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Why Nairobi is the Stage for the 4th-Annual oikos UNDP Academy
Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi is a good fit for the annual oikos UNDP academy. Since its 2009 inauguration in Switzerland, the academy has leapfrogged from Costa Rica, to India, and now turns toward Kenya where it will be hosted from Aug. 12-17 by the Strathmore Business School in Nairobi
The 15 scholars participating in the 2012 Academy come from universities on four continents.- Categories
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Making Connections: Mercy Corps’ Market Mission : A Q&A With CEO Neal Keny-Guyer
Earlier this month, we formally welcomed Mercy Corps as a NextBillion Content Partner. I had a chance to speak with Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer, who has lead the organization since 1994 and taken it in new directions. "We try to make use of already existing market relationships – those between buyers, sellers, producers and consumers – to bridge social and political divides via business and trade."
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NexThought Monday: Franchising at the BoP – Identifying Best Practices: The book ‘Fairplay Franchising’ presents principles that apply across franchise models
Best practices for BoP franchise models are constantly evolving. New and existing franchises alike regularly look to one another for advice. Now they have another touchstone resource: Waltraud Martius and her book Fairplay Franchising. The book presents a set of principles that apply across franchise models.
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- Education
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Weekly Roundup: AIDS 2012 Conference, Exploring the Financing Debate
The recent AIDS 2012 conference included a line-up of speakers to rival most health causes including former President Clinton, current U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, World Bank Present Jim Kim, Philanthropist Bill Gates as well as other globally recognizable humanitarians and celebrities. But what I found to be especially interesting and relevant for NextBillion readers was an honest and frank debate on financing in a resource constrained environment for HIV/AIDS.
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- Health Care
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In Brazil, a Break Through Investment Model in Affordable Housing: Harnessing a public-private solution to sustainable housing
At Bamboo Finance, we view housing as a critical component to driving economic growth, and our investment of R$7 million (US$3.6 million) in Bille, a Special Purpose Enterprise (SPE) created by Crinale, a Brazilian housing developer, for building and selling 1,200 houses in the interior of Sao Paulo State, represents a scalable solution to a massive social and economic problem.
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- housing, infrastructure
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Don’t Touch Our M-PESA!: In Mobile Money, Why Even Sacred Cows Need Scrutiny
I was giving a presentation on the potential of branchless and in particular mobile banking at an international forum, and apparently I upset the Kenyans in attendance for not having lavished enough praise on M-PESA. When I talk about mobile banking I generally use the example of M-PESA because there are few others that are really worth talking about at this point (sadly), and I mostly get “enough with that already” kind of looks. So this was new.
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BoP Career Paths: At the Root of a Baobab Tree, A New Food Company to Benefit the Poor : Bumbleroot was launched by a former TechnoServe Volunteer
Sara Andrews is a former policy advisor and strategy consultant who developed the idea for Bumbleroot while serving as a volunteer consultant for TechnoServe in Zimbabwe. A Montana native and graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she prefers to be outdoors rather than indoors.
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Why South Asia is a Hub for Social Entrepreneurship
An April 2012 study of the social entrepreneurship landscape in India found that the sector has really taken off since 2005. But while social entrepreneurs are excited to consider next steps, they clearly have a lot of learning to do—and must do a lot more to prove positive outcomes, financial and social. But, if they can, India could become a hotspot and global test ground for impact investing.
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- Education, Social Enterprise
