-
GroFin Expands Pool of SME Funding to $323 million, Enters Three New Countries
GroFin, the multinational pioneer of growth finance working to create real impact through the support of small and medium businesses, has announced a growth in funds under management from $260 million to $323 million.
- Source
- Press Release
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
Kiva and Silatech Launch Online Entrepreneur Micro-loans
Online micro-lending platform Kiva has announced a partnership with Qatar's Silatech to develop an online funding programme for young Arab entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
SMES In Egypt, Jordan to Benefit from $500 Million in U.S. Loans
The Overseas Private Investment Corp., an independent agency of the U.S. government, secured $500 million for a lending facility , of which half will be provided to Egypt and the rest to Jordan. OPIC will guarantee loans by local banks to SMEs, microfinance institutions and other approved borrowers. By filling in the gap in access to credit by SMEs in Jordan and Egypt, the initiative aims to spu...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
Arab Spring, Start-Up Summer?
Like so many other young people in Cairo, Yasmine el-Mehairy saw no future in Egypt . What she saw was a dead end. Then came Tahrir Square. Six months after an uprising led by people like her ousted Hosni Mubarak and overturned the established order of the Arab world, Ms. Mehairy has joined the ranks of Egypt’...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
Going Mobile: Egypt Gears Up for Cellphone Banking
Hani swears his wages were under the satellite box. They were just 400 Egyptian pounds (US$67) -- payment for a month of piecemeal work rigging TV dishes in the northern Cairo district of Shubra El-Kheima - but now they’d gone. Sitting in his dank single room, located up a muddy alley a half-hour’s walk from any major commercial enterprise, Hani toys with the broken padlock from his door and vows to find a safer place for his money. At 36 years old Hani has never had...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
Electrifying Entrepreneur: The Founder of Afriq-Power is Upgrading Mali
Daniel Dembélé wants to electrify Africa . Trouble is, so do foreign multinationals. For the past five years, the 31-year-old Malian social entrepreneur has been trying to keep one step ahead. In 2006, he installed locally produced solar panels in a school in Banko, Mali. With children able to study after dark for the first tim...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
Google Exec. Wael Ghonim Takes Sabbatical to Fight Poverty
Wael Ghonim never sought to become the public face of the Egyptian revolution. But the Google executive who helped organize the political uprising on social media was thrust into the spotlight in February after he was arrested and beaten by government forces during the protests that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. Since then, Ghonim has been traveling the globe to spread word of Revolution 2.0, tapping the power of the Internet and social media to foment revolution. He has...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
-
Sa?d Business School: US Marines Call on Social Entrepreneur in Afghanistan
When Connie Duckworth received a call from the office of Commanding General of the Marines First Expeditionary Force operating in Afghanistan, she was surprised to say the least. Ms Duckworth is a social entrepreneur working in poor rural communities in Afghanistan well beyond the theatre of war. The Marines, however, had heard about her approach to developing sustainable economic growth within these communities and wanted to learn more. Ms Duckworth’s social venture ARZU has been w...
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- North Africa & Near East