Microfinance, Innovations, Sustainable Development

Mobile Payments Predicted To Explode, But It's Not About NFC Or E-Wallets

2013-06-17T09:32:44.2796269-07:00

We hear a lot about the explosion in mobile payments, and new analysis by Gartner supports the idea that the tech is rapidly expanding--it'll rise 44% worldwide to over $235 billion worldwide this year. But Gartner's data may contain a surprise: The growth in use isn't to do with NFC wireless payments or even e-wallet enterprises. Mobile payments are more about money transfers and bill payments.
In fact money transfers will be 71% of this year's transaction value, and Gartner expects this share to remain high, even up to 69% in 2017. The analysis suggests that more people are using their phones to make money transfers partly because more banks and financial institutions are making the facility available (and more members of the public have smartphones). It's also noted that transferring cash in this manner can cost less than using a traditional banking route.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Ecotourism: A new horizon for environmental capitalism

2013-06-13T07:35:41.8607319-07:00

With rapidly declining natural environments comes new opportunity for the inhabitants of these ecologically endangered regions – capitalist opportunity. Granted that the majority of areas facing habitat loss are located away from the general public and therefore relatively unknown, theses sites are in serious danger of falling completely out of existence. There is however a solution that could both preserve the natural wonders of the world and profit the keepers of them.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Lemon Way to launch European payment service

2012-05-06T08:44:00.756-07:00

Now everyone, most especially private individuals without access to banking services, can open an account and have a simple and safe method of payment…

Lemon Way solutions already enable millions of users to do their shopping (food, taxis etc) and transfer money to their friends and families…

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

O2 mobile wallet app launches text message payments

2012-05-05T08:19:04.415-07:00

Mobile network O2 has launched a smartphone app that allows users to transfer up to £500 via text message.

It also allows customers to "digitise" their debit and credit cards to speed up purchases from online stores.

The firm also intends to allow users of phones with near-field communication (NFC) chips to make contactless payments in high street shops.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Mobile Payment Solution is offered through cloud-based gateway

2012-05-04T08:10:22.53-07:00

At Mobile World Congress 2012, Amdocs, a leading provider of customer experience systems, today announced the launch of Amdocs Mobile Payments. The new solution is a cloud-based gateway, enabling mobile operators to quickly, securely and cost-effectively scale their mobile payments business for both prepaid and postpaid customers to open new revenue streams. Mobile payments that are charged via the carrier offer consumers the convenience of charging purchases directly to their mobile phone bill, prepaid balance or mobile wallet.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Wind turbine offers hope to African communities

2012-05-03T07:57:23.984-07:00

Wind turbines could also provide drinking water in humid climates following a breakthrough by a French engineering firm.

Eole Water modified your typical electricity-generating turbines to allow them to distill drinking water out of the air in a bid to help developing countries solve their water needs.

A prototype in Abu Dhabi already creates 62 litres of water an hour, and Eole hopes to sell turbines generating a thousand litres a day later this year.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Scientists Say Africa Sits on Huge Reservoir of Water

2012-05-02T07:48:09.239-07:00

Scientists say a new study shows that Africa sits on a vast reservoir of groundwater that could provide a reliable source of water for drinking and agriculture.

Scientists say an estimated 300 million people in Africa do not have access to safe drinking water and with climate change making rainfall less predictable, their plight is even more precarious.

So research into a vast reservoir of groundwater beneath the continent is meaningful.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Is mobile banking worth chasing?

2012-05-01T07:34:42.02-07:00

That’s a key question facing bankers these days, given the cost of establishing a mobile offering and the accelerated pace at which the mobile landscape is evolving.

The short answer is “yes”—if you go about it right.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Rwanda: Rwf400 Million Fund to Boost Innovation

2012-04-07T14:26:40.86-07:00

Government has set aside a basket fund of about Rwf400 million to cater for scientific innovations, especially in the areas of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Agriculture and Manufacturing. The fund, known as Rwanda Innovation Endowment Fund (RIEF), was initiated by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) sub regional office under the One UN Rwanda. It will support projects that promote innovations in science, technology and research which could transform the social and economic development of the country.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

The myth of the overnight success

2012-04-04T13:57:53.304-07:00

We often celebrate companies and individuals once they've achieved undeniable success, but shun their disruptive thinking before reaching such a pinnacle. Before Oprah was Oprah, before Jobs was Jobs, they were labeled as misguided dreamers rather than future captains of industry. You tend to hear about startups when they are successful but not when they are struggling. This creates a systematically distorted perception that companies succeed overnight. Almost always, when you learn the backstory, you find that behind every “overnight success” is a story of entrepreneurs toiling away for years, with very few people except themselves and perhaps a few friends, users, and investors supporting them.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Microfinance: Loans to poor rarely transform lives

2012-04-02T11:41:20.375-07:00

The idea has a wonderfully simple and powerful appeal: Give a tiny loan to a poor person in a poor nation. Watch her start a small business – whether hawking tomatoes or fattening goats – that puts her and her family on the first rung of a ladder that will elevate them out of poverty and into the middle class. Repeat across the planet.

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World Bicycle Relief Reaches Milestone Of 100,000 Bicycles Distributed

2012-03-29T12:41:32.593-07:00

World Bicycle Relief, a not for profit organization created by bike industry leader SRAM Corporation to aid victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka recently distributed its 100,000th bicycle to people living in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Is sustainable local development a persuasive alternative to microfinance?

2012-03-28T12:02:36.031-07:00

Milford Bateman has made a cogent case for community-based financial institutions that prioritise sustainable local solutions. Milford Bateman is perhaps best known for his strident attacks on microfinance as an anti-poverty strategy, including his sometimes acrimonious debates with David Roodman, another microfinance analyst. Bateman claims that, by diverting resources away from more productive investments and indebting poor people with no significant return, the microfinance "fad" has been anti-developmental, benefiting lenders most.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Will Mobile Phones Make Western Union Obsolete?

2012-03-14T13:27:26.187-07:00

Western Union's (WU) business model remains sound.
With market fears on this issue driving a low valuation on the stock, investors have a good opportunity to invest in a fundamentally attractive business.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

New generation of social entrepreneurs put skills to transforming Asia

2012-03-07T13:28:23.531-07:00

Social enterpreneurship grows in area where neither innovation nor social and environmental problems are in short supply

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Green Microfinance Encourages Sustainable Economic Development

2012-03-02T13:38:26.359-07:00

The conventional path to economic development is through the use of fossil fuels and the associated negative environmental impact. One alternative to encourage actual sustainable development is green microfinance, using small loans for environmentally beneficial or neutral business enterprises. Unlike traditional micro loans, conditions or incentives placed are placed on the loan condition to encourage the sustainable use of resources.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Canada: Engineering students encouraged to think globally

2012-03-01T13:15:25.359-07:00

Some 15,400 kilometers away from Vancouver, B.C., farmers in the southern African nation of Zambia have seen their crop yields improve thanks in part to a small group of Canadian engineers. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Engineering+students+encouraged+think+globally/6232493/story.html#ixzz1oSpxEsW4

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A Report from the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference

2012-02-29T13:54:24.203-07:00

Conferences usually are not the venue for admitting failure. But on the first day of the Harvard University’s 2012 Social Enterprise Conference, Vikram Akula, the founder of SKS Microfinance who left the organization in November 2011, made just such an admission. In a speech delivered at the day’s closing reception, Akula described his experience first establishing the organization as a non-profit, converting to a for-profit model, and taking the company public in 2010. He recalled how Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank criticized him and the SKS model, and observed: “Today, I can look back at what we did and say, ‘Professor Yunus was right.’”
“We really are at a crossroads,” The Economist’s Matt Bishop observed at the opening of the second day of Harvard’s Social Enterprise Conference. We’ve reached a point in time to rethink how markets work, and how more people can share in the benefits of the global economy, he noted.

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Rural Women Banking By Mobile Phone

2011-11-15T16:31:19.828-07:00

Collecting the monthly subscriptions for her co-operative has always been a headache for Thelma Nare, 41. This is because Nare lives in Tshitshi, Plumtree in rural Zimbabwe, about 60 kilometres away from the humdrum of the nearest town centre where banks are located.

"We meet after a long time as here in the rural areas our homesteads can be very far from each other. So members of our club do not meet or contribute regularly," Nare said.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

7 Strategies for Mobile Banking

2011-11-08T16:24:31.25-07:00

Is mobile banking worth chasing?
That’s a key question facing bankers these days, given the cost of establishing a mobile offering and the accelerated pace at which the mobile landscape is evolving.
The short answer is “yes”—if you go about it right.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Two Young University Of Washington Graduates Launch An Innovative New Type Of Microlending Company Called Lumana Helping E

2011-11-04T13:18:16.217-07:00

Two young University of Washington graduates launch an innovative new type of micro-lending company called Lumana, helping entrepreneurs in rural Africa to create sustainable businesses.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Should We Be Focused on Rural Areas in the Developing World?

2011-11-01T12:58:07.81-07:00

Microfinance has largely become a city-based endeavor, but one example suggests it would be more useful if focused on rural communities. Microfinance -- the practice of personal small loans to spur creativity in developing nations -- has well-known rural roots.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

The microfinance catalyst

2011-10-20T10:54:06.871-07:00

So-called “impact investors” -- providers of capital to businesses that solve social challenges while generating a profit -- are the current rage in economic development.
US President Barack Obama’s Office for Social Innovation and Civic Participation recently convened more than 100 practitioners to discuss how impact investing could be unleashed in the United States and the developing world.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

A Small Innovation Leads to the Next Big Thing

2011-10-18T11:07:17.433-07:00

Meet ChotuKool. A refrigerator with no compressor, it is tiny, weighing in at less than 18 pounds. It can run on a 12-volt battery and can be yours for about $75. Most importantly, you can get it in some of the most hard-to-reach rural areas of India. “Chotu” means “the small one” in colloquial Hindi. It may well be the Next Big Small Thing.

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World Food Day Is Not a Time for Celebration, But a Time For Action

2011-10-14T13:50:59.869-07:00

Famine is not simply caused by a lack of food in the global supply. We must -- and can -- do better.

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ONE Launches Effort to End Famine

2011-10-13T13:43:42.403-07:00

"ONE is about justice, not charity," he says. "It's about the shared value of every human life. That's why we're here -- to bring this to people's attention and to do something about it. …Your voice together with mine together with millions of others makes a big difference."
Advocacy group ONE is gaining support for its efforts to end the critical famine in Somalia with its new PSA effort, "The F Word: Famine Is the Real Obscenity." The PSAs, which debuted last week online and on TV, have already inspired more than 200,000 people worldwide to sign the organization's petition to end famine.

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Opinions: How can higher education institutions become more sustainable

2011-10-12T13:10:39.119-07:00

From changes to the curriculum to getting Transitional University status or by making the financial case for energy savings, we share the best bits from some experts' sustainability live chat

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Facing droughts, Pacific islands need urgent risk mitigation steps, UN warns

2011-10-10T13:28:18.112-07:00

Amid growing concerns about drought crises in some small island States of the Pacific, the United Nations today called for comprehensive risk reduction steps to be put in place to protect vulnerable populations living in delicate ecosystems.

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UK - Africa: Radio 4 Appeal for Microloan Foundation

2011-10-09T04:16:07.35-07:00

Gabby Logan presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the MicroLoan Foundation. The MicroLoan Foundation is a specialist ‘not for profit’ UK microfinance charity that provides microfinance (small loans of on average £70), business education and ongoing mentoring support to impoverished women in sub-Saharan Africa. This provides them with a “hand-up not a hand-out” so they can develop self-sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families, and work their own way out of poverty. 99% of the loans are repaid and then recycled in full to help more women year after year.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Bangladesh : Mobile banking takes shape

