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A Growing Lifeline: Mobile Technologies in Agricultural Development
For farmers, mobile devices can deliver services that help them improve their production, such as weather information and technical advice. For buyers, data delivered via mobile can increase their insight into volumes harvested and processed by farmers and their organizations during the cycle.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology, Telecommunications
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The PeaceTXT Proposition: Stopping violence with an SMS
PeaceTXT: a global mash-up of social innovators, software designers and information technologists (to name a few) collaborating on mobile technology’s potential to prevent violence. The collaboration, spearheaded by PopTech, is aiming to create the first broadly available tested methodologies and technical platforms for using mobile phones to disrupt violence and engender more peaceful communities.
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- Impact Assessment, Technology, Telecommunications
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Runa Tea’s Low-Calorie, High-Impact Model: With revenues reaching $1M Runa is generating income for 2,000 farming families.
A great-tasting, caffeine-containing, calorie-conscious tea WITH a sustainable environmental impact? I didn’t think such a product could exist until I looked into Runa Tea, one of the latest brands in the business with social impact space. Currently, Runa has revenues hovering around $1,000,000 annually and in turn is generating over $100,000 of direct income per year for 2,000 farming families. Founder Tyler Gage shares the inspiration behind the company.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Good Cloud, Bad Cloud: Multinational ICT vendors are pushing services in Africa, why the solutions are in Africans’ hands
While global multinational companies are pushing private cloud computing services, the only viable solution for most enterprises in Africa, then, is the public cloud. The hope for Africa lies in the rapidly decreasing cost of broadband Internet and smaller, homegrown cloud service providers (CSPs) that are willing to invest in cloud data centers in Africa.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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A Missing Opportunity for Investment: Bringing the Bedroom to the Boardroom
During SOCAP 2012, impact investing funds and social impact bonds were among mechanisms for bringing access to family planning to scale. But the first step is simply naming family planning as an impact investing priority. This requires moving the issue from the margins to the center of social causes.
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- Health Care
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Aligning Strategy to Maximize Impact: Reflections from Columbia’s Social Enterprise Conference 2012
At this year’s Columbia Business School Social Enterprise Conference, Aligning Strategy to Maximize Impact, the themes of technology and business model innovation, partnerships and capital mobilization featured prominently. Almost in direct contrast to last year’s back-to-basics themes of connection, and the network, this year’s conference was decidedly forward looking, covering a smattering of emerging strategies and sectors experiencing rapid redefinition.
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- Social Enterprise
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THE BIG IDEA: Global Spread of Affordable Housing – Now Available in Spanish: Our e-book with Ashoka is available to download and focuses on solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean
The release of "THE BIG IDEA: Global Spread of Affordable Housing" as an e-book earlier this year, was among the most-read projects for NextBillion and our partner, Ashoka. After receiving many requests for a Spanish version, we are proud to bring it to readers.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- housing
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The $450 Billion Opportunity: Catalyzing Smallholder Agricultural Finance
As population growth and rising incomes create unprecedented demand for food, multinational companies increasingly rely on smallholders to secure their supply of agricultural commodities. As a result, smallholders present a compelling opportunity for buyers, lenders, and other actors in the agricultural value chain. However, smallholder production is often characterized by low yields, low quality, poor linkages, and little access to finance. A Dalberg report released Wednesday called “Catalyzing Smallholder Agricultural Finance” suggests that with increased financing, farmers can improve their yields and products and in some cases double their income.
- Categories
- Agriculture