From Hindustan Times PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo on Thursday said it has committed $8 million grant to Water.org to help provide clean drinking water and sanitation programmes in India. The foundation and Water.org have expanded their partnership to scale WaterCredit, a market-driven model that will provide micro loans to... 

// By Andualem Sisay, Africa Renewal Bishoftu – At the outskirts of this town, 45 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Aselefech Desalegn fights the flames she uses for baking enjera, Ethiopia’s staple flatbread. Like millions of poor Ethiopian women, she is also constantly battling to feed her children. In recent... 

// Press Release eGain solution will provide phone and email customer service Slough, UK – 27th October 2011: eGain (NASDAQ: EGAN), the leading provider of cloud and onsite customer interaction software, announced today that Funds and Electronic Transfer Solution (FETS) Nigeria Limited has chosen eGain Mail, eGain CallTrack, and eGain KnowledgeAgent... 

// From IPP Media East African Cooperation minister Samuel Sitta has challenged the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to expand its operations to other countries in the regional bloc. He threw the challenge in his opening speech at the Rabbobank Annual Global Trade and Commodity Finance (TCF) conference in Arusha. Rabobank headquartered the Netherlands... 

// By Amaka Abayomi, Vanguard In its drive towards empowering micro-finance banks (MfBs) to serve their target customers better, the Lagos State chapter of the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) has entered into a capacity building partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to boost their service... 

// By Sadab Kitatta Kaaya, The Observer Depositors of Taala ya Mawogola (light of Mawogola) Microfinance Savings and Cooperative Society Ltd in Sembabule are in the dark over what their future holds after their investment fund holders made off with more than Shs 600m of savings. Police is looking for Ibrahim Were, the society’s general manager,... 

By JO-MARÉ DUDDY, The Namibian CASH-STRAPPED Namibians last year took out more than 600 000 loans from micro-lenders, topping the N$1-billion mark for the first time. This is nearly 100 per cent more than five years ago, the 2011 annual report of the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) shows. In 2006, total loans disbursed... 

// By Iheanyi Nwachukwu, Business Day Online The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) economic report for the first half 2011 shows that total assets/liabilities of micro-finance banks (MFBs) increased to N187.2 billion, representing 9.9 percent increase over the level at end-December 2010. According to the report, loans and advances granted... 

// By Akinola Ajibade, The Nation In an attempt to drive the growth of micro finance institutions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has advocated a more sustainable environment for the operators. The Director, Development Finance Institution, CBN, Mr.Paul Nduka Eluhaiwe, said constant training of the operators is imperative for the growth of the... 

// By Leila Chirayath Janah, Founder of Samasource From Huffington Post It’s true: women and girls are hot. Double-Xers are finally making it to the top of the development agenda following the publication of Sheryl WuDunn and Nick Kristof’s book Half the Sky (now a global movement), Sheryl Sandberg’s iconic TED talk on women...