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Global Poverty Plans Demand Business Engagement For Success
The Business-led development organisation, the IBLF, has today warned that UN targets set to reduce global poverty, such as the UN Millennium Development Goals, will be jeopardised unless business becomes more engaged in the fight against poverty. The claim comes as the IBLF prepares to open a senior level symposium entitled Business and Development - Business models for meeting development challenges, taking place this Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th May. The IBLF has partnered with the UN...
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- IBLF
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Vietnam to receive US$2.5M from BP Development Fund
Vietnam will be a recipient of BP’s new US$500 million global development plan, a company official told Vietnam News last week. Nguyen Duc Hung, the company’s communication and public affairs manager, said starting this year BP will donate $2.5 million to its Vietnam development projects in a five year circle, in which an average $500,000 will be allocated each year. The fund stems from BP Group’s recent change in its community investment strategy. We have identi...
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- Asia Pulse
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Microlending at Crossroads After 20 Years, by John Pain
Microlenders are becoming more popular, but they are at a crossroads. The money that they lend comes from government grants and foundations, whose generosity ebbs and flows with the health of the economy. And after two decades, they still don’t have enough customers to be self-sufficient. The Aspen Institute, a Washington-based research group, estimates that 10 million microbusinesses have trouble getting bank financing, but only 150,000 to 170,000 are currently working with lenders an...
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- Associated Press
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Prominent Oakland Think Tank Wins John Templeton Foundation Award For ’’What Works in Enterprise-Bas
The Independent Institute is launching the new Center on Global Prosperity to examine potential enterprise-based solutions to end abject poverty in developing countries in Latin America and around the world. The Center is the result of a $500,000 award from the John Templeton Foundation’s What Works in Enterprise-Based Solutions to Poverty competition. The Independent Institute, a non-partisan,scholarly public policy organization based in Oakland, California, was selected from a...
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- Independent Institute
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Syria: Micro credit programme expanding
Mohamad Abul Jadayel, a father of two in the northwestern Hama governorate in Syria, used to be unemployed for long periods of time. Sometimes he didn’t even have enough money to feed his family. But now his life has changed. I thought of an animal husbandry project to improve my livelihood but I did not have money to implement my project. I obtained a US $300 loan from the Aga Khan Development Network [AKDN] to buy two goats. After one year, I got another $400 loan and bought ano...
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- IRIN
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K-Rep Bank Links Up With Health Firm, by Kaburu Mugambi
A healthcare provider and a microfinance bank will provide a product for low income people. Known as Afya Card, the product is a pilot project bringing together AAR Health Services, AAR Credit, K-Rep Bank and K-Rep Development Agency. It is an initiative of the Department for International Development (DfID), a UK Government aid agency. Afya Card is a family based inpatient and outpatient health plan, designed for the lower income groups, that cost as low as Sh6,000 per person pe...
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- The Nation (Nairobi)
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Swiss bank for mega-rich advocates lending to poor, by Thomas Atkins
Credit Suisse, one of the world’s biggest banks for wealthy clients, on Tuesday said the business of microfinance -- providing loans as small as $50 to the poor -- will soon attract mainstream investors. The Swiss-based bank, which operates an investment fund that finances microcredit projects, said the microfinance market was growing 20-40 percent annually, thanks in part to its record of contributing to economic development in poorer nations. Microfinance is a high-growth ...
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- Reuters
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ICICI Bank to penetrate rural sector through mandis, kiosks
ICICI Bank is planning to set up mandi branches, kiosks, franchisees and partner microfinance institutions and non-government organisations to boost its rural finance business. In association with corporates, microfinance institutions and local authorities, the bank is developing supply-chain solutions in the agriculture sector. ICICI Bank has divided the rural market into R1, R2, R3 and R4 categories for identifying the rural markets. R1 and R2 represent the rich farmers, while R3 and...
- Source
- Business Standard
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