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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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The Power of Investing in Women: Lessons learned from WIN-WIN
Calvert Foundation and Citi Foundation launched the Women Investing in Women Initiative, or WIN-WIN, on March 8, 2012, International Women’s Day. The initiative aimed to raise and deploy $20 million in capital to empower women and girls around the world. WIN-WIN surpassed this goal in December, and Calvert CEO Jennifer Pryce discusses four lessons learned along the way.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Dasra Philanthropy Week 2014: Urgency in gender equality
Dasra hosted its fifth annual Philanthropy Week from March 5-7. It convened more than 600 prominent philanthropists, corporations and impact investors to catalyze funding to India’s social sector. And as Nilima Achwal explains, Dasra has made a notable strategic shift to focus on adolescent girl empowerment.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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From Operating Rooms to Dust Tracks, Part 2: How Operation ASHA moved beyond rhetoric to action
After serving Delhi’s slum dwellers for more than a decade with free surgeries, Dr. Shelly Batra realized her work wasn’t sustainable. That’s when she and Sandeep Ahuja decided to start an organization focused on only one health problem in India: TB.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- public health
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How to Avoid Three Common Pitfalls of Social Enterprise
he social enterprise revolution of the last decade has been a success. Businesses have adopted the skills of entrepreneurship and found innovative, efficient, and effective solutions to social problems.
But many businesses face challenges trying to balance for-profit endeavors with social objectives, and end up trapped by these familiar pitfalls.- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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African Angel Investors: Creating an ecosystem
Angel investor circles are notably absent in most African capitals. And there are not many formal structures where one can gain this kind of support - especially for social and BoP-focused business ideas. Tara Sabre Collier discusses the challenges and opportunities in developing Africa’s angel investing ecosystem.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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A Busy Week in Nairobi: A week full of events on the African social enterprise scene
Nairobi was the place to be on the African social enterprise scene last week. A wide range of meetings, conferences and workshops covered topics ranging from the role of government, to the risk of “early celebration-itis" for good but unproven early-stage ideas. The Overseas Development Institute’s Emily Darko describes some highlights.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Scaling Mobile for Development: Strengthening the business case for social enterprises, including those delivering health care
The developing world is rapidly gaining access to mobile phones, but still lags in services key to development. This gap presents an opportunity for social entrepreneurs, impact investors, NGOs and mobile operators who would like to achieve positive social impact through commercially viable businesses.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise, Technology
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