step to venture into the unchartered territories. Over 70 per cent of India’s 1 billion-plus population l...

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Business Week , via Zdnet India (link opens in a new window)

New insurance options for the rural poor in India.

Foraying into the rural sector, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has tied-up with seven Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to cater to the insurance and savings needs of the masses in semi-urban and rural areas. ’’Understanding the need to provide flexible, affordable and easily available insurance to the masses in the semi-urban and rural areas, the company has tied up with RRBs to get access to the bottom of the pyramid and provide insurance services to the people in these areas,’...

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WebIndia123 (link opens in a new window)

MICROFINANCE: AN ELUSIVE TOOL FOR PALESTINIANS

Ramallah, 2 Dec. (AKI) - Five years on from the start of the second intifada against Israeli occupation, Palestinians are seeking to rebuild their shattered economy, but access to finance for small-scale entrepreneurs to kickstart development is scarce, says Khalil Shiha, head of development at of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC). Currently micro entreprises cover 91 percent of the Palestinian economy; this reflects the importance of the future of microfinance, h...

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Adnkronosinternational (link opens in a new window)

Automaker eyes underserved rural markets

MUMBAI: Ever since management guru C.K. Prahalad spoke about money to be made by tapping the market at the bottom of the pyramid, more and more corporates are succumbing to the collective purchasing power of the not-so-well heeled. And a significant portion of their strategy is directed towards the rural masses. If it was the e-chaupal for ITC and Project Shakti from Hindustan Lever, soon it will be the turn of two- and three-wheeler major Bajaj Auto to step on the gas in rural Bharat.

Source

DNA India (link opens in a new window)