NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

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• Guest Articles

  Wednesday
  January 25
  2023

  Efosa Ojomo

  How Foreign Aid Can Innovate Itself Out of Existence: Exploring the Potential of Market-Creating Innovation for Sustainable Development

  The foreign aid sector has long been criticized for its inability to generate consistent economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. According to Efosa Ojomo at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a new approach to aid is needed: one that recognizes the power of business innovation to create new markets that advance local prosperity. He discusses a new pan-African initiative based on that approach, which aims to mobilize aid, business and African institutions to build new markets that generate self-sustaining economic growth.

  Categories

  Entrepreneurship, Health Care, Investing

  Tags

  development finance, employment, global development, innovation, poverty alleviation

• Guest Articles

  Monday
  January 23
  2023

  Sachi Shenoy / Steve Schwartz

  Lessons in Resilience: What an Impact Investor Learned from an Entrepreneur Who Refused to Give Up

  Entrepreneurship is a long game, and winning often comes down to grit. One case in point: Arindam Dasgupta, the co-founder and CEO of Tamul Plates, who has built a thriving business in India despite the historic challenges of recent years. Sachi Shenoy at Calidris and Steve Schwartz at the World Economic Forum were early investors in Tamul Plates through Upaya Social Ventures, the impact investing firm they co-founded. They discuss what Dasgupta has taught them about the qualities and practices investors should look for when seeking resilient entrepreneurs.

  Categories

  Entrepreneurship, Investing

  Tags

  COVID-19, employment, impact investing, social enterprise

• Guest Articles

  Thursday
  January 19
  2023

  Daryl Collins / Maria Pia Torres

  We Asked Small Business Owners How Digitalization is Impacting Their Businesses: Here’s How They Responded

  Digitalization has become the go-to strategy for improving the performance of Latin America’s micro and small enterprises (MSEs). But according to Daryl Collins and Maria Pia Torres at Decodis, we know little about how MSE owners themselves experience these changes. They share insights from Decodis' surveys of 114 mostly women-led MSEs in Colombia, Mexico and Peru, which highlight how digital solutions have become embedded in these businesses – and where business owners see the most value in digitalization.

  Categories

  Entrepreneurship, Finance, Technology

  Tags

  business development, digital inclusion, digital payments, financial inclusion, marketing and advertising, MSMEs

• Guest Articles

  Tuesday
  January 17
  2023

  Bjoern Struewer / Jed Emerson

  Just Useful… Or Truly Catalytic? How Entrepreneurs Really View Catalytic Capital — And What Impact Investors Can Do About It

  Much of the attention in the impact finance sector tends to go to the stewards of capital — investors, foundations and other funders — most of whom firmly believe that catalytic capital is the type of finance that entrepreneurs value most. But as Bjoern Struewer at Roots of Impact and Jed Emerson at Tiedemann point out, it's unclear if investors' assumptions about the value of catalytic capital align with entrepreneurs’ actual opinions about it. They discuss new research that explores what entrepreneurs really value in this type of financing — and how these structures might be improved.

  Categories

  Entrepreneurship, Investing

  Tags

  blended finance, business development, development finance, impact investing, innovation, research, social enterprise