Articles by James Militzer
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Interviews
Wednesday
March 30
2016How PayPal is Moving Beyond Payments: An Interview with Tyler Spalding
Many people know PayPal primarily through its ubiquitous buttons enabling online donations to nonprofits, blogs and other websites and causes. But it also has a significant presence in the world of social business – something that represents a growing priority for the payments provider. We discussed this evolving focus with Tyler Spalding, lead manager on PayPal's Social Innovation team.
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- Uncategorized
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Guest Articles
Friday
March 25
2016James Militzer / Kyle Poplin / Scott Anderson
Weekly Roundup: Social Enterprise Meets Reality TV – Is That a Good Thing?
Today, 12 India-based social entrepreneurs will make TV history as the world’s first reality show about social enterprise and impact investing is broadcast on NDTV. The program is being billed as an attempt to mainstream the sector via a popular medium - a worthy goal, but is reality TV really the right way to achieve it? We discuss this question, and other developments in the social business space, in this roundup.
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- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Friday
March 11
2016Kyle Poplin / James Militzer / Scott Anderson
Weekly Roundup: Obama Chases Bush’s Africa Legacy, Kenya’s Diaspora Leadership and Gray Ghost’s $60M Fund
It’s incongruous to many that the son of a Kenyan is widely perceived to have done less to help Africa than a predecessor best known for putting the U.S. in a bad war and a bad light in so many other places around the globe. Could the President’s Malaria Initiative help change those perceptions?
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- Health Care
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Saturday
March 5
2016Kiva’s New Fund Targets 1 Million Women Entrepreneurs – But How Much Impact Should We Expect?
Last week, the Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. State Department joined microfinance pioneer Kiva to launch the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund. The fund matches the contributions of lenders who respond to a woman entrepreneur’s loan request on Kiva’s online platform, and hopes to crowdfund loans for 1 million entrepreneurs. But in spite of the excitement around the announcement, questions about both Kiva’s approach and the broader microfinance model remain.
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- Investing
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Friday
February 19
2016Weekly Roundup: The World’s Cheapest Smartphone – Game Changer or Marketing Stunt?
This week we noticed the eye-grabbing headline: A $7 smartphone is launching in India tomorrow. But soon, the scrutiny began. But by far the biggest question about the phone involves its main selling point: its price. Experts estimate that its components alone would cost over eight times its selling price - not counting production, distribution and marketing expenses. Is the Freedom 251 a marketing stunt or legit game changer?
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- Technology
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Friday
February 12
2016James Militzer / Kyle Poplin / Scott Anderson
Weekly Roundup: India Unfriends Facebook, Zika Shouldn’t be a Games Changer, and #IOT4D
Mark Zuckerberg finally found out “who could possibly be against” Facebook’s plan to offer free internet to the poor, why canceling the Olympic Games in Rio would punish Brazil and our new favorite hashtag #IoT4D.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Friday
February 5
2016James Militzer / Scott Anderson / Kyle Poplin
Weekly Roundup: Grading Super Bowl Ads, Teaching Social Entrepreneurship, Fact-Checking Global Health
Three commercials at this Sunday's Super Bowl 50 come from financial services providers focused on customers who can’t afford a ticket to the game. We grade the three ads in terms of how effectively they present the inclusive elements of these companies' brands, discuss a new school for social entrepreneurs, and explore a new fact-checking initiative for global health in this roundup.
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- Education, Health Care
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Friday
January 29
2016Kyle Poplin / Scott Anderson / James Militzer
Weekly Roundup: Zika’s Super Challenge, LeapFrog’s Play, American Express’ Retreat
Our editors discuss three recent developments in the global development/social business space, including a disheartening new global health crisis, some major impact investing news, and a setback in the mainstreaming of the financial inclusion agenda.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing