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Social Enterprises Can Grow Their Revenue and Impact by Partnering with Corporations – Here’s How to Support Them
Against the backdrop of cascading global crises, a growing number of corporations are looking to social enterprises to advance their environmental, social and governance goals. To capitalize on this opportunity to scale social enterprises' revenue and impact, Alexandra Nemeth at MovingWorlds argues that support organizations like impact investors and accelerators should prioritize corporate readiness. She explores five key trends that are driving the momentum behind corporate partnerships with social enterprises, and five ways to build these enterprises' capacity for successful partnerships.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Cashing In on Sustainability: A Blended Finance Program Aims to Fight Climate Change by Catalyzing SME Investment in the Peruvian Amazon
Peru has lost an average of 100,000 hectares of rainforest per year since 2006, as illicit, extractive businesses are pushing the Amazon ecosystem closer to total collapse. But as Luis Garate at USAID CATALYZE Peru and Rocio Perez Torres at Palladium point out, without access to financing, the sustainable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that could take the place of illegal, extractive businesses are often left out of market growth. They discuss how CATALYZE is partnering with private sector financial service providers and investors to mobilize capital for sustainable SMEs in this vital region.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
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Bringing Digital Innovation to the Global Art Market: An Innovative Platform Connects International Buyers to Emerging Markets Artists
Business models across all industries are rapidly embracing digital technology. But as Srikaran Masabathula at TapArt explains, the global art market remains stuck in its centuries-old, brick-and-mortar sales and distribution model – a model that perpetuates the age-old inequities in the art world, preventing talented artists from emerging economies from selling their artwork to global art buyers. He explores how TapArt is leveraging digital innovation to address these critical shortcomings and create a vibrant connection between art lovers and artists worldwide.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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From One Crisis to Another: Using Data from COVID to Meet the Looming Challenge of Food Insecurity
Due to a tragic combination of events, countries around the world are facing a widespread and serious food shortage, with the number of severely hungry people projected to swell to 323 million over the course of 2022. Scott Graham, Andree Simon and Anahit Tevosyan at FINCA share data – initially gathered to inform FINCA's COVID-19 response – that shows the impact of this crisis on low-income customers. They explore how financial inclusion organizations can adapt their support to help customers stave off the worst effects of the escalating food crisis.
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- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Environment, Finance
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Putting Outcomes Above Ideology: Why the Development Sector Must Recognize the Critical Role of Low-Fee Private Schools in Addressing the Global Learning Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the global learning crisis, with up to 70% of children in low- and middle-income countries unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10. Yet Corina Gardner and Stephen Caleb Opuni at the IDP Foundation argue that, despite the urgency of the situation, the development sector remains locked in an ideological debate over whether non-state schools should play a role in the global education landscape. They urge the sector to move past its resistance to private education options and instead work to ensure that these schools are properly regulated, integrated and supported.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Education
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Bringing a Gender Lens to Technical Assistance: New Research Reveals the Benefits and Costs of Gender-Smart TA to SMEs and Investors
There’s growing momentum behind gender lens strategies in impact investing. But according to Yaquta Kanchwala Fatehi at the William Davidson Institute and Lisa Willems and Ladé Araba at the AlphaMundi Foundation, investors tend to apply a gender lens to their investing and pipeline development activities – but not to technical assistance and other types of post-investment support. They share findings from a recent study from the Gender-Smart Enterprise Assistance Research Coalition (G-SEARCh) consortium, which explores the business case for gender-smart technical assistance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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An Overlooked Path to Health Impact: Four Tools to Increase Consumption Frequency for Beneficial Consumer Goods
Fast-moving consumer goods like fortified food products can improve nutrition in low- and middle-income countries. But as Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath and Louise Berthault at Hystra point out, they can only deliver health impact if they are consumed every day or every other day. They explore how increasing the consumption frequency of these products can boost their nutritional and health impact and drive companies' sales growth, and share four tools that can motivate consistent and frequent consumption patterns among low-income consumers.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Designing an Impact Measurement Strategy: What’s Your North Star?
As impact investing evolves, there are a growing number of impact measurement solutions available to investors and the ecosystem at large. But as Shruti Goel at Upaya Social Ventures and Sachi Shenoy at Calidris explain, the deluge of impact measurement data, frameworks and methods can be confusing. They share some key lessons Upaya has learned in its 11 years of supporting impactful entrepreneurs, and explore how investors can develop a robust measurement strategy that helps them understand the breadth and depth of their impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise