-
Don’t Underestimate Gen Z: How Youth-Led Solutions are Shaping the Future of Social Entrepreneurship
Generation Z is often labeled as distracted, anxious, lonely or under-skilled. But as George Tsiatis at the Resolution Project and Enactus Global argues, these stereotypes are unfair, and members of Gen Z often possess a unique perspective and determination that enable them to tackle complex social challenges with unprecedented ingenuity and purpose. He shares four areas where young social entrepreneurs are driving innovation and achieving measurable impact, highlighting several youth-led enterprises that are demonstrating the next generation’s approach to leveraging business for social change.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Social Enterprise, Technology
-
Building Better Business Advisory Programs: Five Lessons from an Inclusive Marketing Bootcamp
Inclusive business models involve integrating low-income communities into the value chain as suppliers, distributors, retailers or consumers. As this approach has gained traction, advisory programs have emerged to help companies adopt and scale these practices. Beryl Oyier, Catherine Mwangi, Eyerusalem Mitiku and Rakib Hasan Rabbi at Bopinc share insights from an inclusive marketing program in Africa, highlighting five key lessons for designing more impactful inclusive business advisory programs.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
-
NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2024: Congratulations to the Three Winners
NextBillion's “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest has been a yearly tradition since 2012. The contest highlights 12 of our most-read articles from the past year and gives readers the opportunity to vote for their favorites. Here are our three Most Influential Articles of 2024, as selected by our readers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing, Technology
-
Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2024: Vote for Your Favorites by Jan. 5
As we bid farewell to an eventful year, it's time for NextBillion’s annual tradition: our “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest. Each December since 2012, we've selected 12 of our most-read articles from the past year, inviting readers to vote for the ones that influenced their thinking the most. Check out the articles in this year's contest (if you haven't already), and vote for your favorites: You can vote up to once per hour between Dec. 18 and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 5.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
-
An Emerging Priority in Climate Resilience: How Zambia’s Green Growth Strategy — And its Business Sector — Are Addressing the Risk of Climate-Induced Social Instability
Zambia — like other countries across Southern Africa — is confronting its worst drought in four decades, one of multiple climate-related crises it faces. According to Gracsious Maviza and Giulia Caroli at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and Ibukun Taiwo at CGIAR, these issues are putting a growing strain on the nation’s social fabric. They explore how Zambia's National Green Growth Strategy is addressing these challenges, highlighting four "Climate Security Pathways" in the strategy that can improve social stability — and generate immense opportunities for the private sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, WASH
-
Zombie Stats are Running Rampant in the Agrifood Sector: Why They’re Dangerous, and How We Can Stop Them
“Up to 70% of the labor involved in coffee farming is supplied by women.” You may have seen this widely used statistic in articles and reports — perhaps you've even cited it yourself. But this number is based on old and extremely flimsy evidence, and as Cait Nordehn at TechnoServe argues, it highlights a troubling issue in the agrifood and broader global development sectors: the ongoing use of “zombie stats” — outdated, inaccurate or incomplete statistics that simply will not die. She explores why this problem has persisted, and how it can be addressed.
- Categories
- Agriculture
-
Mind Over Matter: Why Developing a Growth Mindset is Key to Unlocking Women Farmers’ Success in Africa
Agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa has typically centered on training farmers, providing them with inputs like seeds and fertilizers, and introducing technologies to improve their farming practices. Yet as Michelle Kurian at The Harvest Fund explains, these efforts have failed to spark a “green revolution” across the region. She explores the key role that a growth mindset can play in farmers' success, and argues that fostering this mindset shift — particularly among women — is a crucial priority that demands immediate attention.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
-
Under-Leveraged Best Practices for Scaling Productive Use of Energy Appliances: Part 2 — Financing Options
Productive Use of Energy (PUE) appliances are the subject of growing attention in the development sector, but manufacturers and distributors are facing a number of challenges and misconceptions that are limiting uptake of these devices. In the second article of a two-part series exploring best practices for selling PUE appliances, Thomas Charoy and Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath at Hystra discuss the affordability challenge, sharing solutions for handling the high level of working capital and financial skills required to offer financing options to end-users.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Technology
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.