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

Uganda: Farmers to get update of world coffee prices daily via mobile phones

In Uganda farmers will access world coffee prices twice a day from Uganda Coffee Development Authority under the warehouse receipt system. Apollo Kamugisha, the assistant coordinator of the system, said warehouse operators would use mobile phones to relay the prices. Kamugisha said this during a workshop in Buwalasi, Sironko, recently. The information will help farmers sale their coffee and not give it out ignorantly at extremely miserable prices as has been the case, he...

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Mobile Africa (link opens in a new window)

Brazil’s bumpy road to the low-cost PC

It was an idea everyone loved: Develop a cheap PC that would let large numbers of Brazilians connect to the Internet. Literacy would rise, the economy would improve and the country’s emerging tech sector would get a boost. Unfortunately, it’s been about six years and counting. From 1999 to the present, the Brazilian government has made several attempts to foster cheap computers for the masses, but the efforts have foundered in a sea of red tape, political infighti...

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CNET News.com, By Paulo Rebelo (link opens in a new window)

Kenyans use spirit of ubuntu to scoop top prize

A Kenyan social enterprise, Honeycare Africa, was named the top small- to-medium-sized business in Africa in Johannesburg last week. This is the first time in the history of the Africa SMME Awards that a non-South African company has been named the winner. According to Professor Nicholas Biekpe, head of the Africa Centre for Investment Analysis (ACIA) at the University of Stellenbosch Business School and host of the event, the emergence of Honeycare as the winner is indica...

Source

www.ioljobs.co.za (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Cell phones plug Africa’s poor into mobile banking

After years of stashing his cash under the mattress, Jeremiah Mpanza now transfers money with a flick of his thumb to his girlfriend in South Africa’s rural heartland. His trick? The humble cell phone. Mobile technology has already revolutionized communications in the world’s poorest continent, bringing phones to millions of poor and isolated people who had never before made a call. Now cell phones are serving as a bank in your pocket, providing virtual...

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Reuters (link opens in a new window)

New report highlights MBA programs which incorporate social and environmental issues into research p

It might seem odd, at a prestigious awards ceremony attended by top business school deans and senior corporate executives, to predict the event?s demise. This, however, was what one of the winners of this year?s Beyond Grey Pinstripes awards did. ?My hope is that 10 years from now, we?ll now longer need this award,? declared C.K.??Prahalad, professor of corporate strategy and international business at Michigan University?s business school. He was winner of the Lifetime Achievement awa...

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The Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Microfinance institutions have been asked to lower their interest rates and work together towards economic recovery and poverty alleviation in the country. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) business adviser Fortunatius Okwiri asked the organisations to play a leading role in economic development and employment creation by offering loans and other financial services to more clients at affordable rates. Unlike major financial institutions which charge high i...

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The Nation (Nairobi) (link opens in a new window)

Electronic Currency: Malawi

In mid-September, cell phone users on Malawi’s Telecom Networks (TNM) received a text message saying With TNM you can now recharge your friends mobile using TNM direct top up service. Just use the following command: *112*phone number*recharge pin*. Its that easy What does this mean? Well, TNM users, for the most part, are on a pay-as-you-go system--when you need more minutes, you buy scratch-off cards with a code to punch in for additional credit. TNM has also lo...

Source

Emeka Okafor (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Microfinance – Not a Gold Mine, but Saving Livelihoods

2005 is the UN Year of Microcredit Microfinance is widely viewed as a panacea for poverty alleviation and development; claims of income-generation activities and near-perfect returns on low-interest loans to the poor abound. However, this is only half of the story. A recently-completed research project concludes that the overwhelming majority of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are at pains to break even. This is le...

Source

AllAfrica.com (link opens in a new window)