Articles by Heather Esper
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Monday
August 6
2012NexThought Monday: Franchising at the BoP – Identifying Best Practices: The book ‘Fairplay Franchising’ presents principles that apply across franchise models
Best practices for BoP franchise models are constantly evolving. New and existing franchises alike regularly look to one another for advice. Now they have another touchstone resource: Waltraud Martius and her book Fairplay Franchising. The book presents a set of principles that apply across franchise models.
- Categories
- Education
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Thursday
June 7
2012Mindful Metrics: Gaining Momentum With Social Enterprise Funders, Public and/or Private
Regardless of constituency – from donors to social enterprises to government development agencies – the momentum behind the metrics field is accelerating. Private funders are increasingly requiring investment enterprises to collect metrics – some are even specifying how the metrics are collected. Investors and donors are also soliciting new research on impact to inform what is and isn’t working in development. This research continues to push the envelope with new methods to collect metrics.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Saturday
May 5
2012Weekly Roundup: A Look at the Recent Impact Investing Conversation (Cacophony)
Impact investing’s presence in the news and online discussions seemed to grow exponentially this week and last week. Here are just a few stories that breathed optimism into the impact investing field by speaking to the associated markets crossed our desks.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Monday
March 19
2012NexThought Monday: FXB, Intervening Holistically for Economic Empowerment
Sean Mayberry, the CEO of the donor-funded FXB, says: "Ultimately, to lift families out of poverty permanently they need the long term ability to create their own revenue streams." FXB’s approach involves three-year programs to support families immediate needs first, and help them long-term achieve economic independence.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Monday
February 27
2012The Power of Exposure: The Influence of Role Models and Design on Aspirations
As a mayor of Medellín, Colombia, Sergio Fajardo wanted to provide young Colombians alternatives to crime and violence, and to change the mindset that they can’t aspire to anything better. He did it by creating aesthetically inspiring public buildings and spaces in poor neighborhoods.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- product design
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Tuesday
December 27
2011Best Ideas of 2011: All Signs Point to the Vitality of Sharing
Last year I reported on www.admittingfailure.com, a platform created by Engineers Without Borders Canada and Peace Dividend Trust for individuals to share mistakes or failures encountered in their work with the development community. Although the site hasn’t recorded a large number of failures since it went live, we need more initiatives like it.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Monday
December 5
2011Building a Business Around Combating Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals
As more businesses enter the BoP, many will need to focus on reducing counterfeiter’s grip on the market. Sproxil is trying to limit that hold on the pharmaceutical market in emerging economies by literally putting the power in the hands of the end consumer through cell phones.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Sunday
October 23
2011Weekly Roundup – 10-23-11: Using Social Media to Innovate from the Bottom Up
Large corporations like Deloitte are learning the internal value of social media. But social media also has huge potential for ventures to fulfill a core component of BoP practice. Involving staff and BoP beneficiaries’ voices throughout the design, piloting and scaling process allows ventures to harness knowledge, spur innovation and reduce costs.
- Categories
- Technology