Articles by Isaac Otto
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Thursday
July 17
2014What the IMF Mandate Means for the Poor: The organization says it’s focused on narrowing the income gap – but will this affect policy?
The International Monetary Fund is known for its multi-billion dollar bailouts of struggling countries, but the organization now says narrowing the income gap between the very poor and the very rich is a key tenet of its mission. How income inequality fits into aid packages is yet to be seen, says Isaac Otto, but it is beginning to enter into the equation.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment
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Friday
November 1
2013Cash Cows: Why making bank accounts function like livestock will help the poor
In an age of mobile banking and digital transactions, many poor people still shun basic banking services and put their extra money in livestock. Why? Cows make sense as a savings tool in ways that bank accounts don’t, says Ignacio Mas. He suggests several ways banks could create products with similar properties to livestock, helping the poor use their accounts more intuitively.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Monday
August 19
2013NexThought Monday – Want to Help a Bolivian Farmer?: Eat their quinoa
Andean farmers have enjoyed an economic bonanza from growing quinoa, a superfood beloved by foodies and vegetarians in the West. But the farmers’ success may prove their undoing, as farmers in the United States and Canada have begun growing the grain.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
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Monday
July 15
2013NextThought Monday – An Alternative to Alternative Energy: Will microfinance embrace biogas for the BoP?
Solar was once the wild west of alternative energy. Today, microfinance banks see it as a solid investment, even for poor clients, and bio-gas may follow its footsteps.
- Categories
- Energy
- Tags
- energy, microfinance, solar
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Friday
June 21
2013Corporate Aid or Colonialism?: The G8’s New Alliance sparks debate over big businesses’ role in fighting poverty
The New Alliance, started by the G8 last year, has the ambitious goal of lifting 50 million people out of poverty. It has mobilized billions of dollars in private sector investment in African agriculture. But that investment comes with a few strings attached.
Is it a worthy effort to strengthen weak value chains, or a profit grab that marginalizes smallholder farmers?- Categories
- Agriculture