-
‘Doing Good By Doing Deals’: How Law Students Help Social Entrepreneurs Help Small Farmers
The International Transactions Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School works with social entrepreneurs who are inventing new ways to strengthen agriculture in rural Africa, improving agricultural inputs, developing sustainable practices and building supply chains. They all operate in a legal no-man’s land between existing nonprofit and for-profit regimes, which means that both the social entrepreneurs and their legal counsel need to be especially enterprising.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
-
Weekly Roundup: Pondering Vice President Bill Gates (Thanks, WikiLeaks), How Buyers Lag Sellers, and FICO Going Big – Real Big
Can you imagine Vice President Bill Gates? We can. That's only part of our Weekly Roundup, which also includes peeks at consumer purchases – or lack therof – from social enterprises; an effort to increase access to credit for over 3 billion people around the globe; and a program that had money, recognition and everything it needed to succeed – except customers.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
-
Growth Support Services: Taking Women-Run SMEs to the Next Level
The VV GROW Fellowship invests in women business owners in emerging economies, supporting them through three training stages: 1) virtual training, 2) in-person training, and 3) growth services and support. Here, four business owners talk about how, in the final stage of the fellowship, they implemented and revised their action plans and evaluated progress toward their growth goals.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
-
Weekly Roundup: A 1,030-Enterprise Survey, a Cuba/U.S. Collaboration, and a ‘Big Bet’ Primer
An expansive survey of social enterprises, a new health care collaboration between some old Cold War rivals, and an ambitious exploration of the challenges of "big bets" in philanthropy highlight this week's roundup of social business and global development news.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
-
Rethinking the ‘Youth Are Not Interested in Agriculture’ Narrative
Agriculture is the backbone of many sub-Saharan countries and, anecdotal evidence aside, it's not necessarily true that youth are not interested in it. But the sector won't reach its huge potential, and "agripreneurs" won't get the support they need, until certain government and private sector structures and processes are transformed.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
-
Beyond Imagination: GE, Miller Center Helping Keep Moms, Children Healthy
A pilot called healthymagination Mother and Child – a unique partnership between Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, based in Silicon Valley, and GE, which is investing $20 million in the joint venture – accelerates much-needed medical innovations in nine countries across sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
-
Weekly Roundup: PSI for Profit, a Slowing ‘Pulse’ in Africa and Medical Tourism on Steroids
The non-profit Population Services International (PSI) announces the launch of a for-profit business in India, sub-Saharan Africa braces for "the lowest growth in more than 20 years," and Obamacare generates some unintended – and potentially exciting – consequences. We discuss these and other issues in our weekly roundup of social business and global development news.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise
-
The Accidental Social Entrepreneur: A Hippie Ecologist’s Foray into a Costa Rican Business Start-up
Fifteen years ago, American Lisa Bradshaw became a social entrepreneur. But at the time, she didn't know it. When she launched the eco-conscious and locally sourced Green Screen in 2002, no other plant-based insect repellents were on the market in Costa Rica and certification requirements for organic products had just recently been legislated. Here are some of the hard lessons she picked up.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Social Enterprise