NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Tata offers Rs 25 cr annual medical aid to poor

Excerpt: The Tata Group and three other top business houses have joined hands with the Jharkhand government to ensure medical treatment to the state’s below poverty line population. Apart from the Tatas, Birla, Essar and Jindal group have formed the Sarva Swasthya Mission Trust -- which will be the first of its kind private-public partnership in the country. This project will provide health coverage and medical treatment to the poorest of the poor in...

Region

South Asia

Namibia: NA Mulls Property Rights for Communal Areas

THE National Assembly has adopted a motion on modernising property rights in Namibia to enable people living in settlements and rural areas to gain ownership titles. This will give them the necessary collateral to qualify for bank loans. A member of the DTA party, McHenry Venaani, tabled the motion and the debate concluded last Wednesday. There exists a need for entrenching property rights to many rural poor as a form of addressing wealth and empowering Nam...

Source

The Namibian (Windhoek), Brigitte Weidlich (link opens in a new window)

S. Africa can show way in selling to new world

Excerpt: SIXTY-ONE countries comprising about 40% of humankind are officially classified as low-income countries (LICs) by the World Bank (2005). While many of these countries were ignored as viable destinations for business previously, today the globalisation of markets has focused attention on these ?base of the pyramid? countries. Why would anyone be interested in a group of countries in which per capita gross national income is below $800 a year? The answer is growth and market saturation. L...

Source

Business Day (link opens in a new window)

Real business ventures are the only way to provide financially self-sustaining solutions to poverty

Excerpt: Markets can work for everyone but this requires an innovative approach that unleashes entrepreneurship at the local level, the WBCSD argued at a recent United Nations (UN) hearing. Many of our members are already promoting sustainable and inclusive business activities with partners from the development community and civil society, and we believe there is much more we can do. The objective of the UN General Assembly?s hearing was to create a space where...

Source

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (link opens in a new window)

New business in new markets

Excerpt: Despite some progress, the Millennium Development Goals remain elusive. The role of the private sector in helping to deliver these goals is increasingly being recognized, and many are urging the business community to mobilize and strengthen its contribution to poverty-reduction strategies. A partnership between the Netherlands’ development organization SNV and the WBCSD aims at helping companies in Central America and the Andean regions do more pro-poor business, especia...

Source

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Fighting Poverty With $2-a-Day Jobs

Excerpt: Jacqueline Novogratz, a veteran of the Rockefeller Foundation and a former consultant to the World Bank, talks enthusiastically about the development of a company in Africa where some 2,000 women earn, on average, $1.80 a day producing antimalarial bed netting. With the assistance of a $350,000 loan from an American investor, the business started making the nets nearly three years ago and is likely to add 1,000 more jobs within the next year. Ms. Novogratz is not an outsourci...

Source

The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Motorola May See Gains In Emerging Markets

Excerpt: Motorola, the number two manufacturer of wireless headsets, could see market share gains in both developed and emerging markets in the second quarter, according to a Monday report by Morgan Stanley. We expect results to demonstrate our thesis of share gains and margin expansion is playing out, said Scott Coleman, the author of the report and an analyst for Morgan Stanley. Guidance will show there is more progress ahead [and] we would be buyers of the stock g...

Source

Forbes (link opens in a new window)

UN and Microsoft for small business in Africa

Excerpt: Microsoft, the world’s biggest software company, and the UN are forming a partnership to supply information technology (IT) and other support to small businesses in Africa. Microsoft and the UN Industrial Development Organisation plan to set up technology centres in African communities, where entrepreneurs will be able to access business support services, information, training and computers....

Source

Bloomberg via IOL (link opens in a new window)