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

Grameen Foundation and Google create mobile apps for Africa

Posted by Kristi Heim Real time information about farming, health and trading will be available to mobile phone users in Uganda with new technology services developed by the Grameen Foundation, Google and telecom operator MTN Uganda. The Grameen Foundation saw the proliferation of mobile phones in Africa as a way to get ...

Source

The Seattle Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

The missing middle to drive sustainable growth

Just imagine how different the world would be if, back in Microsoft’s earliest days, Bill Gates had been unable to find anyone to invest in him or if a decade ago the same had happened to Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page as they tried to get the business going from the garage of a suburban home in California. Entrepreneurs the world over who try to start up and grow businesses face the problem of lack of access to finance. Often, they also experience an equ...

Source

This is Africa (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Coca-Cola Distribution Model Contributes to Entrepreneurship

Report finds that the company’s Manual Distribution Centers have led to the creation of 12,000 jobs while contributing to the Millennium Development Goals. SocialFunds.com -- As part of its commitment to the Business Call to Action, Coca-Cola has developed a Manual Distribution Center (MDC) model in Ethiopia and Tanzania that has the potential to contribute to some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Coca-Cola’s efforts in Africa are described in a report entitled ...

Source

Social Funds (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Is Aid Working?

It is hard to argue with the lofty ambition to end once and for all the scourge that is global poverty. How the world should go about this, however, is much more vexed. If poor countries do not have sufficient capital, aid advocates argue that there is a moral imperative for rich ones to help. Since 1970 hundreds of billions of dollars in bilateral and multilateral aid has been sent to Africa from the developed world. G20 leaders agreed at last month’s summit London that an extra $50bn ...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Agriculture, Investing

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa?s No.1in No.2

Human excrement is serious business. Three African social entrepreneurs, David Kuria, Joseph Adelegan and Trevor Mulaudzi, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in February to share this revolutionary approach to solving the global sanitation crisis. The entrepreneurs speak from experience; each has established lucrative and groundbreaking businesses related to people “doing their business” — and providing the proper sanitation facilities for it often in crow...

Source

Water & Wastewater International (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya: SME Private Equity Undeterred by Global Crisis

It is still difficult to assess the full impact of the global financial crisis on Kenya, but concerns that private equity investors would now pull back have not materialized, at least not in the SME sector where several new funds are entering the market. Rachel Keeler takes a look at the latest developments. Kenya’s private equity market has been on a happy growth curve since 2002. New funds here inspired by the success of private equity abroad are now welcoming international mone...

Source

Ratio Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

N7.3bn Microfinance Equity Fund for Nigeria, Ghana

The gap between the demand for and supply of micro credit for micro-financing of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the Anglophone West Africa has drawn the attention of some business development companies to launch a fund that would pool funds together to fill up this gap basically in Nigeria and Ghana. Alitheia Capital ( Nigeria ), Goodwell Investments (The Netherlands) and JCS Investments Limited ( Ghana ) have come together to launch a fund focused on investing in and developing...

Source

Business Day (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Developing Health, Developing Profits

Pfizer’s Dr Ponni Subbiah is at the forefront of a revolution in the way the pharma industry views its business, who it believes its customers are, and how it can be socially responsible. There is currently much talk of pharma’s emerging markets - China, India, Brazil, Russia - but this expanded world view still excludes most countries, and billions of the world’s population. The most potent symbol of global poverty - and dire health needs that go with it - is sub-Saha...

Source

Pharmafocus.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa