Looking for a place to invest? - PSD Blog - The World Bank Group Sri Lanka conjures up different images in the minds of different people: lush green tropical canopies, steaming cups of aromatic tea, and hardworking fishermen in their dinghy boats. For me, the country also packs enormous promise for growth and development. There is not the slightest doubt that Sri Lanka will have to come clean and deal with the aftermath of its prolonged civil war. However, at a fundamental level, there is a sense of hunger in its people to rebuild their lives and their country. Sri Lanka already holds a strong position in certain agricultural and industrial exports, like tea or uncut diamonds. I recently spoke at an event organized by the country’s top business newspaper, the Daily Financial Times, in partnership with the well-regarded Colombo University MBA Alumni Association. The euphoria leading up to the event was palpable.
Time Machine ISS TRANSIT OF VENUS: High above Earth, astronaut Don Pettit is about to become the first human to witness and photograph a transit of Venus from space. His images and commentary will be streamed to Earth during the crossing. [full story] [video] VENUS PASSES MERCURY, APPROACHES THE SUN: Venus is approaching the sun in advance of the June 5th Transit of Venus. From here on Earth, the second planet has become difficult to see wrapped in bright sunlight. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, however, has no such trouble. A 24-hour movie shows that Mercury is exiting stage left as Venus plunges deeper into sunlight. Amateur astronomers who manage to locate Venus in broad daylight will find that the planet has turned into a delightfully slender crescent. The crescent could soon become a ring. Keep an eye on SpaceWeather's realtime photo gallery to see how Venus shape-shifts in the days ahead: On June 2, 2012 there were 1293 potentially hazardous asteroids.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Home Before I Die What matters most to you Interactive public art project that invites people to share their personal aspirations in public. After losing someone she loved and falling into depression, Chang created this experiment on an abandoned house in her neighborhood to create an anonymous place to help restore perspective and share intimately with her neighbors. The project gained global attention and thanks to passionate people around the world, over 1000 Before I Die walls have now been created in over 70 countries, including Kazakhstan, Iraq, Haiti, China, Ukraine, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Argentina, and South Africa. 2011, New Orleans, LA. Cordoba, Argentina. Najaf, Iraq. Brooklyn, NY. Almaty, Kazakhstan Savannah, GA. Pohang City, South-Korea. San Francisco, CA. Johannesburg, South Africa. Cordoba, Argentina.
Home :: Grameen-Jameel Grameen Foundation It is separate from organizations called "Grameen Foundation" in different countries, such as Grameen Foundation Australia.[citation needed] History[edit] The Foundation was founded in 1997 to facilitate the expansion of banks modeled after the Grameen Bank beyond the borders of Bangladesh and increase the access of poor people to microfinance by millions worldwide. Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, sits on the Board of Directors. Current chair of the board is Paul Maritz, CEO of VMWare and formerly a senior executive at Microsoft. Programs[edit] Rather than directly administering microfinance programs, Grameen Foundation provides funds and technical assistance to local and regional microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other poverty-focused organizations. Working with local and global allies, Grameen Foundation also develops and distributes mobile phone-based applications to help the poor to better manage: Trivia[edit] References[edit] Further reading[edit]
Grameen family of organizations Grameen Bank Complex at Mirpur-2, Dhaka The Grameen family of organizations has grown beyond Grameen Bank into a multi-faceted group of profitable and non-profit ventures, established by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winning founder of Grameen Bank. Most of these organizations have central offices at the Grameen Bank Complex in Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank started to diversify in the late 1980s when it started attending to unutilized or underutilized fishing ponds, as well as irrigation pumps like deep tubewells.[1] In 1989, these diversified interests started growing into separate organizations, as the fisheries project became Grameen Fisheries Foundation and the irrigation project became Grameen Krishi Foundation.[1] Grameen Bank[edit] Grameen Trust[edit] Grameen Trust (GT), a non-profit and non-government organisation established in 1989 uses microcredit as a tool for fighting poverty and follows the Grameen Bank approach for the purpose. Grameen Fund[edit]
Tanzania: First Women's Bank begins operations The Tanzania Women’s Bank (TWB) was inaugurated on July 28 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This pioneering initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, essentially aims at promoting economic activities undertaken by women. This comes as a relief for African women who, despite their enormous contribution towards economic development, paradoxically, do not always have easy access to banking services for economic reasons. Women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, now have their own bank. Although men are allowed to open an account, the establishment focuses, essentially, on female clientele who are more often than not excluded from the mainstream banking system. To enable women to access these services, the establishment has simplified otherwise onerous administrative procedures. A long-term project Women groups called for the establishment of this type of bank. Th brains behind this banking institution plan to move beyond the Tanzanian boundaries.
