Microfinance, Innovations, Sustainable Development - Sustainable

Lemon Way to launch European payment service

Gerard — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:44:00 GMT

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…

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Mobile Payment Solution is offered through cloud-based gateway

Gerard — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:10:22 GMT

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

Gerard — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:57:23 GMT

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

Gerard — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:48:09 GMT

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?

Gerard — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:34:42 GMT

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

Gerard — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:26:40 GMT

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.

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The myth of the overnight success

Gerard — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:57:53 GMT

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

Gerard — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:41:20 GMT

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.

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

World Bicycle Relief Reaches Milestone Of 100,000 Bicycles Distributed

Gerard — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:41:32 GMT

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?

Gerard — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:02:36 GMT

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?

Gerard — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:27:26 GMT

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.

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New generation of social entrepreneurs put skills to transforming Asia

Gerard — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:28:23 GMT

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

Gerard — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:38:26 GMT

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

Gerard — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:15:25 GMT

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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Rural Women Banking By Mobile Phone

Gerard — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:31:19 GMT

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.

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7 Strategies for Mobile Banking

Gerard — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:24:31 GMT

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

Gerard — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:18:16 GMT

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.

The microfinance catalyst

Gerard — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:54:06 GMT

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

Gerard — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:07:17 GMT

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.

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

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

Gerard — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:50:59 GMT

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

Gerard — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:43:42 GMT

"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.

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

Opinions: How can higher education institutions become more sustainable

Gerard — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:10:39 GMT

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

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

Gerard — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:28:18 GMT

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

Gerard — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:16:07 GMT

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

Gerard — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:06:12 GMT

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.

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

Gerard — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:19:11 GMT

“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

Gerard — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:16:17 GMT

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

Gerard — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:07:50 GMT

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Wangari Maathai

Gerard — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:15:32 GMT

. 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.

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

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

Gerard — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:42:42 GMT

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.

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

Nigeria: Revised Policy Fails to Excite MFBs Operators

Gerard — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:25:10 GMT

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

Gerard — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:56:49 GMT

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.

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

Britain must think bigger

Gerard — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:11:10 GMT

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

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

A “theory of evolution” for technology

Gerard — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:03:34 GMT

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.

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

Gerard — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:41:51 GMT

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

Gerard — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:04:49 GMT

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.

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

Microfinance: What role in Africa's development?

Gerard — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:43:30 GMT

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.

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

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

Gerard — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:43:16 GMT

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

Gerard — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:54:45 GMT

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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Competition Spurs Access to Banking And Innovation

Gerard — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:13:14 GMT

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.

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

A scientist takes business education to the poor

Gerard — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:07:50 GMT

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.

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

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

Gerard — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:00:12 GMT

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

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

Visa Europe Releases Mobile Acceptance Security Best Practices

Gerard — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:53:41 GMT

Visa Europe in cooperation with Visa Inc. today issued a set of mobile acceptance security best practices for software and hardware providers, retailers and their acquirers. These best practices form part of Visa Europe’s ongoing strategy to advance security measures to help protect cardholder and account data when using consumer mobile devices such as smart phones to facilitate the acceptance of card payments.

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

Sprint Plans Tap-And-Go Payments in 2011, Ahead of Rivals

Gerard — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:10:30 GMT

Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to start a service this year that will allow customers to make purchases with their mobile phones, ahead of a similar initiative from rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA.

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Color Looks To Reinvent Social Interaction

Gerard — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 07:12:26 GMT

A revolutionary new communication app has been launched for the iPhone and Android platforms, which automatically shares photos, videos and text with anyone in the vicinity who also has the application. The app, called Color, has been created by Bill Nguyen, who sold his cloud based music locker Lala.com to Apple for $80 million. The app works by using a mix of GPS location data and ambient sensors to assess proximity of other users, who will be able to see any text, videos or photos taken via Color. The application comes with absolutely no privacy settings, so all the photos shared are publicly available to every member within the range. There is also no need to 'friend' anyone, though a blocking option is available.

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

The Sun: Gorillas get iPads

Gerard — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:54:00 GMT

The Sun is reporting that animal behavior experts have kindly handed out iPads to Gorillas. Amazingly not a SINGLE one of the five tablets which download apps has been broken since being given out at Port Lympne wild animal park three weeks ago.

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The World's Most Ethical Companies

Gerard — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:14:22 GMT

The Ethisphere Institute, a New York City think tank, has just announced its fifth annual list of the World's Most Ethical Companies. The selection, open to every company in every industry around the globe, gives its winners an opportunity to trumpet their do-gooding ways. It is not a ranking, so they are all equally winners.

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LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman’s 10 rules of entrepreneurship

Gerard — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:37:51 GMT

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman gave a speech today about how entrepreneurs can “invent the future”. Speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, he recited a list of 10 rules of entrepreneurship.

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How Groupon Uses the Cloud to Scale Its Business

Gerard — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:41:27 GMT

Since launching in late 2008, deal-of-the-day website Groupon has emerged as one of the hottest web startups on the planet. Serving more than 250 markets worldwide and boasting more than 35 million users, Groupon is the poster child for a rapidly growing company. One of the reasons Groupon has continued to succeed and expand over the past two and a half years is because the company has managed to keep the pace with its business. Tracking deal performance across locations and business types is an important part of Groupon’s business. Groupon uses a number of different tracking solutions so that it can generate internal reports, as well as offer reports to business owners.

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

VeriFone On Apple, Google And PayPal’s NFC Competitiveness

Gerard — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:20:44 GMT

Electronic payment provider VeriFone has a front seat for what it calls the “gold rush for NFC” – the race to deliver products and services related to Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

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