Micro-Franchising

Micro-franchising for innovative and clean goods

A recent development in microfinance is to identify a technological innovation that, embodied in a new durable good or equipment, could improve the life of the poor directly or by the revenues achieved through the commercial sales of the services it provides.

For instance, mobile phones have been purchased by poor women in Bangladesh (using a micro-loan) and the services of phone calls sold to the entire village, boosting not only the woman revenues (and her capability of paying back the loan) but also her social centrality ("Before nobody invited me to marriage cerimonies, now I am the first to know and be invited, because they use the phone to invite all the others", as Muhammad Yunus quoted at the Asian-Pacific Microcredit Summit 2008).

The key partner is the producer of the innovation or the global service provider (e.g. the mobile phone producer or the phone company) that is crucially interested in selling in rural areas and to the poor. By signing and implementing franchising partnerships with economic giants or new entrants, MFIs become the vehicle of modernization of the areas where they operate, empower the technological level of their clients, and diversify their products.

In other cases, the microfinance institution could be selling durable goods directly, operating a commercial margin to contribute to fixed costs.

A particularly important categories of durables that should be channelled through this kind of agreements are green clean technologies, e.g. solar-powered lighting systems. In our book on "Innovative Economic Policies for Climate Change Mitigation" we put forth the proposal of leveraging microfinance for the diffusion of clean tech across the poor, so to make coherent and compatible the two goals of poverty eradication and climate change mitigation.

Forex Currency Trading

How Do I Monitor My FOREX Currency Trading?

A foreign exchange software is great in monitoring foreign exchange currency

Most of these FOREX prediction software can help you lessen losses and increase income.
You can monitor your foreign exchange trading online, from anywhere, anytime.

You have full control to monitor status, confirm scenarios, modify some rules in the trade, or close it.

It is further important to stay abreast with most recent daily FOREX market news so you are aware of what is happening at all times.

The rules can consist of instructions with regard to the position of say moving averages, oscillators, or some other technical indicator, or maybe specific price patterns, or a markets proximity to certain key price levels, Etc. Most often several of the above are combines in order to create a full set of rules.

As a simple example, if a 20 period moving average crosses over a 50 period moving average and the stochastic indicator is less than 20, then buy.

Once your list of rules are coded into a full system, you instruct your trading platform to trade the system on an automated basis.The system will from this point on, automatically place all of the buy / sell orders into the markets.

Casino

A casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are known for hosting live entertainment events, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sporting events.

While almost any game can be played for money, and any game typically played for money can also be played just for fun, some games are generally offered in a casino setting.

Table games
Electronic gaming
* Pachinko
* Slot machine
* Video poker

Other gambling

* Bingo
* Keno

Non-casino gambling games
Gambling games that take place outside of casinos include Bingo (as played in the US and UK), dead pool, lotteries, pull-tab games and scratchcards, and Mahjong.

* Card games, such as Liar's poker, Bridge, Basset, Lansquenet, Piquet, Put, Teen patti
* Carnival Games such as The Razzle or Hanky Pank
* Coin-tossing games such as Head and Tail, Two-up*
* Confidence tricks such as Three-card Monte or the Shell game
* Dice-based games, such as Backgammon, Liar's dice, Passe-dix, Hazard, Threes, Pig, or Mexico

*Although coin tossing isn't usually played in a casino, it has been known to be an official gambling game in some Australian casinos

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period.

The term gaming in this context typically refers to instances in which the activity has been specifically permitted by law. The two words are not mutually exclusive; i.e., a “gaming” company offers (legal) “gambling” activities to the public.

This distinction is not universally observed in the English-speaking world, however. For instance, in the UK, the regulator of gambling activities is called the Gambling Commission (not the Gaming Commission).

Also, the word gaming is frequently used to describe activities that do not involve wagering, especially online.

Trade Deficit

A trade deficit, indicating that imports have exceeded exports, is normally seen as an adverse indicator as money flowing out of the country to buy foreign goods may well have a devaluing affect on the currency.However, fundamental analysis will also give an indication of the expectations of the market and these will normally dictate whether or not a trade deficit is unfavorable.


For instance, it may be the case that a particular county usually operates with a trade deficit and that this fact has already been taken into consideration in fixing the price of its currency.Generally, a trade deficit will only affect currency prices where they are higher than the market would normally expect to see.Each country has got its own particular set of economic indicators (presently there are in the region of 28 major indicators in use within the United States) and these have a strong influence on financial markets.As a result, Forex traders must be aware of them and examine them carefully when they are preparing their trading strategies.

Luckily, for traders who are working on the Internet, many websites today provide a wealth of the latest information, but it is up to individual Forex traders to extract this information and apply fundamental analysis to it in order to formulate their trading decisions.