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Courtney Nichols Gould wanted all kids -- not just those from wealthy families -- to have access to preventive health. Her solution was a delicious gummy vitamin without a lot of junk in it. For a taste-driven product, a crowdfunding platform that delivered samples of the product to potential investors was really impor... |
Sara Andrews was the earliest-stage company that I spoke with. Andrews wants to help farmers in the developing world earn a consistent and livable wage. Her solution is to develop products that use wild harvested ingredients (indigenous fruits and herbs that grow naturally) in Africa. These ingredients are also highly ... |
Using crowdfunding, Andrews was able to raise money to test a large production run and start selling into stores. |
... women know what the market is missing. |
These women are proving that you don’t need to be a white guy in a hoodie to create innovative companies. They’re also showing a new way to raise money that overcomes some of the obstacles women face when raising money. Read more about women raising money through crowdfunding in Stand Out In the Crowd: How Women (and M... |
Mortgage rates barely budged this week as the impact of the recent hurricanes began weighing on the economy. |
According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average bumped up to 3.85 percent with an average 0.5 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount.) It was 3.83 percent a week ago and 3.42 percent a year ago. |
The 15-year fixed-rate average rose to 3.15 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 3.13 percent a week ago and 2.72 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average fell to 3.18 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 3.20 percent a week ago and 2.80 percent a year ago. |
“The impact of [the] hurricanes will make it difficult to read a trend on economic data, keeping mortgage rates in a holding pattern,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. |
In addition to their effect on the overall economy, hurricanes in Texas and Florida disrupted the local real estate markets. The rush to rebuild is drawing on an already tight construction labor force, causing a drag on building in other parts of the country. |
Mortgage rates are expected to move higher as the Federal Reserve begins winding down its balance sheet and likely hiking its benchmark rate later this year. But for now, their movement has stalled. Unless a dramatic event knocks them off their course, it appears home loan rates will continue to steadily rise, albeit s... |
Bankrate.com, which puts out a weekly mortgage rate trend index, found that nearly two-thirds of the experts it surveyed predict rates will remain relatively stable in the coming week. Michael Becker, branch manager at Sierra Pacific Mortgage, is one who expects rates may slip in the coming week. |
Meanwhile, mortgage applications were flat again last week, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The market composite index — a measure of total loan application volume — decreased 0.4 percent. The refinance index fell 2 percent, while the purchase index increased 1 percent. |
The refinance share of mortgage activity accounted for 50.1 percent of all applications. |
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In an effort to increase the understanding of entrepreneurship and business education in the Arab world, The Coca-Cola Co. and the U.S. State Department are sponsoring 100 college students from across the Middle East and North Africa to study in a unique program at Indiana University's Kelley Schoo... |
Students will come in mid-June to IU Bloomington from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Morocco and Tunisia to learn about developing business plans, social entrepreneurship, nonprofit management and other topics. |
After nearly four weeks at IU, they will compete in a team business plan competition, developing ideas for enterprises they can pursue upon their return home. After leaving Bloomington, they also will visit Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Ga. |
The curriculum for the Global Business Institute-Middle East North Africa has been tailored to meet the needs of the 61 men and 39 women in the program. All are currently enrolled college students in fields such as computer science, engineering, medicine and business and are between the ages of 18 and 24. All of them h... |
"Indiana University's Kelley School of Business is pleased to collaborate with The Coca-Cola Company and the State Department to bring these students from the Middle East and North Africa to Bloomington during the summer of 2012," said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School. "As the premier entrepreneurship education ins... |
"Small and medium-sized businesses are the motor for local economies around the world, and these future enterprises in North Africa and the Middle East will be built by the young university students who are inspired to become their own CEOs," Smith added. |
The GBI-MENA program is another effort by the Kelley School's Institute for International Business, which has been involved in social entrepreneurship projects in Malaysia, Barbados, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and supports the internationalization of a plethora of academic programs. |
"The Coca-Cola Company understands that for its business to be successful over the long term, the communities in which it operates need to be sustainable -- sustainable economically, sustainable environmentally and with strong community support systems," said Curt Ferguson, president of Coca-Cola Middle East and North ... |
"The Coca-Cola Company seeks to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, so that they can create the local companies and NGOs which will make tomorrow better in their own communities," Ferguson added. |
"The State Department is pleased to join hands with The Coca-Cola Company and Indiana University to develop a unique program to provide entrepreneurship education to college students from across the region during the summer of 2012," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman. "By investing in entrepreneurs... |
Another collaborator in the program is Partners for a New Beginning, an alliance of public-private partnerships that is committed to deepening engagement between the United States and local communities in the Arab world on issues of education, exchange, economic opportunity and science. Former Secretary of State Madele... |
While most faculty teaching in the program are from the Kelley School, it also will include those from IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Maurer School of Law. |
They will include Jeffery McMullen, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship who designed one of the first courses on social entrepreneurship in the country; Donald F. Kuratko, executive director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Feisal Istrabadi, university scholar in international law and d... |
In addition to the classroom education, students will work most evenings with faculty coaches, who will help them develop the feasibility studies for their business ideas. They also will visit several major Indiana-based companies and business incubators, as well as cultural and recreational sites that provide them wit... |
"There is great potential in this program for building some significant, long-term relationships," said LaVonn Schlegel, the Institute for International Business' managing director. "These students are going back into their home countries with new ideas and new energies. Our plans are to find ways to keep these relatio... |
"My hope is that beginning with this first cohort, and all that follow, we will be creating long-lasting ties, and thus understanding, between these students and the people they come into contact with through GBI-MENA." |
Partners in the program expect that it will become an ongoing initiative each summer. |
South African Airways (SAA) said it has enhanced connectivity for its customers travelling to, from and beyond the West Africa region. |
This, followed the successful completion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Africa World Airlines (AWA), the airline’s Ghanaian partners. |
The CEOs of SAA and AWA, Mr Vuyani Jarana and Mr John Quan, respectively signed the MOU at the Ghana Ministry of Aviation in Accra, Ghana. |
The Ghana Minister of Aviation, Hon. Joseph Kofi Adda officiated at the event. |
The MOU allows the two airlines to enhance their relationship through synergies that include code sharing, franchising and any other related projects. |
“As part of our turnaround strategy, we are constantly looking at ways of improving our customers’ travel experiences. This agreement gives our customers seamless connections from Johannesburg into more destinations in Ghana and other West African destinations. |
“The agreement augments SAA’s popular and successful Ghana operations and offers customers a host of additional travel options in Ghana as well as further afield in the African West Coast region. |
“As the leading carrier on the continent, our aim is to improve air travel connections on the continent through partnerships and this agreement with AWA goes a long way towards improving intra-African travel,” says SAA CEO, Vuyani Jarana. |
“This agreement with South African Airways will help consolidate Africa World Airlines’ position as one of the leading airlines in West Africa. We are excited by the potential that this African partnership can deliver, and are confident that it will be a win-win relationship for both sides,” says John Quan, AWA CEO. |
SAA and Africa World Airlines formed a relationship in 2015, which resulted in the commencement of the Accra to Washington Dulles flights. SAA operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Accra, with four of the flights continuing onwards to Washington; and the other three flights continue onwards to Abidjan, Cote D... |
SAA said its relationship with AWA has since grown from the original commercial co-operation into the new interline commercial agreement, which became possible when SAA finalised technology integration with AWA in November. |
The interline agreement allows the acceptance of each other’s customers and access to each other’s network. |
SAA customers would fly from Accra on SAA operated flights and then connect to further destinations on flights operated by AWA. |
Over the coming months the interline agreement will evolve into a code share agreement. |
SAA customers would then travel on one ticket from Johannesburg to Accra, or from Washington to Accra, and onwards to a number of destinations such as Kumasi in central Ghana, Tamale in the north, and Takoradi in the west. SAA customers will also be able to connect from Accra to Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria, Freetown in ... |
