NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Heirs Holdings, TEF Sign Deal with Tanzanian Firm

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and Heirs Holdings Limited (HH) have announced the completion of an impact investment programme with Mtanga Farms, a Tanzanian based organisation as part of efforts to boost food security in Africa. A statement from the HH at the weekend, explained that the deal marked the first time an African organization and an investment firm have engaged together in impact investing, adding that the approach that is targeted at solving social and environmental prob...

Source

This Day Live (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

New Project in Ghana Aims to End Female Servitude in Agriculture

Hundreds of young women still held as slaves to priests under traditional “Trokosi” religion The priests -- mostly maize and black bean farmers -- are taught improved farming skills so they can do without female slaves. The women learn to support themselves with new skills such as sewing and hair dressing. "The priests have vast plots of land for agriculture," says Patience Vormawor, project officer at IN Networg Ghana. "We help them to improve on their system of...

Source

VoANews.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Digital Divide Data Launches Business Process Outsourcing Company in Kenya

Digital Divide Data (DDD) announced today the launch of business operations in Nairobi, Kenya. The new company will offer business process outsourcing (BPO) services, including data entry, electronic publishing, and back-office administrative tasks to customers in East Africa as well as international markets. The social enterprise, which aims to create jobs for Kenyan youth, is the first investment in a Kenyan BPO company to combine U.S. technology and market expertise with operating experien...

Source

PRWeb (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Experts Warn Africa Must Learn from India’s Microfinance Problems

It has been lauded as one of the most promising ways of using the market to reduce poverty and boost economies in some of the world’s most deprived areas. But in recent months the work of microfinance institutions (MFIs), which provide small loans to poor people with no access to traditional banking services, has come under scrutiny after a spate of suicides in the Indian province of Andhra Pradesh was linked to borrowers’ inability to repay their loans. The news made inte...

Source

CNN (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kopo Kopo Helps Bring Mobile Microfinance to Sierra Leone

Kopo Kopo, a software company that operates a services platform connecting mobile money to microfinance institutions, has partnered withHope Micro and Splash Mobile Money to bring mobile financial services to the country. Hope Micro customers will now be able to repay their loans via Splash Mobile Money, a service that allows users on the top three mobile networks to load cash onto their phones, send money, pay bills, withdrawcash, and buy goods. As a result, Hope Micro customers n...

Source

Mobile-Financial.com (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Chevron foundation, USAID give Nigeria $50M

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Chevron Corp.’s foundation and USAID are to pour $50 million into Nigeria’s impoverished delta where militants have kidnapped foreign oil workers and demanded that more oil profits come back to the region, the U.S. oil giant said Thursday. Chevron’s Niger Delta Partnership Initiative and the U.S.-government funded USAID will each invest $25 million toward the development of the region over the next four years. The money will support programs desig...

Source

Associated Press (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Ethiopia Launches Industry Extension Service Package Targeting SMEs

In an attempt to replicate success stories from its ’Agriculture Extension Program’, which has been showing some good results in changing the lives of poor farmers, the Ethiopian government launched today ’Industry Extension Service’ package targeting urban Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs). Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions will provide the new service package, which targets solving all the major headaches of SMEs...

Source

New Business Ethiopia (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

From Reeds to Roads: Bamboo Bikes in Ghana

When Columbia University professor John Mutter went to Ghana in 2007, he noticed how necessary a reliable source of transportation was to people’s livelihoods and wellbeing. "You can’t go to any of the poorer countries in Africa and not be struck by how many people get around by walking or bicycling," said Mutter. With roads in generally poor condition, it can take a long time to get from place to place, he said. Even the seemingly simple task of getting cash crops to mark...

Source

PBS Newshour (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa