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Weekly Roundup – 6/15/13: Keeping the spigot of funding flowing to SGBs
Looking over Impact Report 2012 by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), which zeros in on the state of small and growing businesses (SGBs) – particularly those with the potential for reducing poverty – I was reminded of the old idiom about the half-full (or half-empty) glass of water.
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- Investing
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Tastes Like Chicken (But it’s Not): Taste bud re-education and other innovative solutions to malnutrition
Modern society has lost a vital connection to the earth. Few of us touch the soil, and we’ve even forgotten how wholesome nutrients taste. Our taste buds have been desensitized by excessive salt, sugar and additives, contributing to poor nutrition and health problems. But some innovators are tackling these issues, promoting a modern agricultural society and a return to traditional foods.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Tags
- nutrition, public health
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Women Deliver Conference 2013: A holistic approach to reaching scale
For the social enterprise field, there are critical insights to be gleaned from the international development space as well. Interventions focused on the “whole girl,” or supporting every piece of her life (health, education, legal rights, community awareness), seem to work better than interventions only focused on one isolated need area. Interestingly, most of the winning social enterprises at of the Social Enterprise Challenge at the Women Deliver Conference aligned with this thinking, largely not being product- or invention- based, but rather taking more holistic approaches.
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- Uncategorized
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‘Connectivity is Productivity’: Iqbal Quadir at the BASE II Forum on tech for transformation
The recent BASE Forum featured several distinguished panelists, including Iqbal Quadir, founder and director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT, and founder of Grameenphone. He discussed how technology can support the BoP’s capacity to improve their own work productivity and daily lives.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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Helping Coffee Farmers Turns Competitors into Colleagues: How big names in coffee are fighting hunger through enterprise
The Coffeelands Food Security Coalition is comprised of big names in coffee such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Starbucks, Counter Culture, Farmer Brothers, S&D Coffee, and Sustainable Harvest. They’re partnering to fight hunger and expand economic opportunities for coffee-producing families through its inaugural project, "Empowering Food Secure Communities."
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- Agriculture
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A Working Model for Health Insurance for the Poor: Learning from the early success of India’s RSBY
Five years ago, Anil Swarup and his team started India’s health insurance program for the poor – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Since then, it has become an increasingly important vehicle of social protection, providing subsidized health insurance to over 110 million people. In this post and related essay, Victoria Fan explores some key features of RSBY’s early success.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- public health
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You’re on the A-List to Join The B Team: Your invitation to the June 13 event is here
In October 2012, former Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz and Sir Richard Branson launched The B Team “to shift the focus of business from just financial gains towards environmental and social gains as well. ... Plan A—where companies have been driven by the profit motive alone—is no longer acceptable." On Thursday, you’re invited to join them as they shape the agenda.
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- Uncategorized
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Global Movement of the Vulnerable Class, and What it Means for Financial Inclusion
In 2010, the bottom 40 percent of the populations, in low and middle-income economies constituted a market of $3 trillion. By the end of the decade, the real spending power of this market will nearly double, to $5.8 trillion. A new report from the Center for Financial Inclusion, "Growing Income, Growing Inclusion,” charts an encouraging course.
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- Uncategorized
