NextBillion - A WDI Publication

US, African businesses partner for economic development

The business climate on the continent of Africa is changing for the better as last year, Africa saw the highest rates of return on investment of any region in the world. Many international investors have already learned that they can earn money along with their African partners while making significant contributions to improving African economies-critical to addressing poverty. Now Americans, particularly small and medium business owners, are waking up to the win-win oppor...

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Angola Press

Training Will Open Doors, by Lesley Stones

A project billed as the largest technology training programme yet run in rural Africa has come to an end with 96 students graduating in Mogalakwena. The students completed a year of training at a technology-oriented community centre sponsored by Hewlett-Packard (HP). During the year they helped to launch an open-source software centre, built their own websites, developed their own business plans and were trained as call-centre agents. The mixture of skills is designed to p...

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Business Day

Joint science academies’ statement: Science and Technology for African Development

Science, technology and innovation are familiar issues to the G8. In 2000 in Okinawa, G8 leaders established a task force to address the global digital divide, and at the 2003 summit in Evian, G8 leaders endorsed an action plan for science and technology in sustainable development. There is a clear continuing need for these important initiatives. We would like to stress, more generally, the fundamental importance of science, technology and innovation in tackling a wide range of problem...

Rwanda says R&D is critical to national development, by Talent Ngandwe

Rwanda has identified a major role for science and technology in efforts to rebuild the nation, which eleven years ago was torn apart by genocide when more than 750,000 people were murdered. According to a draft policy on science, technology and innovation policy, Rwanda will integrate science and technology into all sectors of the economy. The national science, technology, scientific research and innovation policy outlines plans to apply science to Rwanda’s problems i...

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SciDev.Net

Rural India Getting Richer? You Bet!

The Rediff Interview/ R V Rajan, managing director, Anugraha Madison Anugraha Madison has widely been credited with introducing the concept of rural marketing in India. The company was one of the first marketing firms to realise the potential of rural India and decided to focus on rural marketing. R V Rajan, chief managing director, Anugraha Madison, shares his views with Shobha Warrier on how rural India has changed over the la...

The commercial challenge of solving the ills of the world, by Simon London

What better time to read Capitalism at the Crossroads than in the wake of General Electric’s announcement that it would invest big bucks in eco-friendly technology? The grandfather of industrial conglomerates believes it can make good profits from products that promote fuel efficiency and environmental protection. Stuart Hart , professor of sustainable global enterprise at Cornell’s Johnson School of Mana...

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Financial Times

Beyond kleptocracy and Kalashnikovs, by Andrew Rugasira

Many Africans are condemned from birth to a future of poverty, disease and premature death. In addition to this, the prevailing perception of Africans and their capabilities never transcends the confines of their so-called limitations. You are poor because you are poor. While poverty is an undeniable part of the African reality, it is only part of it. There is another side to the continent. For this we must go beyond the gloom and doom and see Africa as a land of opportunity and hope....

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Guardian Unlimited

Businesses sprout out of Africa, by Pia Sarkar

Venture capital seeds startups, changes lives As Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bob King sees it, $100 to build a new business and potentially change the lives of 30 people in East Africa is a solid investment. For that reason, King has been contributing to the Village Enterprise Fund , a nonprofit organization based in San Carlos that provides one-time startup grants of $100 to small-business owners in Kenya,...

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San Francisco Chronicle