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

Africa Open for Business: Stories That Deserve to Be Reported

Business activity is a subject that is sometimes missed in international reporting about Africa. Despite that, Africa produces some impressive economic statistics: a 144 percent annual return by the Ghana Stock Exchange, high savings rates and low corruption in Botswana, and South African firms that are investing across the continent and listing on stock exchanges in Britain and the United States. With large and expanding markets for communication and technology, agriculture and mining, Afric...

Source

AllAfrica.com (link opens in a new window)

UI launches micro awards scheme

With the year 2005 having been declared by the United Nations as International Year of Microcredit, the University of Indonesia ’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Center launched its Global Micro-entrepreneurship Awards (GMAs) earlier this week. The GMAs -- which are also sponsored by Citigroup and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) -- are expected to encourage small entrepreneurs to ac...

Source

The Jakarta Post (link opens in a new window)

Business has key role in ending poverty

Today 20,000 people will die from poverty, hunger and preventable diseases in the world’s poorest countries. This shocking statistic is at the heart of this year’s global anti-poverty campaign. Its simple message is that continuing poverty and death on this scale is no longer morally or politically acceptable. The September UN summit in New York will take stock of progress made in working towards the Millennium development goals agreed by world leaders in 2000. Ma...

Source

The Irish Times

Drug Prices in Kenya Sickeningly Expensive

Kenyans pay up to 17 times the internationally-recommended prices for some branded medicines, and up to three times for their generic forms, reports Dagi Kimani COMPETITION AMONG KENYA’S 600-odd registered pharmacies as well as a vibrant drug manufacturing sector have failed to lower the cost of medicines in the country, says a Ministry of Health survey. According to the survey, Kenyans pay up to 17 times the internationally-recommended prices for some branded medici...

Source

The East African (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

MTN Tweaking Tariffs, Denies Price War

Vodacom cut pre-paid tariffs twice in a week, arguing the new rates would attract more customers from the lower end of the market. The first cut prompted a drop in the share price of MTN and Vodacom’s majority shareholder Telkom. South Africa’s second biggest cell phone operator MTN is planning a tariff overhaul, but said on Friday it would not engage in a price war with rival Vodacom, which has cut rates twice in a week. Maanda Manyatshe, chief executive of ...

Source

Business Day (link opens in a new window)

Housing Microfinance ’To Take Off in Africa’

The trend of providing microloans to poor people to buy houses is likely to rocket in the next few years as an alternative to conventional bank mortgages, says low-income finance expert David Porteous . While delegates to the African Microfinance Conference in Cape Town agreed that housing microfinance was gaining ground across Africa, commitments by the large South African banks could provide a fresh twist to this tale. Un...

Source

Business Day (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

Aid is Not the Answer

There is an inherent paradox in the debate about poverty alleviation that escapes even the most sophisticated observers in the West. Consider the conventional thinking about China and India: They are seen as a threat to the West. The fear is not only about exporting well paying U.S. jobs but also about competition for resources such as oil and commodities. Yet India is home to more than 500 million people who live on less than $3 a day. In China...

Source

The Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Neglected Poor in Africa Make Their Own Safety Nets

Nogaye Sow is a humble street vendor in a rough patch of urban Africa, but hidden in her flowing robe is a weathered piece of cardboard that helps put her on equal footing with those who work in air-conditioned offices instead of at the curb. It is a makeshift health insurance card, with photographs of her, her seven children, her granddaughter and two other relatives pasted inside. When they get sick, they receive free consultations at the clinic down the road, cut-rate medicine and peace of...

Source

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