NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

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...

Source

Reuters (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

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toward poverty alleviation dominate Syria’s microcredit market, but further expansion of their role is inhibited by outdated government regulation.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 ...

Source

Business Today Egypt (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

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...

Source

SOS Children (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

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...

Source

AltAssets (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

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...

Source

Business 24/7 (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

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 ...

Source

The Christian Science Monitor (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

World’s 3.7 billion limited-income earners represent rapidly-growing consumer market

Private-sector leaders in the world’s emerging markets have compelling opportunities to invest in businesses that improve life for large swaths of the population, said Hisham El-Khazindar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Citadel Capital, the Middle East and North Africa’s leading private equity firm . El Khazindar was addressing high profile Arab businessmen and decision makers at a Harvard University Arab Alumni Association panel that discussed subjects relat...

Source

Eye of Dubai (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East

KUWAIT: For the world’s poor getting a loan to start up a business is almost impossible, because of the strict rules most banks follow including the necessity to borrow against collateral. However, microfinancing - though not a totally new financing concept - is growing more popular now that it helps the poor and yet manages to get a bit of cash for the lenders. Microfinance can be defined as the provision of comprehensive financial services to micro-entrepreneurs. Still, the i...

Source

KuwaitTimes.net (link opens in a new window)

Region

North Africa & Near East