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Intel’s Community Computer
Following AMD’s PIC, Intel showcased a rugged PC designed for developing countries, that can tolerate harsh climate, intermittent electricity, dust and bugs while accessing the Internet without wires. Via video from India at the Intel Developer Forum, San Francisco, the Intel-based PC, or community computer is meant to provide Internet access to entire communities and villages in rural and remote areas. The effort is in line with Intel’s strategy to bes...
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Remote villages to be electrified on local renewable sources
NEW DELHI: Remote villages of Jarha-Chetwa and Jemara in Uttar Pradesh no longer use the local-made bottle-dibri or kerosene lamps for lighting their homes after sunset -- instead they now have switched on to electric bulbs. Located beyond the reach of normal electric grid supply, Jarha-Chetwa in the mountainous region of Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh has been provided with solar-powered electricity in June this year, involving an investment of Rs 45 lakh. And, othe...
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Sidbi signs pact for co-financing in SME
To give a major thrust to small and medium enterprises (SME) lending, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Small Industries Development Bank of India have signed an MOU for co-financing the projects in the segment. Under the agreement, term loan for viable projects in the sector would be financed by Sidbi, while the working capital requirement would be fulfilled by IOB. Initially, the scheme would be implemented at select clusters, including Chennai, Erode, Tiruchi and Madurai and would later be ex...
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Little drops make ocean: Microfin is big biz now
Two decades and over 3,000 MFIs later, the microfinance movement in the country has finally come of age. While retaining its core value, the sector has emerged as a huge business opportunity waiting to be tapped. ?All stakeholders have now realised that microfinance is a powerful tool that can make a difference,? says Udaia Kumar, MD of Share Microfin, a leading microfinance institution. ?There is acknowledgment that that rural masses are bankable,? he adds. While commerci...
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Africa’s cellphone boom creates a base for low-cost banking
The first bank-by-phone system is designed for poor South Africans, enabling saving and access to credit Cellphones are already used for music downloads, text messaging, and video games. But here in South Africa, they are beginning to perform another function: personal piggy bank.
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Banks take note as expats send $300bn home
When Ram Panday wants to send money back to Kathmandu, he never uses a bank. ?Too expensive, too complicated, too open,? says the Nepali T-shirt maker. Instead he hands a bundle of notes across a grubby desk in Bangkok’s lively Watergate garment district. A few hours later a similar sized wad is delivered to his family home. The estimated 180m expatriates in the world send home $300bn (?244bn) a year, half through informal or unmonitored channels, according to payment...
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USD 50M Microfinance Fund Established in Ghana
ACCRA: The Ghanian government has set up a 50 million-dollar microfinance fund to be disbursed to small-scale businesses in rural communities under the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). Papa Kofi Mensah, Micro-Finance Coordinator, Office of the Senior Minister, who announced this at the annual review of the Social Investment Fund (SIF) in Accra on Thursday, said that office would be the main coordinator of the fund. He said an independent body that comprised stakeholders with i...
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Third-world lending program to encompass technology
SAN FRANCISCO: If the world?s poorest people are willing to take out small business loans to buy a goat, executives at Intel Corp. believe they?ll do the same thing to purchase computers and cell phones. While the chipmaker is gathering developers this week to discuss products for its enterprise customers in the Western world, a professor at Intel?s research centre in the University of California at Berkeley said micro-credit financing and franchising may open untapped market opportu...
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