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Weekly Roundup – 11-13-11: Technology’s Equalizing Impact
The need for inclusive health programs has been an active part of the development conversation for years. Daniella Ballou-Aares, the founder of the Global Health Practice group at the strategic consulting firm Dalberg points out, the means to do so on a large-scale has been elusive. However, technology has become the great equalizer.
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- Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
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CSR Fail: Why It’s Time for a BoP Tech Revolution
It’s up to all of us to change the tide and think about the intersection of technology inclusion and education more critically. It’s time for corporations to stop giving away their scrap computers to the developing world and calling it CSR. It’s time for NGOs to be more judicious about the hand-outs they accept and the indirect costs endured.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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Housing Series: The Power of Collecting Accurate Data
Many companies applying market surveys for middle/upper income consumers to the BoP market have failed. We employed slum residents and community workers to get honest answers, and to use cell phones and tablets to gather and send data for analysis. The result: specific guidance for architects and developers on target markets and ideal customers.
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- Technology
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NextThought Monday: Wisdom From on High
Our PopTech Social Innovation Fellows Boot Camp takes place on top a mountain, and the symbolism is not lost on any of us. It’s an intense five days of shared ascent for fellows and faculty alike. The goal of this conversation is to give the new entrepreneurs the benefit of what these fellows already learned about managing and launching a startup.
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- Technology
- Tags
- innovation
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Watch: With Smartphones, Software, Building Better Agricultural Value Chains
Funded by the Gates Foundation, African Cashew Initiative is a $48 million project that aims to raise the incomes of 150,000 smallholder farmers. From Ghana, business software giant SAP is researching how ICT software coupled with smartphones is improving efficiency and trust in the cashew value chain, from farmers to buyers/traders. (With video)
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- Agriculture, Technology, Telecommunications
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Technology Plus Humanity – An Equation for Social Collaboration
At the 2011 Columbia Social Enterprise Conference panel last week, 3 social enterprise managers pondered technology’s role in the social sector today and how it advances philanthropy. A theme throughout the panel was the importance of incorporating the human experience into the technology, a potential key to unlocking a surge in donor activity.
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- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Reaching the Next Billion Through Mobile
As a preview to this week?s Columbia Social Enterprise Conference, I had the pleasure of speaking with mobile technology innovator Nathan Eagle, co-founder and CEO of Jana. Currently generating revenue in over 50 countries, Jana (Sanskrit for ?people?) enables global organizations to directly engage with BoP consumers through mobile phones.
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- Social Enterprise, Technology
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The Doughnut Hole in Sustainable Finance
Despite the recent upsurge in attention to "social," "impact," and "clean tech" investing, there is still a structural gap ? a doughnut hole ? in sustainable finance. But this also means that there is a huge opportunity for visionary financiers to invent the new investment categories and asset classes needed to fill this gap.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
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