NextBillion - A WDI Publication

MFIs Wary of Housing Loans over Default Fears

Bangalore: Concerns of defaults are holding back microfinance institutions, or MFIs, from a full-fledged expansion into home loans even as they seek to turn their clientele of poor borrowers into consumers and compete with commercial banks. MFIs, established mainly to lend small sums to the unbanked poor to help them earn a living, say there’s potentially a huge demand for home loans among their customers. At least two of seven prominent MFIs that Mint spoke to have started...

Source

LiveMint (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Tags

housing

Mahindra Could Roll Out India’s Cheapest Tractor by 2010

In its bid to cater to bottom-of-the-pyramid farmers in the country, Mahindra FES is looking to roll out India’s cheapest tractor by next year. If Bloomberg reports are to be any indication the new low cost product could be powered by a 15-hp engine and would be available at Rs. 150,000 (about 40 per cent cheaper than other entry-level ones). India’s largest tractormaker has indicated that it aims to clock 25,000 units of the proposed model in the next four years, citin...

Source

Wheels Unplugged (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Singapore Firm Eyes Profit in Cheap Toilet Market

SINGAPORE (AP) - Christopher Ng has a dream: Help alleviate a major global health problem by bringing toilets to the world’s poor — at a tidy profit. Ng, managing director at Singapore-based Rigel Technology, hopes to sell his state-of-the-art portable, fertilizer-making, toilets for as low as $30 beginning next year, tapping into a multibillion dollar market for proper sanitation in developing countries. It is among the exhibits at the annual World Toilet Summit in Sing...

Source

Associated Press (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

Adidas to Make ?1 Trainers In and For Bangladesh

The move from the company more usually associated with expensive footwear and celebrity sponsorship was inspired by Bangladesh’s Nobel prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, the pioneer of micro-loans which help the poor start their own businesses. He told the company, which has been criticised for exploitation in the developing world, that Bangladesh needed "social businesses" which would create jobs in the country. The company has now agreed it will produce shoes in Bangladesh on a non-pro...

Source

The Telegraph (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Abraaj Capital to Buy Riyada Ventures, Focus on SME investments

Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital has agreed to acquire all of Riyada Ventures as it moves into the venture capital space. Riyada Ventures, which was set up in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2005, will be integrated by Abraaj into its newly launched regional SME and entrepreneurship initiative. Khaldoon Tabaza will continue as the CEO of the new business line of Abraaj. Tabaza has worked in the MENA venture capital industry since 2000, p...

Source

AltAssets (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

India Financial Inclusion Fund Raises $90M Kitty

IFIF will invest in MFI, low-cost housing and companies that provide financial services to the poor. India Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF), one of the largest funds focussed on investing in companies playing in the bottom-of-the-pyramid market, has achieved a final close of $90 million. Advised by Hyderabad-based Caspian Advisors, IFIF has raised commitments from the likes of UK’s CDC Group, Global Microfinance Equity Fund and Switzerland’s Social Investment Services.

Source

VC Circle (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Uganda: VoIP Smile Communications Launches Today

Kampala - The seventh mobile operator in Uganda, Smiles Communication, starts operations today, using the 02 code. Irene Charnley, Smiles’ chief executive officer, yesterday said the firm targets the un-served, bottom of the pyramid consumers in Africa and the Middle East. "For the first time, individuals are offered free electronic identities and voice message boxes without needing to own a phone," said Charnley.

Source

The New Vision (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery

BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care. The agreement is inked ...

Source

Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia