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Unilever focuses on emerging markets
Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, Unilever, is focusing on emerging markets in its quest for stronger global growth after implementing structural changes, a senior company executive said on Thursday. Doug Baillie, vice-president in charge of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, also told Reuters in an interview that Unilever might consider making an acquisition in fast-growing Turkey, though it had no concrete plans at present. ?We get 35% of our total revenues from emerging ma...
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- The Star Online
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Tech giant enters Kenya market, by Luke Mulunda
The Communications Commission of Kenya, the country’s telecom regulator, in January issued Afsat with a licence to operate public data communications services after the segment was liberalised last June. With the force of a ram raring to have a go at its opponent, Afsat has hit the ground running with its flagship product, iWay Africa. We can now provide Vsat services anywhere in Kenya, said Suleman, a tough-taking manager with an eye for big business. We have the coverage...
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- The Financial Standard
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Championing entrepreneurship, by Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Believe and inspire. This is the new battle cry of Jose Ma A. Concepcion III, presidential consultant for entrepreneurship, to get more people involved in the movement to increase the number of Filipinos running their own businesses. Small entrepreneurs are today’s wealth creators, and tomorrow’s big companies, Concepcion said in a speech during the recently concluded conference of the United Nations Development Program. For an economy to thrive, we must give...
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- Philippine Daily Inquirer
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Business has responsibility and opportunity in Africa, by Niall Fitzgerald
There is an exciting business opportunity. African leaders, increasingly elected democratically, know they must commit themselves to good governance, investment, and economic growth. There have been big improvements in macroeconomic performance. Growth in gross domestic product will exceed 5 percent in 2005. The commission report should result in a big increase in investment, particularly for infrastructure. A successful completion of the Doha round will stimulate trade with and within Africa. ...
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- The Christian Science Monitor
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New Delhi to Open Up Retailing Sector, by John Larkin and Eric Bellman
India plans to open its booming but protected retail sector to foreign investment -- initially by providing access for international grocery companies -- as the government tries to answer growing pressure for bolder economic changes. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in an interview that the $190 billion retail industry, which has been growing as much as 5% a year recently, would be opened in a way that encouraged investment while protecting the jobs of millions of small shopkeeper...
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- The Wall Street Journal
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Whistle for a `photo taxi’, by R. Narayanan
Is there a service model available here that can enable self-financing brand-building? The camera industry needs to look at alternate revenue models by targeting the underserved customer at the bottom of the pyramid. It could come up with a service model that increases the number of users, and simultaneously builds brand equity for existing or new players. For this, we’ll have to take a look at what the customer really wants. The customer did not want a camera in the first place....
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- The Hindu Business Line
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Malaysia launches major biotechnology drive
Noting that in biotechnology the journey between discovery to cashflow is a long one, sometimes longer than the patience of conventional private sector investors, he pledged strong government support. The Malaysian government commits itself today to undertake the role of developer and catalyst of the country’s biotechnology sector, he said in a speech announcing a national biotech policy. Abdullah outlined nine thrusts of the policy, the first t...
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- Agence France Presse
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In S. Africa, a model bank for Third World, by John Donnelly
For most of South Africa’s working poor, doing business with a bank has been out of the question. One-month loans carried an average 30 percent interest rate. Many savings accounts lost money every month because of multiple fees. Now the poor suddenly have new options, including one that some analysts say could be replicated throughout the developing world. Perhaps the most promising initiative is offered by privately owned Capitec Bank, which opened five years ago as a micro-lend...
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- The Boston Globe
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