NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Negroponte on Intel’s $100 laptop pullout

By David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor An exclusive Fortune interview with Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child initiative, regarding Intel’s defection from the project. On Thursday Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) announced it was dropping out of the non-profit One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization, which was set up to develop and market a low-cost - ideally $100 or less - education-focused laptop for the poorest children in the world. Th...

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Fortune (link opens in a new window)

THE NR EYE: Focus on investment in social projects

Indian officials have made it plain that they?ve given up using the annual diaspora conclave as a platform to woo investments of overseas Indians. The investment or money has not been forthcoming. Therefore, we decided that we will not ask for any investment this year (at Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2008) but seek partnership from NRIs for philanthropic projects, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told the media recently. In India, the contributions made ...

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The Peninsula - Quatar (link opens in a new window)

Why criticising the Rs 1-lakh car is wrong

By Mritiunjoy Mohanty Tata Motors will unveil its Rs 1-lakh (Rs 100,000) car at the 9th New Delhi Auto Expo on January 10. The commercial launch of the car is slated for the second-half of 2008. Both events are keenly anticipated by India’s burgeoning middle class, in general, and the auto industry, in particular. Not since the launch of the Maruti 800 in 1983 has a new car model been more keenly awaited. And just as the Maruti 800 before it, if the Tata Rs 1-l...

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Rediff News (link opens in a new window)

Smart Technology Will Help Microfinance

Independent research and advisory firm, Financial Insights, has announced the release of a new report examining the growing use and effectiveness of innovative technology solutions in microfinance initiatives. Abhishek Kumar, senior research analyst, Asia/Pacific banking advisory service, notes, Banks in Indonesia and India have emerged as leaders in deploying innovative technologies to grow their microfinance businesses. These banks have shown that technologies like biometrics...

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CXOtoday.com (link opens in a new window)

Mosquito Nets: Caught in a Tangle

By Eliza Barclay Jenifa John recently spent $1 on a billowy swath of gauze that could help keep her family alive. The 22-year-old mother of two in the village of Engutoto, Tanzania, bought a mosquito-repelling bed net that will keep parasite-bearing insects away from her young children while they sleep. It’s a matter of utmost concern: Before she bought the net, one of John’s children was hospitalized with malaria?and fortunately survived. All across Africa...

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BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

The City Market that Is a Microcosm of How India Shops

Bijapurkar roughly divides Indian consumers into four categories by their income and consumption patterns ? 60 million people with high purchasing power, 100 million well on the road to that level of consumption, 100 to 150 million who have just started that journey, and the rest who are at the bottom of the pyramid or BOP, in Bijapurkar’s shorthand. However, though its members earn less than a dollar a day, the BOP also forms a significant consumer base, says Bijapurkar, and bus...

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Time/CNN (link opens in a new window)

Bangladesh Bank report says: Development of SMEs can curb poverty

Higher growth of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can help cut poverty to a satisfactory level by eliminating various prejudices against labour intensive and creating jobs for the skilled manpower in the SME sector. This was revealed in the just released Bangladesh Bank annual report for fiscal 2006-07. The report said, the key reasons behind the SMEs are not entering into manufacturing are financial constrains, dismal state of utilities, technology and policy discri...

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The New Nation (link opens in a new window)

Meet the new light bulb that lasts 20 years and uses one-tenth the power

In lighting, the future lies with the LED. It consumes almost no power at all, and lasts practically forever. Compact fluorescent lamps are going to be obsolete very soon. In the USA, they’re coming soon; lights that last more than 20 years and use 90 per cent less electricity than even the ’new’ compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). They are called light emitting diodes (LEDs), and we already know about them; they are used for digital clocks and on car dashboards and blinker ...

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domain-b.com (link opens in a new window)