NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Bikes Power Computers, Telephones in Developing World

An old invention is taking on a new use to bring phone and computer services to rural areas. VOA Frank Ling reports on efforts to power these systems using renewable energy and bike power. Excerpt: The World Bank says that billions of people in underdeveloped countries do not have access to basic communication services, necessary for meeting the health, educational, and economic goals of people around the world. Communication networks, present everywhere in ind...

Source

Voice of America (link opens in a new window)

Women Urged to Lead the Fight Against Poverty

Women have been urged to take central stage in the fight against poverty in their communities. Addressing the Limpopo Female Farmer Of The Year awards ceremony, Land and Agriculture Minister Lulama Xingwana said women needed to use agriculture to overcome hunger and unemployment. Women farmers have to contend with the social difficulties of life, deal with the challenge of food security and strike a balance between entrepreneurship and skill transfer.

Source

AllAfrica.com (link opens in a new window)

?Our mission is giving loans to the poor?

Vikram Akula, CEO of India?s fastest growing microfinance institution, speaks to Ramesh Kandula in Hyderabad about his poverty alleviation plan. Excerpts from the Interview: How big is SKS Microfinance in comparison with other such institutions in India? Today, SKS is the fastest growing microfinance institution in India. It is one of the top five la...

Source

The Tribune (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Turning Small Farms Into Big Business

Amitabha, winner of the 2005 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, now sells inexpensive irrigation systems to small farmers in India who have benifited significantly from the new product. Excerpt: Amitabha Sadangi’s vision is to create the means for sustainable rural livelihood, empowering the poor to achieve food security, improved health and education, increased income and a stable and productive natural resource base. He has worked in rural development for more than 20 years, and has ...

Source

The Skoll Foundation (link opens in a new window)

ICICI’s K.V. Kamath Shapes a Business Plan in Rural India’s Uncertain Financial Terrain

In an interview with Michael Useem, Wharton professor of management and director of the school’s Center for Leadership & Change Management, Kamath discusses ICICI’s foray into rural banking and other challenges. Excerpt: The key challenge is to look to new horizons. Our growth so far has been based on our ability to identify opportunity horizons very early and build businesses to scale those horizons. In our case, we had to get the capital right, get the people right, get the technol...

Source

Knowledge @ Wharton (link opens in a new window)

A revolution in a laptop

In an article published on Sunday, Aljazeera discusses Negroponte and his project to produce a $100 laptop for the developing world. Excerpt: After an inauspicious birth 25 years ago when Ronnie Reagan and Maggie Thatcher were in their prime, the IBM 5150, retailing at $1,565, ushered in the age of the modern PC. A quarter of a century on the legacy of the PC is ubiquitous. Chances are one is at work in every facet of your daily life ? chances are, you are using one r...

Source

Aljazeera (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenyan bank to use IT to link East Africa

Nairobi - Kenyan, Tanzanian and southern Sudanese nationals would shortly begin to bank in any of the three countries when the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) completes the rollout phase of its latest computer technology, a KCB executive has said. According to Dr Tony Githuku, the bank’s technology and operations divisional director, the bank was in the process of acquiring new advanced banking software to link its subsidiaries in the three East Africa countries before the end of the ...

Source

Business in Africa (link opens in a new window)

A Firm Foundation

Excerpt: We can?t all be Warren Buffett: The 75-year-old billionaire recently announced that he would donate $37 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works to alleviate disease and poverty in developing countries. But that doesn?t mean that we turn a blind eye to the world?s problems: Sometimes, the most seemingly mundane of objects can spark great opportunities for change. For Laila Iskandar, founder and managing director of the Community and Institutional Developm...

Source

Business Today (link opens in a new window)