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Islamic Micro Lenders Set Up Global Network
LAHORE: Islamic Microfinance Network (IMFN) has been set up to assemble the international Islamic Microfinance organisations on one platform, a statement said. The IMFN head office is in Lahore and its regional offices will be in Ghana, Mauritius and Middle East. According to IMFN official the board members of IMFN are Farida Tariq, Chairperson, Amjad Saqib, Vice Chairman, and Muhammad Zubair Mughal, Chief Executive Officer. Kawako Yasuma, CEO, Ghana Islami...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Combating Poverty With Clean Energy
ABU DHABI (IDN) - Fighting poverty by promoting sustainable development and mitigating climate change is one of the priorities of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for 2011. With this is view, he is calling for a global revolution that would benefit some 1.6 billion people in developing countries still lacking access to electricity. Addressing the Fourth World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on January 17, Ban said: "Our challenge is transformation. We need ...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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IFC to Push Yemen Microfinance
DUBAI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The World Bank is increasingly focusing on microfinance and small business loans in Yemen as the spike in violence this year is making it hard to find viable projects for investment, a senior official told Reuters. International donors are finding it harder to locate investment projects in the impoverished Arab state, crippling its efforts to diversify its economy away from hydrocarnons, said Raymond Conway, who represents Yemen at the International Finance Corp...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Damascus Turns to Microfinance to Combat Poverty
A regional front-runner in microfinance legislation, Syria is still struggling to find a sustainable model to finance its rural poor. Currently, NGOs geared toward poverty alleviation dominate Syria’s microcredit market, but further expansion of their role is inhibited by outdated government regulation. The entry of more private players is needed to increase market competition ...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Women on the West Bank Fight Poverty with Enterprise
Nearly a year after the war in Gaza, women in the West Bank are overcoming poverty by running their own co-operatives. With help and funding from several aid agencies, women have been able to set up their own small businesses providing training and marketing assistance...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Abraaj Capital to Buy Riyada Ventures, Focus on SME investments
Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital has agreed to acquire all of Riyada Ventures as it moves into the venture capital space. Riyada Ventures, which was set up in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2005, will be integrated by Abraaj into its newly launched regional SME and entrepreneurship initiative. Khaldoon Tabaza will continue as the CEO of the new business line of Abraaj. Tabaza has worked in the MENA venture capital industry since 2000, p...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Citadel eyeing slice of $2.3trn market
With the global economy turning on its head in the past year, private sector investors have the unprecedented opportunity to participate in a rapidly growing consumer market comprising the world’s 3.7 billion limited-income earners. "The billions of individuals who claim the smallest pool of the world’s wealth represent, collectively, a rapidly-growing consumer market, an underutilised productive sector, and vast entrepreneurial energy," said Hisham El Khazindar, Co-Founde...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Bottom line for Palestinian entrepreneurs: Reinvent the economy
Ramallah, West Bank - Under pressure from visiting US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, Israeli cabinet ministers mulled easing a siege on the Gaza Strip that was designed to weaken Hamas. Amid US-Israeli disagreement over the Gaza blockade, West Bank settlements, and other issues involved in restarting the peace process, there is one point both sides agree on: The promises to boost the Palestinian economy during the recent round of talks stretching the final ...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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