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Flipping the Script on Investor Feedback: A New Survey Gives Entrepreneurs a Platform to Assess — And Influence — Their Impact Investors’ Practices
There have been a number of critiques of impact investing in recent months, targeting several common investor practices. Yet as Yaquta Fatehi at the William Davidson Institute (WDI) points out, these appraisals rarely come from entrepreneurs, who often receive feedback from investors, but typically lack the ability to respond in kind. She shares a new research initiative by Acumen and WDI called "Founders in Focus: The State of Impact Capital" that aims to change this dynamic: Instead of focusing on what entrepreneurs need to do differently to attract investment, it invites founders to capture their experiences with investors — both the good and the bad — in a structured manner that can spark actual change in the investing ecosystem. The survey is open to founders and C-suite executives across Africa, Asia and Latin America who have raised capital in 2024-2025: Respond by June 26 to add your views.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Analysis: Why the World’s Most Ambitious Coal Phase‑Out Deal Has Failed – And What It Means for Climate Finance
The failure to decommission Cirebon-1 matters beyond Indonesia. It suggests the world’s flagship model for financing the end of fossil fuels isn’t working. And the longer it takes to admit that, the harder the transition becomes – for Indonesia, and for everyone.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- South Asia
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Nigerian AI Startup Talksign Launches Real-Time Sign Language Translation Models
Talksign said it plans to expand the models’ capabilities in upcoming versions, including support for additional sign languages such as British Sign Language, Deutsche Gebärdensprache, and Nigerian Sign Language.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Report: The Human Cost of Recycling Tech Devices
Using more than 20 years of data, Finn and Gounaridis are working to make sense of what they call the “informal paradox”; a complex trade-off between relative economic opportunity and exposure to chronic health and environmental harm.
- Source
- University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) (link opens in a new window)
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Selling the Outcome, Not Just the Appliance: What the Clean Cooling Sector Can Learn from Clean Cooking
The demand for cooling solutions will more than triple by 2050 — and based on current technologies and strategies, this increase will almost double cooling-related greenhouse gas emissions, worsening the very crisis that's driving this growth. Colm Fay, Ekta Jhaveri and Rajat Chabba at the William Davidson Institute (WDI) explore how sustainable cooling solutions could meet this rising demand, while cutting emissions by nearly two-thirds. To achieve that ambitious goal, they argue that the clean cooling sector should leverage the experience of the off-grid solar and clean cooking industries. They share insights from a new WDI report that highlights what clean cooling can learn from both the successes — and the flawed assumptions — of these sectors.
- Categories
- Energy
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Press Release: Direct Carbon Pricing Covers Nearly One Third of Global Emissions
Just over 29% of global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide are now covered by direct carbon pricing. This would increase to around one-third if instruments currently under development are implemented in several more major emerging economies.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Global
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Moving Forward in a Post-USAID World: Why Women Must Be at the Center of Financial Inclusion
The demise of USAID has profound implications for the movement toward gender equality in financial inclusion and other development priorities. According to Julia Arnold and Sara Seavey, consultants specializing in women’s financial inclusion, the agency played a central role in funding, researching and coordinating global gender equality work — and without that anchor, these efforts are at risk of fragmentation and regression. They argue that this moment places responsibility on the sector itself to preserve the values, evidence and accountability structures that made progress toward gender-inclusive finance possible.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: As AI Reshapes Development Research, Investing in Data Must Be a Key Priority
"One day, AI may become Newton. But it can never pull data from thin air. The question is not whether AI will shape development research—it will and already is. The question is whether we invest now in the foundations that give it something to work with."
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Global
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