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Building a bridge across the digital divide might not be the smooth path to poverty reduction that many people believe. As many as 17,000 people from around the world are attending this United Nations conference targeted at closing the now famous divide, the gap in access to the Internet and other information age tools (and skills) between rich and poor countries, and even within nations. But will providing Internet access or mobile phones to more people help end the poverty that dis...
More Internet, Less Poverty?News
MUMBAI, NOV 15: With a view to developing a commercial market for micro finance receivables, the country’s largest private sector bank, ICICI bank has tied up with Grameen Foundation USA to set up Grameen Capital India (GCI). GCI will work with the micro finance institutions (MFIs) to access primary and secondary debt markets as also private placement of MFI portfolios with banks, said KV Kamath, managing director & ceo, ICICI Bank. GCI will also provide credit enhancements t...
ICICI bank, Grameen of USA set up JV for micro-financeNews
Saviour Davidson Fia According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, African nations, despite their high youth unemployment rates, continue to thwart small and medium businesses with legal burdens and piecemeal reforms. Data on recent reforms to the regulatory environment for business contained in ’Doing Business 2006,’ a publication by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), poi...
Delay, High Cost of Business Registration, Counter Productive – World Bank/IMFNews
A novel plan to develop a $100 laptop computer for distribution to millions of schoolchildren in developing countries has caught the interest of governments and the attention of computer-industry heavyweights. First announced in January by Nicholas Negroponte, the founding chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, the initiative appears to be gaining steam. Mr. Negroponte is scheduled to demonstrate a working prototype of the device with United Nations Se...
The $100 Laptop Moves Closer to RealityNews
Electronics major, Philips, is expanding its presence in the Indian healthcare delivery system through telemedicine by putting more mobile units on roads benefiting villages. Women in villages are already seeing the benefits of telemedicine. We now look forward to extending the technology to interior rural pockets, Gerard J. Kleisterlee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Philips Electronics, The Netherlands, said here on Sunday.
Philips to Take Telemedecine to the HinterlandNews
While the exceedingly generous $100 million gift to Tufts University last week to fund microlending initiatives supported that notion, it may be premature to declare this hyped program to help the poor a success. At first glance, the goal of microlending is exciting and innovative: By making small loans to help impoverished people start small businesses, microlenders appear to turn those who are marginalized by mainstream banks into successful entrepreneurs. The gift by P...
Are microloans the miracle cure for poverty in developing nations?News
First Manual to Provide a Proven Model for Establishing Telecommunication Access in Poor, Rural Communities through Microfinance The Village Phone program partners microfinance institutions with telecommunications providers to offer both microenterprise opportunities to the very poor in rural regions, as well as provide the entire community access to telecommunications that are generally unavailable. (CSRwire) Washington, D.C. - Grameen Foundation USA (GFUS...
Grameen Foundation USA Releases Village Phone Replication ManualBlog Post
This post is part of my continuing series about financially sustainable models that provide healthcare to the poor.In developing countries, there is a strong correlation between access to finance and access to healthcare. Getting the poor to bank, and bank profitably, could push rural...
Healthcare Delivery: Insurance and Finance
