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A Solution to Urban Blight? Crowdfunding’s Potential to Transform Cities
Lending through peer-to-peer platforms, or "real estate marketplace lending," involves connecting borrowers seeking alternative sources of financing for their real estate investment needs with investors seeking passive income opportunities. As more Americans embrace crowdfunding sort of solutions, we believe cities that were once forsaken can be revitalized and brought back to life.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Virtual Companies Come to Life: How New Methods in Student Training Can Build Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Kenya
How can students gain the experience and skills necessary to lead their businesses effectively and sustainably? Integrating virtual (or "training") companies into education could be one answer. Sote ICT, a joint project of the Pontis Foundation in Slovakia and Kasigau Wildlife Trust in Kenya, focuses on the development of entrepreneurial skills in students at 12 high schools in southeast Kenya through this method. Since its inception three years ago, this project has educated more than 500 young people.
- Categories
- Education
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The Exciting Promise of Digital Payments in Peru
With almost 80 percent of Peruvians lacking access to a bank account, it’s clear why Peru’s government has committed so many resources to advancing financial inclusion. However, roughly 65 percent have mobile phones. Recognizing this, the National Strategy focuses on connecting those who have phones to financial services through digital payments adapted to the needs of the population.
- Categories
- Technology
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Weekly Roundup: Acumen’s SolarAid Acquisition, Davos Deja Vu , the Grumpy Gates Critics
This week we explore Acumen's purchase of the SolarAide research arm, ruminate on the Davos script and do a little defending of the Gates Foundation.
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- Uncategorized
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Convergence Looks to Convert Risk into Reward for Global Development Financing
For the last few months, Andrew Stern has been serving as interim CEO of Convergence, a brand new platform designed to connect and support private, public and philanthropic investors for "blended finance" deals in emerging and frontier markets. The big idea is to bring these disparate players together to back deals that, on their own, would be deemed too risky or complex to chase.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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The Leap from Social Sector to Social Enterprise
Almost every day, I engage with professionals who are hoping to land a new type of job in a completely new discipline, region or sector. However, in our experience, you’re likely to be most successful at landing a job if you aim for roles that leverage your strengths and then seek ways to pivot into new areas of responsibility. Here are some tips for transitioning from the development, government or NGO sectors to a social business.
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- Social Enterprise
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Connecting With the Customer – When the Lines of Connection Do Not Exist
We created WeFarm, a social enterprise whose target market is small-scale farmers located in remote areas without Internet access. WeFarm provides a platform for farmers to share information on agriculture with one another, which makes our business model globally scalable. Wikipedia and Google are great examples of organizations and businesses that have executed community platforms very successfully, but the model isn’t widely used in the developing world.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Weekly Roundup: Starting SDGs, Africa’s IT Meritocracy, Safaricom’s Setback
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) officially took effect on Jan. 1, with the stated goals of freeing “the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet” over the next 15 years. Whew. Talk about a tall order.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
