NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Program to Improve Access to Financial Services for Pakistan’s Poor

An ADB loan package totaling US$320 million will improve access of Pakistan’s poor to wider financial services. Pakistan has achieved growth rates averaging over 7.5% for the past three years, and reforms have led to a better and more predictable environment for public and private investment and thus to job creation and higher incomes. This growth has cut poverty and increased prosperity. However, 24% of the population still lives below the poverty line. ?To ...

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Asian Development Bank (link opens in a new window)

An Organic Recipe for Development

Organic agriculture is a potent tool to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but also to alleviate poverty and improve food security in developing countries, many experts now believe. Organic agriculture’s use of compost and crop diversity means it will also be able to better withstand the higher temperatures and more variable rainfall expected with global warming. Organic agriculture is about optimising yields under all conditions, says Louise Luttikholt, ...

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WBCSD News (link opens in a new window)

ICICI Bank betting big on SME business

The future of the SME business is very promising and ICICI Bank is ideally positioned to exploit the opportunity, Vijay Chandok, Senior General Manager (Small Enterprises Group), ICICI Bank, said here today. Many SMEs are in the investment mode to create capacities, quality processes and upgradation and modernisation of their facilities, he said, adding this constituted a huge opportunity in the segment for the country’s second largest commercial bank. &...

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Press Trust of India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Microfinance Can Become Global Model

The Nobel Committee’s well-deserved recognition of Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank with this year’s prestigious Peace Prize marks a significant milestone in society’s quest for peace. Their decision clearly trumpets: Poverty is a threat to peace. If poverty were a disease, then micro-credit would be the best vaccine. Access to capital in a capitalistic global economy is the best route to ensure access to other rights and needs. We have seen it work firsthand. Yunus...

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Mercury News (link opens in a new window)

Telecoms Hungry for Next Billion Callers

One of the big topics discussed at this week’s ITU Telecom World 2006 forum in Hong Kong has been how to narrow the digital divide by connecting people in poorer countries to the Internet. The estimated 1 billion Internet users and 2 billion-plus mobile phone subscribers worldwide are mostly clustered in wealthier markets. Now telecom and IT executives are on a quest for the next billion, and that growth is expected to come primarily from developing markets. Why focus ...

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BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

A Grassroots Approach to Emerging-Market Consumers

When companies figure out how to serve low-income consumers in developing countries profitably, everyone wins: the disadvantaged gain access to products and services that the private sector is best positioned to deliver, while companies tap into vast new markets. On top of that, when core sectors of the economy?such as banking, electricity, telecommunications, and water?thrive, they transform consumers into producers and promote economic development. Unfortunately, this happy dynamic ...

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McKinsey Quarterly (link opens in a new window)

The five-minute foldaway house

When a fire in an informal settlement at KwaMbonambi in KwaZulu-Natal left scores of shack dwellers homeless, entrepreneur Rajan Harinarain came up with a solution, in the form of a foldaway house - complete with door, two windows and electrical fittings - that can be erected in five minutes. This week, Harinarain launched the patented dwelling developed from his concept together with the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation, which will market the structures and provide the facilit...

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SouthAfrica.info (link opens in a new window)

Taking Tiny Loans to the Next Level

An idea, not a person, was the most powerful force in philanthropy in 2006. President Bill Clinton devoted a big chunk of his annual Clinton Global Initiative to exploring it. The mighty Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation endorsed it. The choice of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner was a tribute to it. It was truly the year of microfinance. ?An idea, not a person, was the most powerful force in philanthropy in 2006. President Bill Clinton devoted a big chunk of his annual Clinton Global Initiat...

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BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)