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Cheap Is New Cell-Phone Mantra
Pricey smartphones might get all the attention. But these days, much of the mobile industry is focused on making phones for people who today can’t afford even a basic handset. For instance, Philips Electronics recently announced that it has the electronics required to make a mobile phone that can be sold for less than $20. By 2008, the company hopes to be able to support handsets that cost less than $15. The GSM Association, a trade group for mobile operators using GSM technolo...
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Titan plans to strap on rural market
Watch maker Titan Industries intends to focus on rural and semi-urban markets to tap first-time watch owners. ?Our agenda is to expand the market over three to five years and increase market share,? said Bijou Kurien, CEO-watches, Titan Industries. The company, is a leader in the organised domestic watch market, with a share of over 65 per cent. Kurien said it was necessary for the company to maintain its current growth rate. ?The agenda is clear. We have to focus on incre...
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- Business Standard
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Tourism becomes a tool to tackle poverty, by Paul Miles
The traditional east coast destinations of Kenya and Tanzania are booming, according to Nigel Vere Nicoll, chief executive of the African Travel and Tourism Association, the trade association for tour operators featuring Africa. There aren’t enough beds and everywhere is fully booked. New destinations such as Ethiopia and Gabon are coming into the frame, he says. In 2002, Gabon’s President Bongo announced the formation of 13 nati...
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- Financial Times
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Businesses commit to help fight poverty
Businesses committed yesterday to help raise P3.2 billion over the next four years to finance programs on reducing poverty, promoting entrepreneurship, and improving education, among others. The fund raising, with money to come from businesses themselves or from funding agencies, will be facilitated by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), a private and nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting business commitment to social development. PBSP Chairman Manuel ...
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- BusinessWorld
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African biofuel plantations just right for G8 agenda, by David Blackwell
D1 Oils could help fight poverty and global warming The G8 summit and and Live8 have put global warming, secure energy supplies and poverty in developing countries centre-stage this week. But there cannot be many listed companies hovering in the wings that are able to offer solutions to all three problems. So it appears an appropriate time to turn the spotlight on the humble jatropha tree and D1 Oils, the Aim-listed company that is planning to plant millions of hectares of...
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- Financial Times
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Aid will go only so far in helping Africa (Opinion)
Developing countries need fair access to world markets to break free of the red tape, corruption and historical shackles that keep them mired in poverty, argues Paul Myners. Countries, like individuals, tend to get richer by making money rather than receiving handouts. But countries need a start. They need the basics. Jeffrey Sachs, the development economist, has a useful image: the poor have to get on to the ladder of development; but the ladder hovers overhead and they ...
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- The Times of London
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Seeing Green in Africa, by Carolyn O?Hara
While rich-country leaders look to heal Africa with generosity, China and India are helping to pull Africa out of poverty with good, old-fashioned greed. As leaders of wealthy countries pat themselves on the back for debt relief and development assistance to Africa, China and India are doing their part to help develop Africa?s economies. The two Asian giants are pouring funds into the continent to find energy for their superheated economies and markets for their products....
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- Foreign Policy
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Calling an end to poverty
All eyes are on what governments can do to end poverty, with aid, debt relief and trade top of the agenda at this week’s G8 summit. But what about the role that business can play?and, in particular, technology firms? It is increasingly clear that, when it comes to bridging the ?digital divide? between rich and poor, the mobile phone, not the personal computer, has the most potential. ?Emerging markets will be wireless-centric, not PC-centric,? says C. K. Prahalad, a management scholar and au...
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- The Economist
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