Articles by Brigit Helms
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Guest Articles
Thursday
November 21
2024Doing Business During a Crisis: Lessons for Driving Social Impact While Navigating Adversity in the World’s Toughest Environments
During a recent trip to Nairobi, Brigit Helms at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship found her delegation engulfed in chaotic street protests that forced them to seek shelter in a partner's local office. As she explains, the experience highlighted the kinds of challenges faced by social enterprises and other organizations navigating crises around the world. She shares lessons from three Miller Center partners operating in three different crisis zones, which show how resilient organizations can drive impact, even in the harshest conditions.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- MSMEs, NGOs, nonprofits, refugees
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Guest Articles
Monday
February 6
2023Taking Inspiration from Innovation: Key Insights from Eight Entrepreneurs Making an Impact in Emerging Markets
Whether they're working to increase smallholder farmers’ profits, promote water or sanitation solutions, or address other key needs in emerging markets, social entrepreneurs tend to face common challenges. That's why they must learn from each other if they hope to flourish. Brigit Helms at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship shares insights from eight entrepreneurs in Miller Center’s Clean Water and Climate-Smart Agriculture program, who discuss their innovations, the challenges they’ve overcome and the lessons they’ve learned.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise, WASH
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Guest Articles
Monday
July 18
2022A Portfolio Approach to ESG and CSR: Why Supporting Social Entrepreneurship Accelerators Makes Sense for Corporate Funders
Many corporations seek to support social enterprises as a way to meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) or corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. But as Brigit Helms at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship explains, corporations often find it challenging to identify and engage with these enterprises one at a time, and instead prefer to work with social enterprise accelerators. She shares insights from a recent Miller Center white paper that attempts to quantify the benefits corporate partners can obtain from supporting these accelerators.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Guest Articles
Monday
April 15
2019Four Reasons Kenya’s Economy Might Not Be as Inclusive as You Think
When it comes to building inclusive economic systems, Kenya is often held up as a global standard. And with 73% mobile money penetration and 82% financial inclusion rates, it's easy to see why. But as Brigit Helms at DAI points out, the “Silicon Savannah” isn't always as inclusive as it seems. She explores four reasons why the country is still falling short in serving its most excluded communities and customers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology