NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Training and Mentoring Give Boost to Uganda Clean Cookstoves Producers

A five-year programme rewards entrepreneurship across East Africa by supporting micro-businesses to establish energy services and create employment opportunities in rural areas. Willy Bamwenyena, 25, stands out as a young resourceful entrepreneur, who has been able to identify the energy gap in his community, in rural Uganda, and turned the need into a business opportunity. The GVEP-led Devel...

Source

GVEP International (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya Has Mobile Health App Fever

Mobile health platforms are fast emerging in Kenya, where one startup’s newly launched mobile health platform is attracting nearly 1,000 downloads daily, and the dominant telecom, Safaricom, has forged a partnership that will give its 18 million subscribers access to doctors. A World Bank official sees significant promise from such efforts, pointing to the fact that 50 percent of all Kenyan banking is already done on mobile phones-suggesting that the population is ready to go mobile...

Source

Technology Review (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

How Biochar Will Help Kenya Go Green And Save Money

Re:char is a pioneering company that sells kilns to farmers in Kenya that allow them to convert their farm waste into what’s known as biochar, which can then be used for cooking. As an enterprise, Re:char seeks to deliver a "triple bottom line," expanding the uses of sustainable alternatives for energy, providing a cost effective solution for farmers in an effort to combat poverty, and stemming deforestation in Africa by encouraging use of biochar as cooking fuel instead of cutting down t...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa’s Mobile Pricing Wars

The increasing availability and ownership of mobile phones across much of Africa has brought numerous impressive benefits to ordinary Africans. And with the costs of calls, data-usage and handsets falling rapidly in many African countries, there has been a continuous rise in the number of mobile phone users across the region - in fact, the continent-wide growth rate of 20% makes Africa the fastest growing market for mobile phon...

Source

Think Africa Press (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Ethiopia Invests in Farmers to Achieve Country’s Middle-income Ambitions

Fields of red sorghum in terraced fields that stretch into the distance are a common sight in the scenic mountains of eastern Ethiopia , giving a misleading impression of bountiful harvests despite this year’s drought in the east Africa . Farmers tie five or more tall sorghum stalks...

Source

The Guardian (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

ICT Vital in War Against Poverty

THE application of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in gathering, analysing and disseminating market information to businesses and agricultural producers has been cited as a significant strategy in poverty reduction. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dr Shaban Mwinjaka, made the remark in Dar es Salaam over the weekend while opening a stakeholders’ meeting on Management Information Systems (MIS) Strategy, operational Framework...

Source

allAfrica.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

The Sticky Challenge Facing Africa

As the food crisis in the Horn of Africa continues, so do the campaigns asking for support and donations. Some of the money raised goes on the purchase of ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs), small packets of a sticky, peanut butter-like paste, fortified with minerals and vitamins, that can reverse severe malnutrition within six weeks. Products such as Pl...

Source

The Guardian (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Microfinance Banks to Construct 500 Houses

Microfinance Banks in Lagos, under the auspices of the National Association of Microfinance Banks, Lagos State Chapter, NAMBLAG, have pledged to undertake a micro-housing project that will see them catering for the housing needs of a vast majority of the low income earners in the society. Chairman of the Association, Mr. Olufemi Babajide, in his address to members in the report for the 2010 financial year, said the association plans to build 500 houses for the active poor with flexible ...

Source

Vanguard (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa