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Established Social Enterprises: Have You Outgrown Business Accelerators?
Before joining established social enterprise TaroWorks as its CEO, Brent Chism spent two years earning an MBA degree and worked at three tech startups. So when a friend suggested he enroll in a business accelerator, Chism scoffed: "Did I really need to go back to school to learn how to raise the investment capital needed to fuel growth? Hadn’t I checked that box already?" Chism admits it was partly his ego talking; with some new research on their benefits, he advises business leaders not to overlook the benefits of accelerators.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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‘The Dumbest Waste of Time Ever’: How the Development Sector is Failing MSMEs
Low-income business owners often keep poor records and don't always keep close tabs on their profits versus expenses – a side effect of by-necessity entrepreneurship. Global development organizations naturally want to help - yet too many programs offer skills development as one-off training. According to business development consultant Donna Rosa, helping entrepreneurs create business plans only to abandon them to fend for themselves is "the dumbest waste of time ever." She explains why in this thought-provoking post.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
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Better Data for Better Products: New Online Resource Aims to Close the $200 Billion Smallholder Finance Gap
The US $200 billion gap in farmer finance is a tremendous opportunity – but it's one that financial service providers are missing, due to the lack of transparent and reliable data. That's why One Acre Fund and MIX, with support from the Mastercard Foundation's RAF Learning Lab, launched the Smallholder Finance Product Explorer. A May 8 webinar will show industry actors how to use some of these new online tools to reach the 450 million smallholders in need of financing.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
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Beyond ‘Evil Capitalists vs. Righteous Social Workers’: Innovating Solutions with Integrative Thinking
After working in Silicon Valley and Wall Street – in industries famous for their single-minded pursuit of profit – Alice Mann looked forward to making an impact in the social sector. But she encountered organizations that lacked the funding to be effective on a large scale – and that shared a blind spot when it came to the value of financial sustainability. The author of "Future First," Mann shares three examples of social sector leaders who have shifted their thinking to address global problems in profitable ways.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise
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On World Press Freedom Day: Why Investing in Independent Media Supports Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
More than 87 percent of people – about 6 billion – live in countries without a free press, and every five days a media worker is killed for doing their job – including more than 800 in the past decade. Today as we observe the UN's World Press Freedom Day, Peter Whitehead reminds us that independent media businesses not only hold governments accountable and advance progress toward the SDGs – they're also an investable opportunity.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing, SDGs
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Caveat Venditor: A New Model for Buyer Selection in Responsible Microfinance Equity Exits
Socially responsible investing is well understood, but what it means to be responsible as you "exit" or sell off equity is less clear. Daniel Rozas and Sam Mendelson studied a particularly difficult part of the exit process for microfinance investments - how to choose a buyer that is suitable for an MFI, its staff and its clients. They discuss their findings in a paper that they hope will help microfinance investors navigate the complicated terrain of "responsible exits."
- Categories
- Investing
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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.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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From New York to Madagascar: Why I Moved My Fintech Startup to Africa
“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.” That Mike Tyson quote rang true for Sidharth Garg, who was forced to go back to the drawing board after his Manhattan-based fintech startup's chatbot failed to engage customers. But that setback soon became an opportunity: Garg explains how shifting focus from the U.S. to Madagascar set the company on a new path to growth, in the latest post in NextBillion's "Course Correction in Social Enterprise" series.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise
