Monitise Granted Licence to Bring Mobile Money to Nigeria
Monitise plc, the technology company delivering mobile banking, payments and commerce networks worldwide, is set to build Nigeria’s first mobile shared financial services platform after being granted a Mobile Payment System Provider licence to provide mobile money services by the country’s Central Bank. The Monitise technology platform is designed to be shared by various banks […]
Paul Polak, Founder, iDE: At Least a Million
For many years I have been a vocal advocate for what I call the “Don’t Bother Trilogy” in the practice of design, which states: 1. If you haven’t had good conversations with at least 25 customers before you start 2. If the product or service you design doesn’t pay for itself three times in the […]
Electronic money is pro-poor
Blog written by Ignacio Mas, an independent consultant on technology-enabled models for financial inclusion. He has been senior advisor in the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and at the Technology Program at CGAP. Previously he was director of Global Business Strategy at Vodafone Group, and a senior […]
Making Broadband Accessible For All
Blog by Matthew Kirk, Group External Affairs Director, Vodafone Group and Steve Bratt, Chief Executive Officer, World Wide Web Foundation, about the twelfth in the Series of Policy Papers, launched on 19 May 2011, from the Vodafone Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile (SIM) Advisory Panel. To download the report, click here. Most governments rightly see getting […]
Employee Giving & Volunteering – What Matters Most
Corporate Volunteering promises an array of benefits, but there is one single benefit that overshadows the rest – one single benefit that is the sole measurement of success for your program. Photo by David Reese For me, the question is never, “How much did you do?” The question is, “Why does what you do matter?” […]
Employee Giving & Volunteering – What Matters Most
Corporate Volunteering promises an array of benefits, but there is one single benefit that overshadows the rest – one single benefit that is the sole measurement of success for your program. Photo by David Reese For me, the question is never, “How much did you do?” The question is, “Why does what you do matter?” […]
VC4Africa launches first African Venture Capital platform – Crunch your business idea!
Today VC4Africa starts the first African online venture capital matchmaking platform. Many investors are looking for businesses to get involved with but have difficulties in finding promise. At the same time many businesses seek knowledge, capital and practical support. Without matchmaking their promise is never realized, hindering economic growth. The VC4Africa community currently consists of […]
Enough Responsibility To Go Around: Lessons in Corporate Responsibilities From Corporate Crises
Corporate crises are not new. What is relatively new is the increased public awareness and interest in such crises as a result of globalisation, the availability of 24-hour news and the use of the internet and social media to disseminate news. This means that reactions to and scrutiny of events, such as the 2010 global […]
The Role Of Innovation And Technological Diffusion In Increasing Economic Growth
The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is planning to undertake a research programme on the role of innovation and technological diffusion in increasing economic growth in low-income countries and how policy can be used to encourage it. DFID plans to commission a number of research projects as part of this programme, and a call […]
Harnessing Development 2.0: Creating opportunities with the poor
As new ways of bringing people together web and mobile technology, from SMS to social networking, continue to change development initiatives, this paper examines how technology is transforming access to new markets, money and skills, and how it offers the prospect of driving more inclusive business models.
The power of business advocacy and ICT reforms
Increasingly, business participation in shaping reforms in an open and transparent manner is impacting the development of emerging markets. The private sector can become a valuable partner for policy makers through a process of business advocacy that enables companies to come together, identify issues of common concern and propose joint solutions that will support industry […]
Business Innovation to Fight Climate Change and Poverty: Resource List
This resource list was prepared for the event “Business Innovation to Fight Climate Change and Poverty” by the Overseas Development Institute. Recent publications Briefing Paper on “Business Innovation to Fight Climate Change and Poverty”, produced by the Growing Inclusive Markets initiative of the UNDP. Climate Change and Global Poverty: A Billion Lives in the Balance?,the […]
Fighting climate change and poverty: business must be the driver of innovation
Today, Blog Action Day (www.blogactionday.org), is focused on the climate change crisis. This is a crisis that is integrally connected with the focus of this practitioner community – fighting poverty through business. As Nick Stern, who led the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, argued recently, “There are two big challenges for this […]
Volunteering and Service in America: Four National Themes
Realized Worth was unable to make it to the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco last week, and for awhile we were seriously bummed about missing out on one of the most important volunteerism conferences happening this year. But then, we realized that given the live webcasts, blogs, and twitter it […]
2009 Series: Assessing impacts of business on development: what do alternative frameworks offer?
On 12 May 2009, Business Action for Africa convened an event with the Overseas Development Institute and the UK Department for International entitled. “Assessing impacts of business on development: what do alternative frameworks offer?” The event was moderated by Simon Maxwell, Senior Research, Overseas Development Institute. The event was hosted by Anglo American. Below is […]
World's Poor To Be Helped By 'Txt Msg' Technology
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID): Mobile phones, text messages and fingerprint recognition could soon bring “branchless banking” to millions of the world’s poorest people to help lift them out of poverty, International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander said today. At an event today, Mr Alexander announced a £1.4 million UK-led three-year project […]
World’s Poor To Be Helped By ‘Txt Msg’ Technology
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID): Mobile phones, text messages and fingerprint recognition could soon bring “branchless banking” to millions of the world’s poorest people to help lift them out of poverty, International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander said today. At an event today, Mr Alexander announced a £1.4 million UK-led three-year project […]
Fighting poverty by empowering women
It is widely recognised in the development community that it is women who suffer most the burden of poverty, and that it is women who offer the best route out poverty. Grameen, perhaps the best-known advocate and pioneer, uses micro loans, financial services and technology, to help the poor, mostly women, to start self-sustaining businesses […]
Driving poor people’s access to markets through new technology
Today marks a big step in tapping the true power of business and new technology to lift people out of poverty. WorldofGood.com by eBay is a brand new marketplace that enables small-scale entrepreneurs from across the developing world to sell their products online. This is an important step into the world of “Development 2.0” – […]
Business and Poverty: Opening Markets to the Poor
FROM THE WORLD BANK INSTITUTE: How can the private sector help transform the lives of the poor? Can poor producers and consumers in turn transform business models and shape new opportunities for companies? These are two of the key questions addressed in the forthcoming issue of the World Bank’s flagship publication Development Outreach, which examines […]