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Digital Inclusion by Way of Backpack: A Q&A with Imcon International CEO Rob Loud
Internet access has the potential to transform livelihoods in a myriad of ways – and financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and education are just a few of the sectors that stand to benefit. However, despite growing global internet use, billions in rural, hard-to-reach areas still lack access, representing a massive missed opportunity. In this Q&A, Imcon International CEO Rob Loud shares how his company is partnering with governments and NGOs to increase connectivity in the last mile through an affordable, simple device – the humble backpack.
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- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Deciphering the Data Deluge: Making Data More Useful for Financial Inclusion
Data can have a transformative impact on financial inclusion efforts. But it will reach its full potential only if industry stakeholders can truly understand and utilize it for the benefit of customers. In this Q&A, Camilla Nestor, CEO of MIX, discusses how MIX's FINClusion Lab is making data available to financial services providers, regulators, policymakers and others in a format they can actually use.
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- Finance, Technology
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Why Fossil Fuel Companies Must Evolve or Die: An Interview with Carbon Tracker Founder Mark Campanale
To keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius and (hopefully) avoid the harshest consequences of climate change, up to three-quarters of known fossil fuels will have to stay in the ground. That's the thesis of the Carbon Tracker Initiative and its founder, Mark Campanale. If that sounds like a heavy lift for an oil-dependent world, he raises a compelling point: With collapsing margins and emerging competition from renewables, the fossil fuel industry has no choice but to evolve. Campanale elaborates on these views in this video interview.
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- Energy, Environment, Investing, Technology
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Three Reasons Impact Investors Aren’t Sweating Trump’s Climate Policies: An Interview with Nancy Pfund
This week, President Trump signed what's been called a "sweeping demolition of Obama-era policies on coal mining, fracking, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change." So why isn't Nancy Pfund, founder and managing partner of DBL Partners, worried? We discuss politics and the environment with the impact investing pioneer in this video interview.
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- Energy, Environment, Investing, Technology
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From Beneficiary to Customer: 40K Transitions from School-building Charity to Edtech Social Enterprise
It took five years for 40K to build its first school in India. Over that time, the organization learned a lot about the key barriers that were preventing quality education from proliferating in rural areas. Over the next two years, 40K transformed from a school-building charity to an edtech social enterprise. Clary Castrission, founder and CEO, explains why, and how the transition is progressing.
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- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Leveraging Technology for Good: An Interview With June Sugiyama, Director of the Vodafone Americas Foundation
With its parent corporation ranked as one of the top telecom companies in the world, Vodafone Americas Foundation's focus is a natural fit: "We support projects that use technology for social impact," says June Sugiyama, the foundation's director. In this Q&A, recorded at the SOCAP16 conference, she discusses the foundation's multifaceted work.
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- Technology
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Human Waste as a Value Chain: ‘Sustainable sanitation’ startup has plans to expand throughout Peru and, eventually, abroad
Lima, Peru, is one of the driest capital cities in the world. That's one reason x-runner, a social enterprise, has had success selling urine-diverting dry toilets and coordinating a for-pay sanitation system for subscribers in the slums there. Another reason might be its trial and error, local-oriented approach.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Mobile Money on the Move: Part Two of Our Interview With Carol Caruso, Senior Vice President, Channels and Technology at Accion
The growth in global mobile connectivity has been astonishing, and perhaps no sector has been more impacted than finance. We spoke recently with Carol Caruso, Senior VP of Accion’s Channels & Technology unit, about the shifting trends and future outlook of mobile finance in part two of this Q&A.
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- Technology