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Business Warms to Gauteng’s New Innovation Hub
At the hub’s core are two projects to support entrepreneurs. The first is a development programme that gives previously disadvantaged individuals six months of mentoring to help them develop a business plan, followed by 18 months of mentoring to get their businesses under way. It helps them think through the business before they start mortgaging their homes and spending a lot of resources and then go belly-up, said Commins. The second is an entrepreneur programme that...
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- Business Day (Johannesburg)
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Green Profits, by Ron Moreau and Sudip Mazumdar
Diversification and increased productivity are what ITC is promoting with its computer program, which seeks to increase farmers’ yields, raise their income and boost their confidence to try their hands at more lucrative crops. Within 10 years, the company hopes to be electronically connected to 100,000 villages and 10 million farmers. Company strategists expect the bulk of those villagers to sell their bumper crops to, and buy products from, ITC, adding an estimated $2.5 billion in revenue w...
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- Newsweek International
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Poorest nations lead global growth, by Charlotte Moore
Developing countries grew at their sharpest rate for three decades last year, faster than wealthy nations, the World Bank said yesterday. It warned, however, that wealthy nations were not increasing aid fast enough to stamp out poverty. Even sub-Saharan Africa, which includes some of the world’s poorest nations, became wealthier last year, helped by soaring commodity prices - the region is rich in oil and metals. Tony Blair said when he released his Commission for Africa report l...
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- The Guardian
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Microcredit Is Becoming Profitable, Which Means New Players and New Problems
Large commercial financial institutions, including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, are now showing interest in microfinance, which could increase access to credit for the poor. At the same time, challenges remain in attracting private capital, lowering costs and interest rates, and developing regulation. More than 500 microfinance institutions around the world have loaned $7 billion to about 30 million small-business people, says Weigelt, but 300 million could benefit from microcredit to start...
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- Knowledge@Wharton
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South Africa shows interest in India’s Simputer
South Africa has shown keen interest in using a no-frills computer developed by Indian scientists, especially for rural development. Vinay Deshpande, whose company Encore Software developed the Simputer that has revolutionised the use of computers by not so literate people in rural India, was confident the first machines would be in use in South Africa within a month. The Simputers would be used for applications involving e-governance, education ...
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- Indo-Asian News Service
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Brazil Opens Its Arms to Africa, by Rebecca Wanjiku and Mar Del Plata
Having tasted the fruits of freedom resulting from the use of open source software, Brazil has opened its doors to African governments willing to adopt the software for the management of Top Level Domain (TLD) registries. And the governments have seized the moment and taken advantage of the emerging south/south solidarity spearheaded by the South American power house. Kenya was the first to train on how to use the software,Tanzania soon followed suit, while Mozambique and Sudan are lining...
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- Highway Africa News Agency
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Capitalism at the Crossroads:
Using the Resources of Capitalism to Solve ?The World?s Most Difficult Problems Despite decades of unprecedented growth and the expansion of capitalism into most of the world, prosperity has only spread to a fraction of the earth?s population, while pollution and corruption has encircled the globe. As Stuart Hart proposes in Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World?s Most D...
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- CSRWire
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Allanblackia to the Rescue of the Rural Poor?, by Domfe George
Allanblackia oil made out of the seed of the tree, is a new commodity with the ability to substitute palm oil for some applications, he noted. Dr. Cobbinah said the project initiative builds on public-private partnership between Unilever, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Technoserve and a number of Ghanaian governmental and non-governmental organizations. Unilever wants to secure a sustainable supply of the seeds, while the other parties promote a socially acceptable and environm...
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- Public Agenda (Accra)
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