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The Acumen Classroom: Six online courses address nuts and bolts of social entrepreneurship
Our vision is that five, 10 or 20 years down the road, not just Acumen, but everyone will be working on a completely different curve, one that’s smarter in solving problems of poverty. Because of this, our courses emphasize tangible financial and operational skills, such as human-centered design and social impact analysis, as well as leadership training and what we call "moral imagination."
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Uncategorized
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In Pakistan, Going Beyond ‘Potential’: Despite progress, Pakistan’s current environment criminalizes good actors rather than enabling them
Kalsoom Lakhani first wrote about Pakistan’s entrepreneurial potential for NextBillion back in January 2012, when the ecosystem there was still relatively nascent. Nearly three years later, the founder and CEO of accelerator Invest2Innovate says today’s entrepreneurship competitions, co-working spaces, university incubators and organizations are not just a rare occurrence, but are becoming the norm.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- incubators, research
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Ideas to Practice, Pilots to Strategy: World Economic Forum report shares best practices and lessons learned from impact investing innovators
Impact investing is a rapidly growing sector that’s generating a lot of knowledge, yet this expertise is spread among dozens if not hundreds of practitioners and academics. Last week, the World Economic Forum released the second edition in its series “Ideas to Practice, Pilots to Strategy” with the goal of democratizing and disseminating this expertise.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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Nexthought Monday – Fertilizer as Both Friend AND Foe: How to use them more responsibly, effectively and for farmers – profitably
More than 100 million tons of fertilizers are applied worldwide each year, supplying our planet with plentiful harvests. But that’s only part of the story. At Semilla Nueva, we have a lot of interest in how fertilizers can be used responsibly and sustainably to feed our growing planet and boost farmers’ incomes in the process.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
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Seen and Heard at SOCAP14, Day 1
“The brain is just about the same ... (but) the heart seems to be a lot bigger in social entrepreneurs,” said William Draper, famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist turned venture philanthropist. His comments helped kick off SOCAP14.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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A Shift in Focus: Impact investing needs to concentrate less on problems, more on solutions, says Burckart
Impact investing has generated plenty of discussion and some fairly unbridled enthusiasm - though earlier predictions of $1 trillion in new capital by 2020 now seem overly optimistic. Bill Burckart, managing director of Impact Economy North America, discusses the sector’s growth and challenges in this video interview, part 6 of our Impact Investing Insights series.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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It’s About Time, It’s Also About Culture: How do varying cultural perspectives about time and productivity impact social enterprises?
Andrea Trice is researching how “soft” factors such as mutual understanding and trust influence the success of a social enterprise. While it’s too early to draw conclusions, Trice notes that it’s difficult to overestimate the role of culture in shaping how each of us thinks and acts, and therefore how businesses succeed or fail.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- research
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What Motivates an Impact Angel?: Clearly Social Angels, the UK’s first impact-focused angel investing group, discusses what these investors are looking for
Why does someone become an impact angel investor – and is this a source of capital your company might tap? Though impact angel investing is still relatively new, the experience of pioneer investors can provide a better idea of what they’re looking for. Clare Jones of ClearlySo discusses lessons learned through Clearly Social Angels, the UK’s first impact-focused angel investing group.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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