-
?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 ...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
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...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
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...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
Why We Prefer Social Enterprises and Co-ops as Business Partners
At HCT Group, we believe that social enterprises and co-ops make natural business partners. When the time comes to find a new supplier, we will always ask if a social enterprise or a co-op can fit the bill. The recent publication from Social Enterprise UK, Fightback Britain showed that 29% of all social enterprises receive some work from other social enterprises. We would have hoped that that number...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
Afghanistan’s Vast Mineral Deposits Could Lift it Out of Poverty
For all the column inches and hours of negotiations spent discussing Afghanistan ’s recent past, present and future, one of the most pressing parts of the puzzle remains largely overlooked and poorly understood. The country sits on top of vast mineral deposits, which, if properly managed, offer the best chance of lifting a generation out of poverty and weaning the country off internati...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
Social Enterprise: Summit Says that the Geography of the World’s Poverty Has Changed
It is clear that our changing world needs new approaches, flexible thinking and more social enterprise. Recent global factors such as the financial collapse, the food and fuel price crisis, and the increasingly rapid burn of climate change has been a challenge for the current model of international development. To find innovative solutions, the largest gathering of its kind with over 800 specialists organised by the Development Studies Assoc...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
The Robin Hood Tax: A Small Step for Capitalism, a Big Stride for Development
What connects hunger in Africa, people dying for want of medicines or health care and fast-paced global capitalism? A small tax on financial transactions. A new report about computer-driven high frequency trading (HFT), compiled by supporters of the Robin Hood tax campaign, reveals a niche world of millions of transactions each day. The report highlights how HFT threate...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
Impact Capital is the New Venture Capital (Part II)
The first part of this essay laid out the rationale for impact investing, whereby investors can simultaneously create social impact and achieve financial returns. How can we bring it about? First, we need an enabling environment. In the 1970s and 1980s, the venture capital community argued successfully for changes in taxation and the regulation of financial institutions ...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.