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Ag Stigma Be Damned: Flipping the Script for Young People, Farming and Investment
Smallholder farmers are getting older – the average age of a coffee farmer is 60 – and fewer and fewer young people are replacing them. This problem isn’t new. But it’s becoming more and more urgent. Will McAneny at Root Capital writes about several agricultural businesses that are flipping the script by asking: What if opportunity flourished on the farm?
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Investing
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An Integrated Approach to Financial Inclusion: Welcoming NextBillion’s Newest Partner, BFA
Recognizing that the financial challenges of low-income people won’t be solved by access alone, BFA seeks out solutions that combine finance, user-centered design, data, policy and technology. That's why NextBillion is pleased to announce BFA as the sponsor of our new "Inclusive Fintech" Zone, which will host blog posts on the latest fintech trends, innovations and enterprises, along with two ongoing series exploring BFA's insights and analysis of financial inclusion-focused initiatives.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Can Next-Generation Startups Unite Agritech and Fintech for Farmers in Emerging Markets?
An amalgamation of agritech and fintech solutions could have an incredible impact for the masses, especially populations that work within the agriculture chain. But making these apps and other digital solutions more user-friendly is critical to expanding their usage. Developers may need to borrow the best toolsets from both sectors, writes Sneha Sampath with Unitus Seed Fund.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Technology
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Cash, Trees, Honey and Bees: Enticing Ethiopia’s Farmers Toward Eco-Stewardship
In Ethiopia, use of herbicides as well as loss of habitat are causing a reduction in the local pollinator population, not unlike the global trend of pollinator decline that is threatening food security around the world. Julia Entwistle, a graduate student at the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability, details her summer internship with an organization trying to balance the interests of nature and farmers through profits.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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‘Internet Access is Like Oxygen’: Converging Connectivity and Energy Access
Microsoft’s Affordable Access Initiative is providing grants to internet access and related services companies and startups reaching underserved communities in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and North America. In June, the tech giant announced the second year of grantees. Paul Garnett, senior director of the Affordable Access Initiative at Microsoft, explores how internet connectivity can have a ripple effect.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Technology, Telecommunications
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Clean Energy Investments Do Not Always Mean a Clean Human Rights Record
Investing in renewable energy seems like a savvy, progressive investor’s ideal scenario. Public policy, popular demand and shifting technologies are all converging to create a potentially high-growth, high-return industry that benefits the environment. But in the transition to renewables, are investors overlooking any issues? Who truly benefits from these investments? Who gets left behind?
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- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Why a Few More Women Coders Isn’t Enough to Close the Digital Gender Divide
“Girls in ICT,” “women in tech,” “women in STEM,” “girls that code." Attend any conference on business, social enterprise or technology in emerging markets and you can likely take in a panel on one of these topics. But while high-level discussions and new initiatives to encourage girls to enter the technology field are steps in the right direction, there is still a long way to go in closing the digital gender divide.
- Categories
- Technology
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‘Wall Street Meets Impact’: SOCAP’s Owners – New and Old – Discuss its Move Toward the Mainstream
Last month, SOCAP made headlines with a bold announcement: The network of social impact-focused investors and entrepreneurs is moving to new ownership to "begin expanding its brand reach to larger, more mainstream audiences." As its first initiative, this new-look SOCAP is launching the Good Capital Project, which aims to "drive greater collaboration and accelerate capital flows into purpose driven investments." We discussed these developments with SOCAP's co-founder, Kevin Jones, and John Morris of V2V Associates, who helped pull the new ownership deal together.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
