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New Farmer Alliance to Improve Incomes and Food Security in Africa
WASHINGTON, DC, June 12, 2012 – Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Vodafone, and TechnoServe launched a new partnership to increase the productivity, incomes and resilience of smallholder farmers in Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The Connected Farmer Alliance will leverage mobile phone-enabled solutions to improve supply chain efficiency and increase farmers’ ability to access secure, timely payments and other financial services.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenya: Equity’s Mwangi Tops the World Again
Nairobi, Kenya — Equity Bank's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director James Mwangi, has been voted the 2012 Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year at a colorful ceremony held in Monte Carlo, Monaco over the weekend.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Acumen Fund Invests in Virtual City to Automate Agricultural Supply Chains in East Africa and….
Nairobi, Kenya, June 5, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty across Africa and in South Asia, today announced a $1.5 million convertible debt investment in Virtual City, a mobile technology services provider based in Nairobi.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- supply chains
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SEEP Network, The MasterCard Foundation Launch $7.6 Million Partnership to Strengthen Sub-Saharan Africa Microfinance Groups
The SEEP Network and The MasterCard Foundation are launching a new $7.6 million, four-year partnership to strengthen and develop the capacity of microfinance industry associations in Sub-Saharan Africa. As microfinance scales and commercializes in Africa, there is an opportunity to support greater consumer protection and financial transparency within the industry.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Virtual City gets Sh135m loan from US social fund
Virtual City, a local software development firm, has received a Sh135 million ($1.5 million) convertible loan from Acumen Fund for the development of a mobile-based agricultural application to help small-scale farmers market their produce.The investment represents the latest capital inflows from international investors in the local information technology sector, which is emerging as a key target for venture capitalist firms.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Board Approves Equity Investment of U.S. $100 Million in Agvance Africa
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved on 16 May in Tunis, an equity investment of USD 100 million to Agvance Africa, the first agribusiness-focused Fund of Funds on the African continent. The strategic objective of Agvance Africa is to increase private investment flows into the agribusiness sector on the continent to address growing food security concerns and unleash the largely unexploited potential of African agriculture and agribusiness sectors.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- impact investing
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Escaping poverty on the back of a chicken
In the dusty Nigerian village of Nwangele, a 13-year-old girl, Eziuche Chimdi, has escaped a life of oppression. She has only one tool - a chicken.Her life could easily have been very different. Poverty and traditional values dictate the lives of many young girls who will be forced to become child brides. 40 per cent of girls in Nigeria are married by the age of 15, and marriage puts an end to education. Once wedded, she will be subject to a life of servitude as the second or third wife to a man more than twice her age. Disobedience results in violence and young girls are sexually vulnerable and susceptible to HIV/AIDS - the biggest killer of women in Nigeria.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Should Fighting Hunger Be a Franchise Business?
The idea of a business franchise is more likely to conjure an image of a Happy Meal than a famine food ration, but what if the same system that makes McDonald’s globally omnipresent could do the same for food aid or poverty-fighting?
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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