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How a Blended Model Can Solve Some Market Failures (Part 2): Gradian Finds a Way to Scale Anesthesia Machines According to Demand
Like a traditional business, Gradian spends money on market creation for its anesthesia machine. Unlike a traditional business, however, the company doesn’t expect to recoup that cost; it’s paid for with philanthropic funding so Gradian can offer the machine at as low a cost as possible.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
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How a Blended Model Can Solve Some Market Failures (Part 1): Foundation-owned social enterprise combines features of philanthropy, business
Medical equipment manufacturers face challenges selling in low-income countries. That led Gradian Health Systems to adopt a foundation-owned social enterprise model, allowing it to function as both a commercial entity and a nonprofit.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
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The Next Generation of Impact Investors: How millennials will shape the future of the sector
A recent ImpactAssets report explores how the millennial worldview influences the financial strategies of the next generation of investors. It draws on a variety of research as well as insight from investors. Report co-author Lindsay Norcott interviews one of those investors, Michael Sidgmore, founder of NextGenEngage and VP, Investor Network at iCapital Network.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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A Small Drop in a Large Bucket: The World Economic Forum’s Abigail Noble, on why impact investing needs to go mainstream
In 2012, less than $40 billion of capital had been committed to impact investments - out of tens of trillions in global capital. The World Economic Forum’s Mainstreaming Impact Investing initiative wants to help change that. In part 1 of our Impact Investing Insights series, we spoke with the initiative’s leader, Abigail Noble, about how to bring “$40 billion” a bit closer to “tens of trillions.”
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
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More Questions than Answers: Impact investors struggle to present their sector to the general public
What qualifies as “impact” investing – and how exactly should non-financial impacts be measured? Those may seem like pretty basic questions. Yet at the recent Sustainatopia Impact Conference, clear answers were in short supply, as a young sector works toward a consensus on the best way to present itself to mainstream investors.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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Impact Investing at a Crossroads: Sustainatopia Impact Conference highlights excitement and concerns about the future of the sector
Despite the excitement surrounding impact investing, it’s clear that the sector is nowhere near big enough to make a dent in the problems the world is facing. As the industry strives to get to the next level, participants in Sustainatopia’s 2014 Impact Conference shared their hopes and insights (and aired a few frustrations).
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
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‘Maybe It’s Time We Start Behaving Like a Business’: The struggle of one microfinance institution to balance its social impact with its bottom line
La Ceiba designed its microfinance programs and policies around the needs and capabilities of its clients - even when this conflicted with the best interest of the institution. But now, its interest income isn’t covering its loan loss, putting its survival in doubt. La Ceiba’s loan program leader offers a frank assessment of its struggle to balance social impact with business needs.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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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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