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Africa as a Hotbed for Innovation: Technology Providing New Ways to Look at Age-Old Problems
Intellecap’s latest research explores how emerging technologies can trigger a set of big shifts in Africa over the next decade, and how innovators and enterprises there can leverage these shifts to help address the continent’s mega-challenges in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, financial services, health care, education, energy and water.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Deprived or Different?: Tips for Social Entrepreneurs Working Across Cultures
Not all people value the same things. This is crucial information for social entrepreneurs working across cultures, says the author, Andrea Nelson Trice, who conducted more than 70 related interviews around the world. She offers a few tips to social entrepreneurs on how they can make sense of their customers' differing priorities and dreams, and how these might impact an enterprise’s success.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
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Four Ways Digital Finance Can Prepare for the Next Wave of Mobile Money Disruption
The mobile money and agent banking markets of the developing world are due for disruption, so digital finance providers should start preparing. A new research paper from the Helix Institute of Digital Finance offers tips on preparing for the new wave, plus some advice: Focus on data, "the common denominator and foundation for all financial technology companies."
- Categories
- Technology
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More Than Lighting: Women Entrepreneurs Turn Solar Technology Into Opportunity
The entrepreneurs at Solar Sister, a social enterprise that uses networks of local women to directly sell solar lanterns in remote areas, aren't just lighting homes, they're transforming what rural Tanzanians do at home when it’s dark. Among the benefits they bring to communities they serve are more time for education, reduced health risks, increased productivity and larger household incomes.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
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Why a Few More Women Coders Isn’t Enough to Close the Digital Gender Divide
“Girls in ICT,” “women in tech,” “women in STEM,” “girls that code." Attend any conference on business, social enterprise or technology in emerging markets and you can likely take in a panel on one of these topics. But while high-level discussions and new initiatives to encourage girls to enter the technology field are steps in the right direction, there is still a long way to go in closing the digital gender divide.
- Categories
- Technology
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Rural Knowledge Meets Tech Innovation: What Ultra-Poor Entrepreneurs Can Teach the World
What happens when Barefoot College, a global NGO which trains entrepreneurs in poverty-stricken rural areas, melds its expertise and values with tech innovators like Apple? It sparks the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneur who has much to teach the world, says Scot Bolsinger – along with new opportunities for rural communities to share and connect in ways never before possible.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Why Do Social Enterprises Fail? New Research Reveals Three Reasons (And Some Surprises)
In a recent study by the Failure Institute – the research arm of F*ckUp Nights, a global movement that aims to break the stigma around business failure – social entrepreneurs in Mexico gave three primary reasons why their businesses failed: a lack of resources and infrastructure; insufficient public policy support; and a dysfunctional board of directors. F*ckUp Nights' director discusses these and other findings.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Looking For the Next Big Thing: New Partnership Builds Fintech Ecosystems in Four Emerging Start-up Markets
A new partnership between Village Capital and MetLife Foundation seeks to build the fintech ecosystems in four emerging start-up markets: Poland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. The idea is to find, and then support, entrepreneurs working specifically in fintech who have the potential to solve real-world problems.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- financial inclusion, fintech, scale
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