In Zambia, raising cattle is a risky business. A whole range of diseases attacks the country’s herds with depressing regularity, killing hundreds, if not thousands of cows with each outbreak. The cost of disease weighs most heavily on the rural poor — a large percentage of rural households depend on cattle to a certain extent, to ensure their livelihoods. Here, as in many parts of Africa, cattle are a traditional store of value, a kind of bank account on hooves.

“Thank You!” a villager exclaims to the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT) team. He points over to his concrete house, “I built that from money I earned growing tomatoes! ALT Projet Radio taught me how to grow tomatoes!” The ALT team had never before met this man, but their encounter was a powerful reminder of the linkages between education, information, and empowerment that their radio network reinforces.

It is undeniable that immigrants are a tremendous economic force, both here, in the United States, and abroad. Their enthusiastic participation in international workforces, combined with a propensity to fulfill economic niches, creates for them a role as potential market catalysts. In the United States, and in other international settings, immigrants are predominantly an “untapped” market resource in and of themselves. Investigation into the nature of immigrant culture has sparked an interesting plan of action to integrate them further into our national business model.

The mobile phone is enabling people at the bottom of the pyramid to widen their markets.

For instance, it provides vendors timely information about crowd gatherings, a potential market. It comes in handy for the watermelon vendor during the nine months of off-season when he can find work as a repairman.

Indeed, thousands of artisans are finding that the mobile connects them to their markets and even opens new markets for them.

M. Thanaletchumy is cleaning her small stall outside a block of low-cost apartments where she lives, when two hungry customers come by.

They want idly, or steamed rice cakes, but everything is sold out. It’s late morning in Selayang, Kuala Lumpur, and the 50-year-old single mother has made RM90 from selling roti canai and other snacks.

Microfinance holds the key to unlocking the potential of the Small and Micro Enterprises sector to contribute to Kenya’s economic development and alleviate poverty, a top bank official said.

Mrs Winnie Kathurima, the Change and Corporate Affairs Director of Equity Bank, said SMEs should be well funded in order to contribute effectively to economic growth. “Microfinance is our anchor for economic growth,” said Mrs Kathurima. “It could revolutionise Kenya’s transformation to a developed country status.”

The fishermen from the Indian village of Chidambaram live a hard life. They sleep most of the day, then spend the night out on the water.

For light during those dark hours, they have long depended on wobbly kerosene lamps that were easily blown out or, worse, toppled by the wind, risking deadly fires on their boats.

The rest of the world will turn its attention to Nigeria as the biggest payment card event in Africa, the annual International Conference and Exhibition on Cards and Allied Technologies, referred to as CardExpo 2007, hosts avalanche of global and local card payment brands during the three days event.

Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria, ATM Consortium, Visa, Valucard and other world-class companies have supported the event through comprehensive sponsorships. The show commences July 9 to 11 at the prestigious Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Project teams from nine developing countries were awarded for their innovative approaches to sustainable energy last night (21 June).

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, held in London, United Kingdom, awarded ventures from Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Tanzania first prizes of US$60,000 each to further their schemes. Projects from Ghana, India, Nepal, Peru and the Philippines were awarded second place prizes of US$20,000.

A UN project in India has given thousands of people in rural areas access to reliable electricity by enabling them to take out small loans to purchase solar panels.

The project, launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2003 in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, facilitated over 18,000 loans for solar panels over three years.