Microfinance and Microcredit Microfinance Gateway The Microfinance Gateway is provided as a service of CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor). Its objective is to be a one stop microfinance information hub, providing a forum for practitioners, NGOs, Donors, and others to learn about microfinance topics and to share their knowledge.The site has been redesigned again and now includes six parts: About the gateway, Microfinance voices, News and opinions, Announcements, Hot topics , and"The Library" which includes more than 2,000 reviewed documents. Clear and outstanding site, very well designed with an emphasis on interactivity and user friendliness. CGAP, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, is a multi donor effort to address poverty through the support and promotion of microfinance programs. This website is part of CGAP's effort to disseminate lessons learned on best practice in the field of microfinance. Rural Finance Learning Centre IFAD Rural Finance The Virtual Library on Microcredit microLINKS Cerise
Consorzio Etimos Etimos is an international financial consortium with Headquarters in Padua, Italy, and three regional offices in Sri Lanka, Argentina and Senegal. It collects savings in Europe and invests in developing and emerging countries financing microfinance institutions, producers cooperatives linked to Fair trade markets and social enterprises. Etimos at a glance Team of 20 qualified and committed professionals3 decentralized officesProduct range tailored to different financial needs and maturity of MFIs and POsTotal assets: Euro 34 MEquity: Euro 6 MOutstanding portfolio: Euro 23 M, directly invested in MFIs and POs Number of financed organizations: 107Operating in 44 countries with active loans in 38 countriesManager of 3 funds: Etimos Fund; Plasepri (Senegal); Fodima (Argentina)Partner of Fefisol
Development 3.0 | End Poverty I gave a lunch talk at a recent conference of civil society and technology people organized by the Tech@State people at the U.S. State Department. I thought I’d share it more widely. In the old days—that is, the 1950s and 1960s—development was about correcting market failures. Influenced by the “big push” theories of economists like Rosenstein-Rodan, post-war Keynesian economics and the apparent success of the Soviet Union, policymakers in developing countries saw the role of government as providing public goods (bridges, roads and ports), addressing externalities (protecting “infant industries”) and redistributing income to poor people (by, for instance, keeping food prices low). Donors supported these countries by financing some of the public goods—a bridge, say. The incentives of poor-country politicians and rich-country donors were aligned. Starting in the 1970s, it became clear that these government interventions were not delivering the intended results. So what can we do?
Microfinance Information Exchange Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc. (commonly known by its acronym MIX) is a non-profit organization that acts as a business information provider in the microfinance sector. Founded by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CGAP, Citi Foundation, Deutsche Bank Foundation, IFAD, and Omidyar Network, MIX is headquartered in Washington DC, and has regional offices in Peru, Morocco, and India.[1] Business Information Provider[edit] Products[edit] MIX Market[edit] MIX Market appearance as of July 2010 MIX Market is MIX’s platform for delivering microfinance information. MIX Market Statistics – As of July 20, 2010, 1,834 MFIs were reporting data to MIX. Data Collection and Analysis - After receiving self-reported data from MFIs, MIX analysts “review the data, ensuring there are no outliers and extremes. Publications[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] Jump up ^ "About". themix.org. External links[edit]
eBay’s MicroPlace Readies for Launch | P2P Lending News MicroPlace, a US-to-developing world P2P lending platform (somewhat like Kiva) is scheduled to launch some time this fall, possibly as early as September. MicroPlace will let Americans with as little as $100 make a low-interest loan to an entrepreneur in a developing nation through a microfinance institution. The big difference between MicroPlace and Kiva, which launched over two years ago and has facilitated over $10 million in loans to entrepreneurs in developing nations, is that loans will be securitized (and therefore potentially trade-able), and lenders will earn interest. MicroPlace was started by Tracey Pettengill, who is also the co-founder of the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network and was previously CEO of 4charity, a company whose product is “Web-based software that automates the corporate philanthropy process”. We’ll be anxious to see how MicroPlace looks when it finally comes out, and how they differentiate themselves from frontrunner and media darling Kiva.
Microfinance Hub