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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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(With Video) Beyond the Prototype: Wello’s CEO on product design, understanding customers and advice for social entrepreneurs
Cynthia Koenig, CEO of Wello, whose flagship product is a rolling water tank, advises against getting too reliant on a series of check boxes when it comes to measuring impact. In a video interview with NB, she talks about prototyping the next generation of the device, designed for BoP customers.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Know Thy Hospital: Engineers and entrepreneurs are rethinking medical device design, and the world could be healthier as a result
Well-meaning individuals and organizations from high-income countries often donate medical equipment – mostly used – to hospitals in low-resource settings. But it often fails because it isn’t designed for the "predictable unpredictability" of these settings. Mike Miesen argues that we need innovative devices designed for the needs of the customer, not the donor.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- product design
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The Power of Investing in Women: Lessons learned from WIN-WIN
Calvert Foundation and Citi Foundation launched the Women Investing in Women Initiative, or WIN-WIN, on March 8, 2012, International Women’s Day. The initiative aimed to raise and deploy $20 million in capital to empower women and girls around the world. WIN-WIN surpassed this goal in December, and Calvert CEO Jennifer Pryce discusses four lessons learned along the way.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Dasra Philanthropy Week 2014: Urgency in gender equality
Dasra hosted its fifth annual Philanthropy Week from March 5-7. It convened more than 600 prominent philanthropists, corporations and impact investors to catalyze funding to India’s social sector. And as Nilima Achwal explains, Dasra has made a notable strategic shift to focus on adolescent girl empowerment.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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From Operating Rooms to Dust Tracks, Part 2: How Operation ASHA moved beyond rhetoric to action
After serving Delhi’s slum dwellers for more than a decade with free surgeries, Dr. Shelly Batra realized her work wasn’t sustainable. That’s when she and Sandeep Ahuja decided to start an organization focused on only one health problem in India: TB.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- public health
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