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Achieving Green and Inclusive Markets Through Public-Private Collaboration: A Bright Spot at Rio
In the midst of the shortcomings of the recent Rio+20 Earth Summit, there were bright spots that offered hope that a sustainable future is possible.
One of these was a half-day session at the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum called, “Enabling green and inclusive markets – a case for public-private collaboration.” A joint initiative of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development and the United Nations Global Compact, in collaboration with WRI’s New Ventures initiative, the session offered a glimpse of how “green” and “inclusive” markets can flourish as a result of the collaborative efforts of entrepreneurs, governments, civil society, and bilateral and multilateral donors.- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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- renewable energy
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NexThought Monday: How ‘Itty-bitty Multinantionals’ Can Serve the World’s Rising Middle Class
Two recent articles, "The Itty-Bitty Multinational" in the Atlantic by Elizabeth Littlefield, the president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corp.; and by Coca-Cola Chairman and Chief Executive Muhtar Kent in BBC News, examine new ways of thinking about how home-grown businesses, entrepreneurs, and multinationals can both succeed at business and best serve consumer demands.
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Weekly Roundup: Flushed – Is This Any Way to Crowdsource a Social Enterprise?
On Tuesday, founder and CEO of Good Goods, took a seat on the throne and didn’t get off until 50 hours later - all while under the watchful eye of a webcam. By then Simmon Griffiths and company had raised more than $50,000 in pre-orders to fund the first bulk production run of Good Goods’ new line of toilet paper: ‘Who Gives A Crap’. Working with WaterAid, the company plans to dedicate 50 percent of the paper’s profits to build toilets and improve sanitation in developing countries.
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- Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
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(With Video) Tenda Atacado: Providing Credit, Business Services to a Network of BoP-Focused Stores Across São Paulo
In São Paulo, more than 60 percent of microenterprises fail within the first five years—often due to lack of access to credit. The failure rate for small businesses in developed countries is about the same, but not for the same reasons, of course. Most small entrepreneurs in Brazil are excluded from the financial system: banks are reluctant to lend them in the absence of credit history, depriving them from access to financial services or credit to grow their businesses.
This is where Tenda Atacado Ltda, a retailer and wholesale distributor in the state of Sao Paulo, enters this story.- Categories
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When Dairy is ‘Woman’s Work,’ But a Man’s Market: Improving Livelihoods, Female Empowerment in Tanzania
Four months and more than 100 stakeholder interviews later, what was once a side note on a scope of work now has great impact on how TechnoServe looks at dairy interventions. In traditional Tanzanian culture, masculinity takes a front seat. are still flashes of female empowerment.
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- Agriculture, Education
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Guest Post: Sounding Off On Scale – At Rio+20, Big Energy Companies Talk Barriers to Access for All
Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD 2012), a temporary coalition of 13 international business organizations, hosted more than 800 leaders of government, business, United Nations, NGOs, and other organizations at the BASD 2012 Business Day on June 19 in Rio de Janeiro. The event was held under the theme “Achieving Scale”, and formed the culmination of a year-long process to ensure the business input to the Rio conference was heard.
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- scale
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Say Hola to the Nuevo NextBillion en Español
We’re really excited to share what is the most substantial overhaul of NextBillion en Espanol (NextBillion Spanish) since its launch in 2008. Our sister site focuses on social enterprise development and BoP best practices across Latin America.
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Replicating M-Pesa: Mobile and Cloud Technology Spur Innovation in Financial Inclusion
Mobile technology and cloud computing are opening doors for low-income individuals and rural communities to financial services. Today, firms like M-Pesa and Ekgaon are paving the way for affordable banking products tailored to the needs of the BoP. But the question is: Can M-Pesa be replicated elsewhere.
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- Uncategorized
