NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Brazil: Free Software’s Biggest and Best Friend, by Todd Benson

Since taking office two years ago, President Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva has turned Brazil into a tropical outpost of the free software movement. Looking to save millions of dollars in royalties and licensing fees, Mr. da Silva has instructed government ministries and state-run companies to gradually switch from costly operating systems made by Microsoft and others to free operating systems, like Linux. On Mr. da Silva’s watch, Brazil has also become the first country to require any compa...

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The New York Times

Partnerships that profit the poor, by Sarah Murray

So far, companies such as Ericsson, Unilever, Total, Tetra Pak, Shell, Thames Water and EDF are participating with pilot schemes in Tanzania, Madagascar, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. Geographically, much of the focus is on projects in Africa. However, the UNDP wants to extend the GSB initiative - which was spearheaded by the UN Global Compact, a voluntary corporate citizenship network - to countries in Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe. While the business activities are commercial, n...

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Financial Times

Interesting India

Capitalising on our attractiveness for MNCs PepsiCo?s announcement of in-vesting an additional $500 million into its Indian operations should not come as a surprise. PepsiCo, after all, is in the same warp as most other FMCG and durables? majors in the world ? the western markets are saturated and growth is slow to come by. As a result, they are looking at developing nations, such as India, for future growth. In the US, for instance, soft drin...

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The Financial Express

Fabulous fabrications

A way to help inventors in poor countries realise their ideas The World Bank and the other usual sources of finance for international development say they appreciate fab lab’s potential, but consider the project far too speculative. They prefer investing in proven technologies rather than in the process of technology development. Despite this, the labs may be able to spread without support from traditional aid agencies because they may be able to become economically sel...

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Economist

Afghan entrepreneurs find profit in technology, by Michael Coren

So far, the spread of technology has depended on trade. Commercial routes between cities are feeding the expansion of mobile phone access while whetting the population’s appetite for instant communication. It’s allowing the very obvious entrepreneurial sprit of Afghans to come out and be expressed, said the State Department official. (Telecommunications) has been a tremendous multiplier for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Roshan, the largest mobile ph...

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CNN

Help Migrants Wire Home Hope

African states could work closely with the private sector to modernise their weak financial service infrastructure, especially banking sector technology. This is crucial not only to improving access to formal banking channels in sending and receiving countries, but also to bringing a significant portion of remittance receipts into the financial system. State actions against money laundering and against funds suspected of financing terrorism have had a marked effect on remittances funnelled throu...

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Business Day (Johannesburg)

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migrants

Bio-fuel to be grown on wasteland

The [Agri-Science Park] is a hub of public-private partnerships to enhance the development and commercialisation of science-generated technologies and knowledge through market mechanisms.? The goal of the ASP is to help achieve ICRISAT?s mandate to develop agriculture in the semi-arid tropics. The ultimate objective is to reduce poverty and hunger, and also to protect environment.? The ASP consists of an Agri-Biotech Park (ABP), an Agri-Business Incubator (ABI), Private Sector Hybrid...

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Business Standard

Categories

Environment

Tags

waste

Can Tourism Help South Africa’s Poor? by Leon Marshall

Though far outranked by the manufacturing sector as a foreign-currency earner, tourism is a focal point of the country’s strategy to reduce its high unemployment rates. Economists estimate that one job is created for every ten foreign tourists who visit South Africa. Experts say tourism can be used as a development tool to bring the country’s poor into the economic mainstream. Story found he...

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National Geographic News