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

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...

Source

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...

Source

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

Over the Counter Aid

Over-the-Counter Aid From rock stars to world leaders, moving Africa out of poverty has become the feel-good cause of the day. Commissions of political bigwigs report on it, summits issue communiqu?s on it, musicians play for it. Meanwhile, business is quietly getting on with doing something about it.

Source

Forbes

Credit Access Facility Launched in Kenya

A Ksh1.7 billion ($22) million credit access facility has been launched in Kenya to enhance competitiveness of the micro-enterprise sector. The Enterprise Competitiveness Project, is a joint initiative of the government and the World Bank with KPMG, the Kenya Institute of Management, Delloitte and Touche and Business Partners International, among other technical partners. The chairman of t...

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The East African (link opens in a new window)

For the Poor, Help from MBAs

They’re bringing microfinancing, business development -- and eventually a consumer economy -- to many impoverished Third World areas Sue Igoe, a second-year MBA student at Columbia Business School in New York , is returning from her summer internship invigorated and ready to learn how to make a...

Source

BusinessWeek

ITC expects agri unit to post 20% growth

ITC Ltd expects its agri businesses division to see a 20 per cent growth in 2005-06. According to S Sivakumar , CEO, the division’s turnover stood at Rs 2,000 crore last fiscal. Story found here. The company’s supply chain project e-...

Source

Business Standard

Region

South Asia