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Global Microcredit Summit 2011 Report
Monday, November 14th 2011 saw the culmination of several years of delicate preparation in a packed conference centre in Valladolid, Spain. The fifth Global Microcredit Summit (held every few years - with regional conferences in between) kicked off in the magnificent Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, with an opening ceremony full of music, pomp, and a great deal of gratitude - in the particular direction of Sam Daley-Harris, the outgoing Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Queen ...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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Endeavor Takes Center Stage at Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul
ISTANBUL--( BUSINESS WIRE )--This week, more than 120 Endeavor network members have gathered in Istanbul to participate in the 2 nd ...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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HSBC Invests ?4m in Big Issue Invest Social Enterprise Fund
Big Issue Invest has edged closer to its £10m target for its Social Enterprise Investment Fund, with HSBC Bank investing £4m, bringing the total committed capital to £8m. Big Issue Invest (BII) is now seeking to raise a further £2m to complete its £10m target by the March 2012. The Social Enterprise Investment fund aims to provide creatively structured, medium-term growth capital to social enterprises that have the potential to have a significant social imp...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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A Decade of Microfinance and Improved Child Well-being in Kosovo
Ten years after microfinance institution (MFI) KosInvest began work in Kosovo, its clients, staff and partners are celebrating improved child well-being thanks to loans for poor rural families and the peacebuilding work of World Vision in Kosovo. Since its inception, KosInvest has impacted the lives of 40,000 children through 12,000 loans totaling US$24 million and 16,000 jobs, which have been created or sustained through microfinance. KosInvest was established in 20...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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Microfinance Works – For the Rich
VALLADOLID, Spain, Nov 18 (IPS) - Jesús Guerra, a volunteer at this week’s Fifth Global Microcredit Summit in this Spanish town, was nonplussed by the expensive gold watch sported by a banker from a developing country. "When I volunteered to help at the Summit I thought this was different," Guerra told IPS. "I believed that everybody who worked in microfinance wanted to end social injustices, but here I am listening to a lot of people saying that the goal i...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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?Challenges and Solutions? on Day Two of the Global Microcredit Summit
"What’s the one thing you know for sure about clients of microfinance?" This was the question with which the lead author of a new paper, Anton Simanowitz, began the plenary session on day two of the Global Microcredit Summit 2011. "The answer", he said, "is that at some point, they will suffer a shock beyond what they can cope with; and which is greater than their incomes". How MFIs understanding this fact, face up to it, plan for it, determines whether microfinance has ...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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Proposed Seal of Excellence Dominates Day One of Global Microcredit Summit
There are summits virtually every week nowadays. Networks, funds, and commercial banks - everyone seems to be inviting everyone along to come and discuss the future of the industry. For the most part, these conferences can be little more than distractions at best. At worst, they can be junkets: opportunities for a trip to a new place while the poor MFI, which is struggling anyway, foots the bill. The Global Microcredit Summit, one must admit, is different. For one thing, it happens ever...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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Social Business is About Future of Humanity
The third Global Social Business Summit began in Vienna yesterday to discuss the progress of global movement of the new business concept to find ways to tackle the most pressing needs of the world. Chancellor of Austria Werner Faymann inaugurated the summit at the Congress Centre of the Austrian capital. Dr Michael Haupl, mayor of Vienna, greeted more than 500 delegates from 56 countries. With the motto of "Pioneering for Results," the 2011 summit has brought together indivi...
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- Europe & Eurasia
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