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Cashless Education: How mobile money helps Bridge International Academies deliver quality for-profit education for $6 a month – Part 5 in our Digital Finance Plus series
Bridge International Academies has integrated mobile money fully into its business. All of the school’s 300+ branches accept no cash, using mobile money for school fees, student lunch purchases, payments to staff and vendors, and expense reimbursements. In part 5 of our Digital Finance Plus series, Marie Leznicki explains how going cashless helps Bridge maintain its customer focus.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Niches for Social Enterprises: How hybrid-model social enterprises cluster in Kenya and Vietnam
A review by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), of social enterprise activity in the agriculture and health sectors of Kenya and Vietnam found that hybrid-model social enterprises cluster in niches that mainstream business and state provision do not reach. Identifying and understanding these context-specific niches could hold the key to effective support of social enterprise activities.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- research
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Leveraging Loyalty: How m.Paani is mobilizing BoP consumer behavior for social good – Part 4 of our Digital Finance Plus series
Whether they’re frequent flyer miles or credit card rewards points, loyalty programs are a mutually beneficial way for companies to build relationships with customers. m.Paani is using digital finance tools to take that model in a new direction, by connecting BoP households’ commercial and social behaviors to points that can be redeemed for socially beneficial rewards.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Technology
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Sankalp Social Enterprise Award Finalists and the Stories They Tell : Videos exemplify the spirt of social entrepreurs
It’s a long road to the coveted Sankalp Social Enterprise Awards trophy. India’s leading social enterprise awards run through a process that lasts close to six months, and sees a hard-fought battle.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Can Digital Currencies Change the World?: Bitcoin is a tech-savvy alternative to traditional payment systems, but could it meet the needs of the financially excluded?
Riding on the Bitcoin hype, a legion of techno-optimists believes that digital crypto-currencies have the potential to transform ineffective global payment systems, and ultimately spur global financial inclusion. But will digital currencies such as Bitcoin truly change the global payment infrastructure and bring financial access to millions?
- Categories
- Technology
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Ladies First: Investing in women-owned SMEs
It pays to invest in women, in more ways than one. Increasing women’s incomes improves countries’ human development indicators and raises their per capita income. Research also indicates that women-owned SMEs have higher repayment rates. Tara Sabre Collier explores ways to better synergize impact investing and women’s economic empowerment.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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A Call to Action for Greater Co-Creation Between Social and Business: Collaborative competition aims to forge relationships between pioneers in this space
We live in a world of harsh social and environmental challenges. No player - whether government, social entrepreneur, non-profit or business - can address them alone. That’s why Ashoka and partners have launched an online collaborative competition called Social & Business Co-Creation: collaboration for impact. They are accepting entries until April 10.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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Best Practices in Mobile Finance: Four fundamental service features that can have a positive impact on people’s lives
There is a growing amount of evidence on how best to provide financial services to the poor. The Gates Foundation’s Jake Kendall and Rodger Voorhies highlight some emerging trends from the research that they think constitute “best practices” for the field.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
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