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The Definition of Insanity: Why Repeating the Same Approach to Enterprise Support is Failing Africa’s SMEs
It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So in a region where 84 percent of SMEs struggle to access capital, why do investors keep recycling the same failed approaches when financing African enterprises? Mercy Mangeni and Joshua Murima at Intellecap discuss what investors and entrepreneurs have done wrong – and explore some innovative ways their organization is working to make it right.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing
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Impact Investing Impasse: The Case for 4-Hour Due Diligence
Impact investors are often guilty of stringing along social entrepreneurs with needlessly long due diligence processes, "abusing their power and privilege," says Andy Lower at investing firm A Different Approach to Poverty. Weeks can easily turn to months – a delay that's unfair to entrepreneurs, and unacceptable in other industries. In response, his firm has devised a four-hour due diligence process, which has sparked interest – and a fair amount of push-back – in the sector. Lower discusses the approach in this provocative Q&A.
- Categories
- Investing, NextBillion Originals
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Collaboration for Impact: The 2018 Edition of SEEP’s Annual Conference
The SEEP Network's flagship event is less than a month away. The theme of this year's conference, "Collaboration for Impact," will highlight the importance of multi-sector changemaking and empower attendees with the insights needed to take their impact to the next level. The event will feature informative breakout sessions and prominent contributing orgs like Grameen Foundation, USAID and BRAC. Read more in this preview from SEEP program associate Mashal Amjad, including information on how you could win a free ticket from NextBillion.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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The Switchback Solution: Is ‘Pay and Cook’ a Game Changer in the Movement to Popularize Cleaner Cooking Fuels?
For years, countless entrepreneurs have been trying to enable low-income people in emerging markets to move from traditional fuels to clean cooking fuels. But they've struggled with the same problem: customers’ tendency to switch back to traditional fuels when it comes time to buy refills for their clean cooking fuel tanks. Emmy Wasirwa at WANA Energy Solutions discusses his company's innovative solution to this challenge.
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- Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment
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The (Business) Case for Confidence: Why Unlocking Women’s Self-Confidence Should be a Major Development Priority
Evidence shows that building self-confidence is important: It affects how we interact with colleagues, how we present ourselves to new people, and how we perceive ourselves and our capabilities. That's why, according to Megan Madeira At Resonate, women's self-confidence is something the social business and development sectors must address. She discusses how Resonate's workshops help build women's confidence, amplifying the impact of development programs and boosting the effectiveness of businesses in the process.
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- Education, Entrepreneurship
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How Can Corporations Make the Transition to Sustainability? A Q&A with the Authors of ‘All In’
Global corporations can play a major role in addressing the core social challenges of our time. But how can they make the transition to sustainability – especially when many of their business models depend on unsustainable resources or practices? That's one of the questions explored in 'All In: The Future of Business Leadership,' a new book by three leading thinkers in corporate sustainability. In this Q&A, the authors discuss the keys to effective corporate sustainability leadership, the importance of the year 2030, and the ways smaller social enterprises can contribute.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Announcing the Latest NextBillion E-book: Insights and Innovations in Financial Health
In response to a growing recognition that financial access alone doesn’t guarantee social impact, many of the sector’s leading voices are shifting their focus to financial health. MetLife Foundation and its partners explored that topic on NextBillion's Financial Health site, through 20 articles that discuss what’s working—and sometimes, what’s not working—in inclusive finance. We’ve compiled these articles into an e-book, which you can download and share here.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing, NextBillion Originals
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Women Leaders, Women Lenders: Why Impact Investing Should Follow Microfinance’s Lead on Female Empowerment
Women have been an integral part of microfinance since the very beginning. But though the percentage of women in top leadership positions in microfinance institutions is high compared to the rest of the global banking sector, it’s still lower than women’s proportion of the overall population – and far lower than the percentage of female clients served by these institutions. Abiskar Shrestha, a senior investment officer at MicroVest Capital Management, explores how the sector can boost female leadership – and how investors can help.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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