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

As we bid farewell to an eventful year, it’s time for NextBillion’s annual tradition: our “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest. Each December since 2012, we’ve selected 12 of our most-read articles from the past year, inviting readers to vote for the ones that influenced their thinking the most.

As in previous years, this year’s most-read articles feature insightful analysis from some of the top thought leaders in emerging markets business and global development. Their topics range from the impacts of innovative technologies and business models, to the under-recognized risks and downsides of some common approaches and assumptions.

As the site’s editor, I’m always interested to see if our readers’ preferences reveal any noteworthy trends in the sectors we cover. And I think it’s safe to say that’s the case with this year’s selections: One third of these articles include a strong focus on impact measurement, almost half deal with energy/climate (including two on productive use of energy), and the need for innovative funding approaches is a top area of concern across the board.

These articles are listed alphabetically and linked below. We encourage you to give them a read (if you haven’t already), and to vote for your favorites by scrolling to the bottom of this page — or the bottom of any article included in the contest. You can vote up to once per hour between today (Dec. 18) and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 5.

As we contemplate the opportunities and uncertainties of the coming year — a year that will mark the 20th anniversary of our site — NextBillion would like to express our gratitude to our writers and readers. As a platform driven by guest-written and reader-contributed content, your support is instrumental to our work. We thank you sincerely, and wish you all the best in 2025.

James Militzer is the managing editor of NextBillion.

Image adapted from a photo by Dibakar Roy.

A Hidden Reason for Business Failure in Social Enterprise: Exploring Innovative Talent Solutions in Frontier Markets

Paul Breloff is the co-founder and CEO of Shortlist; Daniel Waldron is Head of Insights and Coco Lim is a Senior Associate at Acumen.

AI in African Healthcare: The Good, the Bad and the RECKLESS

Mark Wien is Founder and CEO of PocketPatientMD.

Measuring Systems Change: Three Tools for Understanding Your System-Level Impact

Gaurav Gupta is the Global Managing Partner and Bianca Samson is the co-lead for the MEL practice area at Dalberg, and Saloni Atal is a Program Manager at Artha Global.

More Data is Not the Answer: Why We Need to Reset Our Expectations for Impact Measurement and Management

Julia Mensink is Head of Impact at Acumen.

Nine Business Models for Productive Use of Electricity in Africa: A Framework for Generating Profit and Impact in Off-Grid Energy

Olowo Aminu is an Associate Principal, Bodunde Akinola is an Associate Principal, Nneka Chime is a Partner, and Mosorire Aiyeyemi is a member of the CrossBoundary Nigeria Advisory Team.

Private Business Alone Can’t Bring Energy to the Last Mile: Why Philanthropy Should Shift its Focus to Scalable Non-Profit Models

Aneri Pradhan is COO at New Energy Nexus.

Reshaping Africa’s Food Systems: Three Opportunities to Drive Sustainable, Inclusive and Scalable Impact

Neil Wood is a Partner and Head of the Agriculture and Food Systems Practice, Oscar Garza is Principal and Co-Lead of the Agriculture and Food Systems Practice, and Hanna Dohrenbusch is a Senior Project Leader and a key member of the Agriculture and Food Systems Practice at Open Capital.

Securitization for Social Impact: Why It’s the Ideal Instrument for Scaling Social Enterprises Providing Consumer Financing in the Developing World

Ron Pfende is Chief Financial Officer at d.light. 

The Emergence of ‘Resilience Credits’: How a New Asset Class Can Unlock Investment in Climate Resilience — And Why Impact Measurement Will be Key to its Success

H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat is Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Jyotsna Puri is the Associate Vice-President – Strategy and Knowledge Department at IFAD, and Jonathan Phillips is the Director of the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke University.

The Next Frontier in Inclusive Fintech: The Value of Client-Centric Impact Measurement

Carla Grados-Villamar is a Manager at 60 Decibels and leads its Latin American growth.

The Problem with ‘Forced Entrepreneurship’: How Universities — and Venture Capitalists — are Failing Climate Tech Innovators

Emre Eren Korkmaz is a researcher at the University of Oxford and founder-director of OCTD, a research and consultancy company with a focus on data scarcity and impact measurement.

Under-Leveraged Best Practices for Scaling Productive Use of Energy Appliances: Part 1 — Sales Support and Market Access

Thomas Charoy is a consultant at Hystra; Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath is a Partner at Hystra and co-founder of the Global Distributors Collective.