NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Peso power brings hope to poor

Excerpt: E very weekend Hilario Amador makes the short journey to the city centre of Zacatecas where he deposits 120 pesos with Patrimonio Hoy, a self-help building scheme run by Cemex, Mexico’s largest cement company. The money is equal to about 20 per cent of his weekly wage at a local abattoir and it has allowed the 38-year-old to receive regular supplies of the materials he needs to tile the floor, repair the roof and build two extra rooms...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Banco ProCredit looks to boost loan portfolio 57% this year – Ecuador

Excerpt: Ecuadorian niche bank Banco ProCredit aims to increase its loan portfolio to US$115mn by the end of this year, up 57% on end-2005, CEO Pedro Arriola told BNamericas. The bank’s strategy focuses on strong growth in the small and microenterprises segment, a significant increase in its deposits base and development of a wide range of financial products, the executive said. The average loan extended by ProCredit is US$2,500 and its clients typically earn just US$5...

Source

Business News Americas (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Development bank seeks new approach to Latin America’s problems

Excerpt: With leftist politicians on the rise throughout Latin America, Washington policymakers are turning their sights on the left-behind majorities fueling the populist surge. It is the latest struggle for the hearts and minds of people in a region swept first by free market reforms favored by the U.S. government and now buffeted by a shift to more home-grown policies that sometimes fly in the face of the United States. Sensing a seismic shift in South American sentimen...

Source

Miami Herald (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

The World Is Hot

Abstract: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes about climate change and its impact in the developing world. Note: TimesSelect is needed to view this article....

Source

The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

PM to address IDB conference in Washington DC

Abstract: Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller is one of many speakers at the Inter-American Bank’s conference, "Building Opportunity for the Majority."...

Source

Radio Jamaica (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Too soon to call a turn

Abstract: In an opinion piece, Richard Lapper explores the possibility of shifting political winds in Latin America. He also discusses the BOP and the new agenda of Inter-American Development Bank, which is being pushed ahead in full force by the Bank’s new president, Luis Alberto Moreno....

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Mary Jo Foley Cut-rate PC/hardware Windows XP Starter Edition bundles aren’t Microsoft’s only solution for bringing computing to the masses. Microsoft (MSFT) unveiled a new financing program designed to make PCs more affordable to emerging-market customers on May 22, the day before the kick-off of its annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle. The new pay-as-you-go program and associated metering technology that enables it are k...

Source

Foxnews.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Nestl?: Corporate Citizenship and the Value Chain

Nestl? is traveling its own road with a proposed new corporate social responsibility model. By Ken Stier Nestl?’s recently unveiled Latin America corporate social responsibility report is the food giant’s bear-hug attempt to understand its operational impacts across a vast sourcing, production and distribution chain. It is also a stab at defining a new corporate responsibility model, one that sits more comfortably with the firm’s defiantly unap...

Source

GreenBiz News (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America