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Africa as a Hotbed for Innovation: Technology Providing New Ways to Look at Age-Old Problems
Intellecap’s latest research explores how emerging technologies can trigger a set of big shifts in Africa over the next decade, and how innovators and enterprises there can leverage these shifts to help address the continent’s mega-challenges in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, financial services, health care, education, energy and water.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Cashless Hospitalization, Premiums of $3.90 a Year … and the Program Pays for Itself
Beset with high levels of preventable illness and avoidable hospital admissions, India needs a risk coverage instrument that shields poor and low-income households. Grameen Koota thinks it's found one; the microfinance organization's insurance plan offers a variety of medical services at an annual premium of $3.90, capturing the pricing benefit of risk-pooling between different households.
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- Health Care
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Deprived or Different?: Tips for Social Entrepreneurs Working Across Cultures
Not all people value the same things. This is crucial information for social entrepreneurs working across cultures, says the author, Andrea Nelson Trice, who conducted more than 70 related interviews around the world. She offers a few tips to social entrepreneurs on how they can make sense of their customers' differing priorities and dreams, and how these might impact an enterprise’s success.
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- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
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Investors and Entrepreneurs in Africa Take Note: Price of Solar’s Dropping While Demand’s Increasing
A number of factors are combining to create a favorable environment for decentralized clean-energy systems – and strong investment opportunities – in emerging markets, according to Ankit Mishra of Premise Data. Most noteworthy, energy use in non-OECD countries is expected to rise by 71 percent through 2040, and the cost of renewable energy is projected to decline rapidly.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Investing, Technology
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Four Ways Digital Finance Can Prepare for the Next Wave of Mobile Money Disruption
The mobile money and agent banking markets of the developing world are due for disruption, so digital finance providers should start preparing. A new research paper from the Helix Institute of Digital Finance offers tips on preparing for the new wave, plus some advice: Focus on data, "the common denominator and foundation for all financial technology companies."
- Categories
- Technology
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More Than Lighting: Women Entrepreneurs Turn Solar Technology Into Opportunity
The entrepreneurs at Solar Sister, a social enterprise that uses networks of local women to directly sell solar lanterns in remote areas, aren't just lighting homes, they're transforming what rural Tanzanians do at home when it’s dark. Among the benefits they bring to communities they serve are more time for education, reduced health risks, increased productivity and larger household incomes.
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- Energy, Social Enterprise
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Bridging the Chasm Within Southeast Asia’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem
While impact investing continues to grow in popularity globally, there is a shortage of social enterprises in Asia ready to take on the amount of capital and return assumptions needed to balance impact with the market-rate returns desired by many impact investors. Fixing the problem will require blurring the boundaries between commonly defined funding spaces – a key topic at the upcoming AVPN Conference.
- Categories
- Investing
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Rural Knowledge Meets Tech Innovation: What Ultra-Poor Entrepreneurs Can Teach the World
What happens when Barefoot College, a global NGO which trains entrepreneurs in poverty-stricken rural areas, melds its expertise and values with tech innovators like Apple? It sparks the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneur who has much to teach the world, says Scot Bolsinger – along with new opportunities for rural communities to share and connect in ways never before possible.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