In turn, customers of Africa World Airlines travelling from Ghana, Lagos, Abuja, Freetown, and Monrovia, are able to travel on one ticket from any AWA point of origin and connect onto SAA international flights to either Washington D.C. or Johannesburg, or further on the SAA network. |
With effect from April, SAA would increase the frequency from Accra to Washington to five flights per week. SAA offers the only nonstop flight between Ghana and Washington D.C. and convenient connections to / from over 100 cities across the U.S. and Canada through its Star Alliance partner, United Airlines via Washingt... |
A pet hamster called Fudge, which hitched a lift from Devon to Scotland hidden inside a golf bag, has been given a new home north of the Border. |
Fudge escaped from a box in a hire car on the last day of Kingsley Moyle's golfing holiday. |
The elusive hamster was found hidden in the car by the next person who hired it - but Mr Moyle had returned to Devon. |
The woman who found Fudge has now given him a home - with the blessing of its previous owner. |
Mr Moyle, from Kingsteignton, said: "Amazingly he has been found, a lady in Scotland used the same hire car after us and suddenly he appeared. |
"At the end of the day he is in Scotland and by now he's probably acclimatised to life up there. |
"I've been told that this lady is happy to keep him and that's fine - hopefully it won't turn into a tug of love. |
"We are just pleased it's a happy ending that he was found alive because we thought the worst." |
Fudge's amazing story began at the start of September when he first went missing and after looking all over his house Mr Moyle had given up. |
The 42-year-old flew to Scotland from Exeter with three friends for a three-day golfing holiday and half way down the fairway on the first course Fudge suddenly appeared at the top of his golf bag. |
Delighted that he had found the adventurous pet, Mr Moyle kept a close eye on him. |
The hamster visited Edinburgh's oldest course, Auchterarder, the luxury golf resort at Gleneagles and finally the championship course at Turnberry. |
At the first two courses he went around the greens with the golfers, but at Turnberry Mr Moyle decided he would be safer in a cardboard box, with food and water. |
However, a second great escape was performed and when Mr Moyle returned to the car he had hired, he found Fudge had chewed through his box and disappeared again. |
Assuming he had somehow got out and with their flight leaving that day, the car was handed back and he flew home. |
But on Monday he found out the next person to hire the car had found Fudge and was so taken with her surprise passenger she agreed to take him in. |
He said: "It's amazing really, if you wrote it as a film script no-one would believe it." |
Yahoo announced that it has some new features for fantasy football this year. This is the company’s fifteenth year of offering fantasy football, and they’re offering fans the ability to make money by competing in the Yahoo Pro Leagues, which Yahoo says have the highest percentage payouts and most cash prizes available.... |
Yahoo’s Keeper Leagues also now have more customization options available. Players can now import traded draft picks from last season, set a keeper deadline, allow managers to declare keepers and approve and assign keepers to their drafts. |
Yahoo says it’s the only platform that offers fans the four-screen experience (PC, phone, TV, tablet). Technically, it’s even more than four screens, as the universal iOS app works for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. |
Yahoo’s Fantasy Football ’12 apps also now include trading and waiver options that let players manage their teams from any of these devices. |
Yahoo is also attracting the advertisers with its fantasy football offerings. The company says it is seeing the most advertisers sign up for it this year. Advertisers include Citi, Miller Lite, Snickers, Toyota and Visa. |
Almost seven months to the day Hurricane Maria sent Puerto Rico into a state of emergency as scores of people were found dead across the island and food and water were in desperately short supply, a power outage on Wednesday — estimated to be one of the largest in U.S. history — left few energy options to more than 3 m... |
Since the destruction Hurricane Maria wrought on Sept. 20 — the U.S. government estimated the death toll at 64, while New York Times placed the number above 1,000 — Bay Area organizations, tech investors and even restaurants have taken part in relief efforts. For its part, Tesla has sent more than 1,000 batteries to co... |
The island went dark Wednesday morning, the first sweeping blackout to hit the region since the hurricane, which destroyed about 75 percent of power distribution lines. |
As of Thursday morning, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said it had restored electricity to more than 80 percent of customers. The electrical outage was reportedly caused by an excavator hitting a transmission line. |
Remaining customers were expected to receive power later on Thursday, the company said. |
President Donald Trump received heavy criticism last fall for the federal response to the island’s crisis, and as of noon Thursday he had not made a statement regarding the latest outage. |
