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‘Vanity is Not Monopolized By the Rich’: VisionSpring’s innovative way to sell eyeglasses proving to be sustainable; a Q&A with COO Peter Eliassen
Through a hub-and-spoke business model, middle-income customers are subsidizing company’s work with BoP consumers. And it’s proving to be sustainable.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- supply chains
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‘Mobile Midwife’ Empowers Ghanaian Women: Phone apps provide key information during different stages of pregnancy
Almost everyone in Ghana has a mobile phone subscription. That led a to a collaborative initiative to use cell phones to increase the quantity and quality of prenatal and neonatal care in rural Ghana and improve health outcomes for mothers and their newborns.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology, Telecommunications
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The LivelyHoods Hustle: Why sales and marketing skills are a natural fit for Nairobi slum youth
The creativity and intelligence of more than 75 percent of the Kenya’s youth goes underutilized in the current job market. Often, they are not only a wasted resource, but contribute to insecurity and unrest when left with few alternatives to survive. We founded LivelyHoods to address this problem by offering sales and marketing training to young people in Nairobi slums.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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‘I Don’t Wish I Had AIDS’: If only diabetics worldwide could feel the same way
In a 2012 study, diabetic patients were consistently heard "wishing they had AIDS." That’s because, in many parts of the world, diabetes is a death sentence. However, with greater access to information and affordable care, it doesn’t have to be.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- public health
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Knowing the Customer (Whether You’re a Social Startup or Ford): At the UM India Business Conference
At the UM India Business Conference Mark Fields, chief operating officer of Ford Motor Co., and Desh Deshpande is an Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, discussed the intricacies of reaching new customers in emerging markets whether it’s a multinational company or a social enterprise.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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India’s No. 1 problem is No. 2.: Tansa Clean tests ‘biodigester’ technology to improve sanitation
Some $54 billion is lost from the Indian economy from health costs, lowered productivity, and absent tourism revenues, all of which originates in diarrhea. Anaerobic biodigesters are airtight tanks that create just the right environment for bacteria to become active, breaking organic wastes down into methane-rich biogas and a nutrient-rich slurry. The founders of Tansa Clean, are launching a pilot to test the potential of their biodigester in India.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Social Enterprise in Haiti: An oxymoron or a reality?
More than two dozen development-minded thinkers and doers convened in Cambridge, Mass., for a competition-based workshop designed to find a market-based solution to cholera in Haiti. The winning idea, which includes recruiting and training “community chlorinators,” is expected to be up and running by this time next year.
- Categories
- Education, Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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NextThought Monday: Want to end poverty? Bring financial education and empowerment to the youth, says Jeroo Billimoria
Until recently, the financial industry tended to dismiss the thought of young people as necessary customers. Many still feel that youth should be protected, that they don’t need to learn about finance until later in life. On the contrary: to eradicate poverty, we have to ensure that every child is financially capable and included, says Jeroo Billimoria of Child and Youth Finance International.
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