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

For Africa, a godsend in cellphones

YANGUYE, South Africa On this dry mountaintop, 24 miles down a washboard dirt road from the nearest town, 36-year-old Bekowe Skhakhane must do even the simplest tasks the hard way. Fetching water from the river takes four hours a day. To cook, she gathers sticks and musters a fire. Light comes from candles. The older of her five children hike three hours to school each way. But when Skhakhane wants to talk to her husband, who works in a steel factory 250 miles, or 400 kilometers away,...

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The International Herald Tribune (link opens in a new window)

Pee-powered battery smaller than a credit card

The first urine-powered paper battery has been created by physicists in Singapore. The credit-card sized unit could be a useful power source for cheap healthcare test kits for diseases like diabetes, and could even be used in emergency situations to power a cellphone, they say. Testing urine can reveal the identity of illnesses, and the new paper battery could allow the sample being tested to also power the diagnostic device. ?We are striving to develop cheap, disposable ...

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NewScientist.com (link opens in a new window)

HCL to power computer sales in India

HCL Infosystems Ltd., an Indian personal-computer maker and distributor of Nokia Oyj phones,expects sales of computers in the South Asian country to accelerate as falling prices make them more affordable. PCs are starting to become more affordable, broad band is making its appearance in a big way and multilingual software is also coming in reasonable numbers, especially with Microsoft Corp. launching its operating system in multiple languages,’’ said Ajai Chowdhry, chair...

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The Financial Express (link opens in a new window)

Cellphones Catapult Rural Africa to the 21st Century On this dry mountaintop, 36-year-old Bekowe Skhakhane does even the simplest tasks the hard way. Fetching water from the river takes four hours a day. To cook, she gathers sticks and musters a fire. Light comes from candles. But when Ms. Skhakhane wants t...

Source

The New York Times

Rabobank Consortium Acquires Interest in Tanzanian Bank

The Tanzanian government announced that it has selected a consortium, led by Rabobank , as the winner in a tender for the purchase of the National Microfinance Bank (NMB). The purchase means that Rabobank, together with its partners, will acquire 49% of the shares in NMB. The agreement also stipulat...

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Press Release (link opens in a new window)

The Private Sector Can Get Water Flowing to the Poor

Private Sector Can Get Water Flowing to the Poor Worldwide, 1.1bn people, mainly in poor countries, do not have access to clean, safe water. The shortage of water helps to perpetuate poverty, disease and early death. However, there is no shortage of water, at least not globally. We use a mere 8 per cent of the water available for human consumption. Instead, bad policies are t...

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Financial Times

Credit Caution

Do we really need more credit cards? Standard Bank and Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) clearly believe we do. Their new joint venture will offer credit cards to Edcon’s store card holders with good credit records. More than two-thirds of the 3.8-million customers with Edgars, Jet and other Edcon store cards do not have credit cards -- probably because they don’t believe they will qualify. Standard, the leading player in South Africa’s credit card market, sees a new mark...

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Business Day (link opens in a new window)

Cell Phone Weather Data Could Aid Farmers

CELLPHONES telling farmers when to irrigate their crops could help them boost production and save water, sugar growers say, as a pilot project helps small emerging farmers. Small-scale black farmers around Pongola, a few kilometres south of South Africa?s border with Swaziland, receive one text message a week telling them whether they...

Source

Business Day