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Another Online Hub? Here’s Why We Tried Something Different : The Business Innovation Facility and IAP database is a one-stop-shop for social entrepreneurs
A new Database of Financial and Technical Support for Inclusive Business aims to reduce the time and challenge involved. Produced by the Business Innovation Facility (BIF) and Innovations Against Poverty (IAP), it’s a step towards a ‘one-stop shop’ for IB entrepreneurs.
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- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Uniting David and Goliath : Why Multinational Companies Like Starbucks Need SMEs to Build Green Supply Chains
Globally, demand for sustainably-sourced products continues to grow at a staggering pace. Last year alone, consumers spent $6.6 billion on fair trade products. Companies from Mars to Wal-Mart to Unilever are responding to this demand by making pledges to source all, or some portions of, their inputs from more sustainable sources.
In order to meet these pledges, companies are changing the very way they do business.- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Keep the Change: Lost Profits Offer Yet Another Reason Why Mobile Money is Better than Cash: A recent study shows African SMEs lose up to 8% in profits just fetching change
Jon Robinson, who is running the Gates Foundation’s four savings impact random control trials, and co-authors did a study of 500 or so small and medium sized enterprises in western Kenya. They found that these small informal firms spend an average of two hours per week looking for change to complete transactions. This contributes not only to lost productivity, it means losing 5-8 percent of profits.
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- Uncategorized
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FEATURED EVENT Join the Webinar: Engaging Your Network for Systematic Impact
"What can our organization do to sustain a practice of innovation?" That question is at the heart of an upcoming webinar hosted by The Rockefeller Foundation, Context Partners and us here at NextBillion at 1 p.m. EDT, (Tuesday) Oct. 2. Join us for this free, interactive event!
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- Education, Impact Assessment
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NexThought Monday: The Future of Crowdfunding Depends on Avoiding Past Missteps
For small and growing businesses that have the potential to create social and environmental change, financing is not easy to come by. Impact investing is on the rise, but the cost of doing risky deals in faraway lands remains prohibitive for investors, especially when deal sizes are small and returns remain minimal. As investors and thought leaders wrestle with these issues, a new potential solution has arisen: crowdfunding.
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- Technology
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- impact investing
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Weekly Roundup: ‘Is There One Perfect Web Platform for Social Entrepreneurs?’
This genuinely guileless question was posted on NextBillion’s LinkedIn group earlier this week.
I can only guess, but I’ll bet this person has been bombarded with options on which platform, database, or network he should use. It feels like every day a new platform developed by social entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs and/or by entrepreneurs, emerges. T- Categories
- Technology
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FEATURED EVENT: Adapting Scalable Clean Technologies for Bottom of the Pyramid Markets: It’s one of many key discussions at Columbia Business School’s 2012 Social Enterprise Conference
Despite the massive increases in capacity and subsequent subsidy cuts driving solar module prices down they’re still not cheap enough for developing countries. But with innovative business solutions these new technologies can become economically viable in BoP markets.
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- Energy, Technology
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How a Mobile Airtime Vendor Became Zimbabwe’s Fastest-Growing Bank: EcoCash has reached a million subscribers in less than 6 months
Money is whizzing through the airwaves and cell towers of Zimbabwe, as a mobile cash transfer system is on track to become the country’s biggest bank. EcoCash, a mobile money transfer service operated by telecommunications company EcoNet Wireless Zimbabwe, has reached a million subscribers in under six months since its launch.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