2011-10-03T06:06:12.459-07:00

Mobile phone use in Bangladesh is not a luxury now. Almost half of the country's 160 million population uses mobile phones, but very few have bank accounts. There were lot of talks in the past few years on how the big population could be brought under the banking services via their mobile handsets. The GSM Association (GSMA) predicts that by 2012, nearly 300 million of the previously "unbanked" will be using some form of mobile banking.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Grameen Foundation and USAID Providing $3 Million for Peruvian Microfinance Institutions

2011-10-02T05:45:19.506-07:00

Grameen Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today announced that they are jointly providing a $1.5 million credit guarantee to the Peruvian savings and credit cooperative Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito (ABACO) to support approximately $3 million for local currency financing to two socially-focused Peruvian microfinance institutions (MFIs). Peru has an established microfinance sector, with mature institutions having relatively easy access to international capital markets. However, there continues to be a great need for local currency financing, especially among smaller microfinance institutions, which traditionally have not been eligible for loans from local banks.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Predicting the Path Out of Poverty: Microfinance & Credit Risk Analysis

2011-10-01T05:19:11.839-07:00

“Do microloans work?” strikes Lilian Simbaqueba as an odd question. If they’re administered properly, they should. That’s what her company, LiSim, is in the businesses of doing. Started in 1996, LiSim is a risk-analysis company based in Bogota, Colombia that uses statistics and behavioral analysis to determine the inherent risk in granting credit to a given client. It offers outsourcing services to clients interested in developing credit scoring systems as well as selling software for a client to use in-house.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

SHE: Scharpf's simple way to empower women

2011-09-30T12:16:17.642-07:00

While interning in Africa in 2005, Elizabeth Scharpf was appalled to find that women were missing work and school because they couldn’t afford pads to wear during their periods. “I felt like it was an obstacle for women and girls — to their freedom” and one that shouldn’t exist, she said.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Bangladesh : Mobile banking takes shape

2011-09-28T06:07:50.005-07:00

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Wangari Maathai

2011-09-26T12:15:32.026-07:00

. The first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, environmentalist Wangari Maathai, has died aged-71 in Nairobi after a long battle with cancer. Matthai became a key figure in Kenya after founding her Green Belt Movement in 1997 which campaigned for environmental conservation and good governance. In recent years, Maathai founded green groups and launched several campaigns against climate change and for environmental protection. Her organization planted some 40 million trees across Africa.

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Cultivating Knowledge and Crops: Women Are Key to Sustainable Agricultural Development

2011-09-26T11:42:42.699-07:00

Women account for 75 percent of the agricultural producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but the majority of women farmers are living on only $1.25 per day, according to researchers from the Worldwatch Institute. Despite the challenging circumstances that women in developing countries face, important innovations in communications and organizing are helping women play a key role in the fight against hunger and poverty. "Access to credit, which provides women farmers with productive inputs and improved technologies, can be an effective tool in improving livelihoods in Africa and beyond," said Worldwatch Institute's executive director Robert Engelman.

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Nigeria: Revised Policy Fails to Excite MFBs Operators

2011-09-22T14:25:10.604-07:00

Operators of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) appeared unimpressed with the revised supervisory and regulatory framework for micro-finance banks (MFBs) approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

G20 faces obstacles in its efforts to spread good farming practices

2011-09-19T11:56:49.117-07:00

A lack of coherence among agricultural research bodies hinders the G20's goal of promoting farming in the developing world. Spreading good ideas and practices in farming sounds like a simple enough goal, but can be immensely complicated not just on a global level but also locally.

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Britain must think bigger

2011-09-11T12:11:10.539-07:00

Investment in innovation is needed to secure the UK's future, which is why we are launching the Big Innovation Centre

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A “theory of evolution” for technology

2011-09-10T12:03:34.982-07:00

It is time for the academic community to come to the aid of an old and ailing friend — the “science” of technological knowledge. In other words, rather than relying on individual fields of study to come up with new bits of “technology”), we must study technological advancement as a process itself, across disciplines. The time is right; recent advances in the management of technology have laid the necessary groundwork to do so.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

China: Tianjin puts priority on innovation

2011-09-09T11:53:56.536-07:00

The coastal city of Tianjin, with its hundred-year history of industrial development, is now looking to transform its development structure - from energy- and resource-intensive to sustainable, high-tech and innovative.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Interview: Lynne Maher, the director of innovation and design at the NHS National Innovation Centre

2011-09-08T11:41:51.561-07:00

Lynne Maher can see the NHS entering a new phase in its development of IT. National programmes are becoming less of an issue, and there will be a stronger emphasis on new ideas coming from the ground up.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Book: Reinventing economics

2011-09-06T12:04:49.877-07:00

Economic analysis is about understanding the workings of the economic system. Many elegant economic theories exist to analyse wealth-creating productive activities. Conventional economic theory focuses on a one-dimensional world.

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Microfinance: What role in Africa's development?

2011-09-01T05:43:30.74-07:00

The honeymoon with microfinance is over. Since the idea of lending or giving very small sums of money to poor people was introduced to the world by the pioneering Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the approach has been taken up by many non-governmental organizations, donor agencies and the United Nations as an essential part of their poverty-reduction efforts. Microfinance has provided countless people with access to financial services.

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Dr. Sabine O'Hara Recognized by Cambridge Who's Who

2011-08-29T11:43:16.065-07:00

Dr. Sabine O'Hara, Owner and Principal of Global Ecology LLC, has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in international business education and sustainable development.

Dr. O'Hara is principal of Global Ecology LLC, and managing director and vice president of Professors Beyond Borders. Global Ecology positions higher education institutions and private, public and non-profit sector organizations for success by providing educational tools and planning and assessment services for negotiating a complex world and marketplace.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

West Bengal: World Bank to plan conservation and development of Sunderbans

2011-08-28T11:54:45.51-07:00

The World Bank has taken up a mega-project, touted to be the first of its kind, for conserving the rich biodiversity and boosting socio-economic development of the Sundarbans area in West Bengal. "This has been done according to the recommendation of the Planning Commission of India and (the project) is expected to be complete at the end of this year," state's Sundarbans Affairs Minister Shyamal Mondal said.

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Cultivating Knowledge and Crops: Women Are Key to Sustainable Agricultural Development

2011-08-17T13:13:18.432-07:00

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Competition Spurs Access to Banking And Innovation

2011-08-16T12:13:14.586-07:00

Competition among financial institutions is intensifying in Africa as more governments relax barriers to entry and open their countries' banking sectors to new players. The flurry of fresh entrants in some countries is credited with helping to drive down banking charges, improve access to banking services and spark off a wave of new products and services.

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A scientist takes business education to the poor

2011-08-01T12:07:50.809-07:00

When a scientist has to run a micro-finance firm, a different approach is inevitable. That was precisely what happened when Dr Tara Thiagarajan, Chairperson, Madura Micro Finance Ltd, a neuroscientist by profession, was called upon to take over her late father's micro-finance business. Thrust into this new role, she suddenly had to grapple with a network of almost 20,000 self-help groups in Tamil Nadu. By and by, she discovered that they were going nowhere in particular, despite the micro loans. These were at best helping them to maintain their subsistence levels.

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Kredits Introduces Microfinance Industry’s First Regulatory Compliance Software Solution

2011-07-26T19:06:18.555-07:00

Kredits, a leading provider of software and technology solutions for microfinance institutions (“MFIs”), announced it has entered into bilateral agreements with MFI clients and regulators across multiple regions in order to provide the microfinance industry’s first multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance software solution. In response to a rapidly evolving regulatory climate, Kredits is proactively meeting the challenge by providing its worldwide base of MFI clients with the advanced reporting and credit bureau support required to cost-effectively maintain regulatory compliance.

This weblog is sponsored by Avgo.org and Photo Cyprus.

Temenos T24 Launches Cloud Strategy for the Global Microfinance Community With Windows Azure

2011-07-13T19:00:12.187-07:00

Today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles, Temenos, the global provider of banking software, launched a complementary go-to-market model using Microsoft technologies to address affordable access to finance in emerging markets. Temenos was also today selected the Microsoft Financial Services Partner of the Year at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

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