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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.
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- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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NextBillion is on Vacation – Check Out Our Top 10 Recent Posts
With the Independence Day holiday this Wednesday, it's summer vacation time for much of the U.S. - and NextBillion is no exception. Since our editors will be enjoying some time off this week, we won't be publishing new blog content until next Monday, July 9. In the meantime, we've compiled 10 of our most-read recent posts, including some of our more thought-provoking content of the year. We hope you enjoy them, and we look forward to bringing you more original analysis and insight from the world of social business next week.
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Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation: How Design Thinking Can Build Robust and Sustainable mHealth Ventures
Design thinking can help mHealth ventures develop their value propositions and potential impacts, meet customer needs, and shape business models that stand the test of time. In the final post in his series on making mHealth businesses sustainable, Khanjan Mehta provides a structured framework that helps these enterprises determine their viability, particularly in the early conceptualization phase.
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- Entrepreneurship, Health Care, Technology
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Nine Ways to Make Money in mHealth: The Top Value Propositions from a Study of 234 Projects in Emerging Markets
Telemedicine and mHealth initiatives often struggle in emerging markets - yet researchers seldom focus on how these ventures can better develop sustainable business models. An ambitious study of 234 mHealth projects in developing countries attempts to rectify this problem. Khanjan Mehta at Lehigh University runs down the research, highlighting the nine most common value propositions it found.
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- Health Care, Technology
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The Straightest Path to Social Impact: The Power of Focusing on Farmers
After speaking to hundreds of low-income farmers in Nepal, India and Myanmar, Aditi Seshadri learned some basic truths about the challenges they face, the importance of their work - and the outsize value of interventions aimed at supporting them. She explores the reasons why a focus on farmers can maximize a social enterprise's impact.
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- Agriculture
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Win $9,000 in Tickets to Social Impact Events: Enter SOCAP’s 2018 Impact Passport Giveaway
Whether you are an early-stage social entrepreneur or just exploring the world of social entrepreneurship, conscious business or impact investing, here's an amazing deal for you: SOCAP's 2018 Impact Passport giveaway offers the opportunity to go to several of the premier events in the social impact calendar this year - for free. The winner of the sweepstakes will receive a suite of conference tickets, media consultations and subscriptions with a total value of approximately $9,000.
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- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Supporting the ‘Safe Journey’: How Mobile Tech is Making Migration More Secure and Less Costly
In Nepal’s rural areas, foreign employment in wealthy economies like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea can be a huge economic opportunity. But migrants to these countries are often exploited by employment brokers and others, who take advantage of the complexity of the migration process to charge high fees for job placements or loans. Benjamin Lokshin at the Asia Foundation discusses the foundation's innovative 'Shuvayatra' platform, which leverages mobile tools to help bridge the gaps between migrants and providers of important services.
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- Inclusive Fintech
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The Ben & Jerry of Africa: A Transformation That’s Coming Sooner Than You Think
In the last three decades, China has pulled a half billion people out of poverty, and India has pulled another half billion. It won’t be long before Africa does the same, says serial entrepreneur Luni Libes. And when it does, those 500 million new middle class consumers will want the comforts that come with a decent income – including treats like ice cream. Libes explores what this coming transformation will mean for Africa's next generation of entrepreneurs.
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- Entrepreneurship
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