Since Hurricane Maria, homes across the island have paired solar panels with Tesla’s Powerwall batteries to provide clean energy and back-up electricity for individual families that may face a disaster like the one that reignited Wednesday, the company said. |
In an effort to restore electricity to rural communities, the company said, it built a microgrid to provide electricity to 12 homes in Barrio Montones in Las Piedras. |
The microgrid reportedly relies on underground distribution lines and smart meters to support a 58 kilowatt solar system and 135 kilowatt-hours of Powerwall batteries, resulting in sustainable electricity for at-risk residents. |
Before the blackout, more than 44,000 customers were still functioning without normal electric service that was lost as a result of Hurricane Maria. Up to a million customers have been without power since Hurricane Irma touched down Sept. 6 near Puerto Rico’s northeast coast. |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the federal power restoration effort in Puerto Rico. |
A company hired by Cobra Energy called Dgrimm was involved in the incident that caused the power outage, government officials said. After the blackout Wednesday, Dgrimm’s contract was terminated, said William Rios, a power generation director. |
The entire island is set to have restored electricity by late May, officials said. |
A group of federal legislators asked the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to extend the the agency’s assignment beyond May 18 to ensure power is in fact restored to all island residents. |
Since trading Brandon Knight to the Houston Rockets, the Phoenix Suns have been aggressive on the trade market, searching for a starting caliber point guard. Before the 2018-19 NBA season officially starts, the Suns added a quality player on their roster with the acquisition of veteran shooting guard Jamal Crawford in ... |
In a Twitter post, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 revealed that the Suns tried to acquire a new point guard before reaching an agreement with Jamal Crawford. The Suns have reportedly inquired about Terry Rozier’s availability via trade, but the Boston Celtics didn’t show any interest in parting ways with their y... |
Terry Rozier would have been a great addition to the Suns, giving them a starting caliber point guard who fits the timeline of the face of the franchise, Devin Booker. When Kyrie Irving went down with a season-ending injury, Rozier has proven that he’s ready for the starting role, helping the Celtics finish as the No. ... |
Despite the return of Kyrie Irving, the Celtics still see Terry Rozier as one of the key players who could help them win an NBA championship title in the 2018-19 NBA season. Rozier will be a valuable backup point guard, and he could serve as insurance when Irving suffers another injury. However, the Suns shouldn’t give... |
As of now, Rozier is committed to helping the Celtics achieve their main goal, but when the season is over, he could starting evaluating his future in Boston. The Celtics let the Monday’s deadline pass without reaching an agreement with Rozier regarding a contract extension, enabling him to become a restricted free age... |
Surpassing its $50,000 funding goal in 11 minutes, the miniature consumer 3D printer takes the crowdfunding world by storm. |
The cute, little, Micro 3D printer appears to be a very hot commodity. |
Just 11 minutes after launching on Kickstarter on Monday, the device met its funding goal of $50,000. And, 25 hours later, The Micro surpassed $1 million in funding. At the time of this writing, one day after launch, the 3D printer has more than $1.35 million in funding from nearly 5,000 backers. |
Overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, The Micro's design team posted an update to their Kickstarter page on Tuesday thanking their hundreds of funders. |
"So much has happened since we launched the campaign yesterday. It's hard to believe that only 30 hours have gone by," the team wrote. "You've shown the world that we are ready for a new consumer product category." |
Touting it as "the first truly consumer 3D printer," the team behind The Micro, M3D, has worked to design an easy-to-use, low-cost, 7-inch tall printer. The device can print smaller items, such as a vase, custom cookie cutters, or cat toys. The Micro can auto-level and auto-calibrate and will also work with open-source... |
What does the Facebook Oculus deal mean for Kickstarter? |
On The Micro's Kickstarter page, hundreds of the project's backers posted elated comments about the upcoming device. |
"Finally an affordable 3D-printer! yay! Been wanting for that since almost two years now," wrote Daniel Otterbein. "I always wanted a 3d printer... but at those prices getting one was only a dream... you made my dream true with this $300 printer... I can't thank you enough," wrote Sherif. |
The Micro is slated to be in consumers' hands by late 2014 or early 2015. In its Tuesday update, M3D wrote that the Kickstarter campaign backers are the company's first priority and it plans to keep its product delivery schedule. |
"We also want you to know that we are committed to maintaining delivery schedules," M3D wrote. "We always planned to eventually go into high-volume production. The additional pledges help us meet our production goals." |
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