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Avon, Amway … Africa?: Can the direct sales agent model work for health goods at the BoP? Part 1
It’s not easy marketing health products to the BoP. Challenges range from remote distribution to customers’ limited awareness of the products’ benefits or correct usage. That’s why some companies are recruiting local sales teams to sell health products directly to their communities. But how can the Avon/Amway model work for low-margin goods at the BoP? The SHOPS Project analyzed five business models in Africa over 16 months. In Part 1 of this Q&A, lead researcher Michael Kubzansky describes its findings.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- public health, research
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Impact Investment and Beyond: Mapping support for social enterprises
There is a lot of excitement about social enterprise, and a lot of interest in understanding, financing and supporting these enterprises. But there has been no comprehensive data on the actual amount of capital investment and non-financial support given to social enterprises and the development of their market infrastructure. ODI undertook a study to establish existing data gaps and to see if it was both feasible and useful to compile this data. Emily Darko of ODI describes their findings.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing, research
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NexThought Monday – Want to Help Africa’s SMEs? Improve Their Internet Access: A new report from Dalberg highlights the Web’s huge social and economic potential
As part of Dalberg’s Impact of the Internet in Sub-Saharan Africa Study, a recent survey by Dalberg Research shows just how important the Internet is to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. African policymakers–already concerned with SMEs as an engine for growth and job creation–may do well to prioritize Internet access and use among SMEs.
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- Education, Technology, Telecommunications
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Accelerating What Works to Fix What Doesn’t: How the IPIHD’s free programs can help health care innovators
People are fundamentally wired to focus on what is broken. But when addressing ineffective health care systems, it often makes sense to ask what IS working and how it can be replicated. In that spirit, the International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery is seeking health care innovators to join its network and make use of its free programs.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- public health, research
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Tapping New Ideas in Social Entrepreneurship: Yes, they exist
Social enterprise as a discipline and practice is so new that many aspiring entrepreneurs don’t know where to begin. They can now find their way thanks to a new guide stocked with advice from the field. “Breaking the Binary: Policy Guide to Scaling Social Innovation,” recently published by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, is a how-to on innovation geared toward social entrepreneurs and policymakers looking to improve their organizations.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- research
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Re-evaluating Impact Evaluation: Why solely focusing on financials is flawed and other key points from a recent workshop
Organizations struggle to develop robust impact evaluations. If poorly designed and executed, an evaluation can result in misleading conclusions and waste precious resources. A recent workshop hosted by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs focused on outcomes data collection and analysis. Anyone concerned with social impact measurement, will want to check out these key points.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Making the Grade – the NextBillion Case Writing Competition Winners: Catch the replay of our Google+ Hangout to learn the stories behind the social enterprise cases
Earlier this month we unveiled three winners and two honorable mentions in NextBillion’s Case Writing Competition, which was sponsored by the Citi Foundation. Now you can meet the professors and students who wrote these top-tier cases chronicling how companies both large and small dealt with a variety of challenges in serving low-income customers.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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