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African Economies ’Must Go Global’
By Justine Gerardy (AFP) CAPE TOWN - Africa must accelerate links to global markets and improve competitiveness to sustain the strong growth expected this year, experts at the World Economic Forum on Africa said on Wednesday. African economies weathered the global economic storm in 2008 and have since resumed strong growth -- a positive showing which paradoxically highlighted Africa’s weak presence in global financial markets, said Jennifer Blake, head of WEF’s compe...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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’Drop out of school’: Does That Advice Work in South Africa?
By Osiame Molefe Cape Town, South Africa Like many other black South African parents, my folks were non-negotiable on one thing: that my siblings and I, at the very minimum, go to university and graduate. They worked slavishly, too, to make it happen. I’m sure many other South African parents held and continue to hold the ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda: Understanding Consumer Protection in Microfinance
Lately, the Microfinance industry has come under the spot-light with critics arguing that microfinance institutions drifted away from their core and initial mission of working to uplift the poor out of poverty through micro loans. Critics argue that the entire microfinance business is now commercialized. This is what has probably resulted into draconian recovery methods; forexample in Mexico where loan officers take children after their parents are unable to make microfinance loans; to India ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Improving the Lot of Small Enterprises
To address the problems facing small enterprises, especially the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Nigeria MSME Project, a pilot initiative of the Federal Government and the World Bank in Abia, Kaduna and Lagos states, have come to the rescue. The trouble with small enterprises will always attract discussions. If you ask the small business owner what the trouble is, he will tell you it is funding. But he is wrong. True, funding is a problem, but it is not all the ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microsoft Donates $250,000 of Software to Create IT Jobs for Youth in Kenya
Microsoft Corp. announced today a donation of software with a retail value of $250,000 to Digital Divide Data (DDD). The grant, from Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program, will support DDD to bring its social business model to Kenya. The new venture will provide services such as data entry, XML conversion and digital preservation for publishers, libraries, content hosts, academic researchers and businesses. Microsoft’s software will be used to provide training and client servi...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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LeapFrog Invests $14M in Insurer Apollo
NAIROBI, Kenya, April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- LeapFrog Investments has announced a landmark investment of $14 millioninto East African insurance group Apollo Investment Ltd, the largest deal in the history of microinsurance in Africa. Launched with President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008, LeapFrog’s $135 million fund invests in companies providing insurance to under-served people in emerging markets. In Africa, LeapFrog...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenyan Women Pulling Together Against Poverty
KIAMBU DISTRICT, Kenya, Apr 13, 2011 (IPS) - When it works, it’s spectacular: Esther Ngonyo Njuguna’s dairy project stands as testimony to the potential of microcredit schemes to boost rural incomes. Eight years ago, Mama Njoki - "Njoki’s mother" as Njuguna is affectionately called in honor of one of her five children - says she was a housewife in the Kiambu District of Central Kenya. Her husband is an accountant, earning enough to cover household expenses. ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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COWAN Empowers Rural Women Through Micro Credit Facility
Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN) said it’s been empowering rural women in 32 states of the country through its micro credit facility by granting revolving loans as low as N20,000,00. Speaking at a workshop organized by the Lagos State chapter of the Association titled ’The Role of Rural Women In Nigeria’s Agriculture After Golden Jubilee’ in Lagos, the National President of the Association, Chief Mrs Bisinuola Ogunleye, said that using the &...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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