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NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Contributor.

Tayo Akinyemi
The Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University

Tayo Akinyemi is a recent graduate of the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, where she concentrated in Sustainable Global Enterprise. Her professional interests include Base of the Pyramid (BoP) entrepreneurship, African telecom, boutique consulting (with a focus on economic development), scenario analysis, and social impact assessment.

Prior to returning to school, Tayo worked in business development at Chicago-based consulting firm, Burke & Partners. She started her career at Catalyst, a New York based research and advisory organization working with businesses to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. After nearly four years with Catalyst, she accepted a Princeton in Africa Fellowship to do democracy and goverance work with an international NGO in Abuja, Nigeria. At the conclusion of her fellowship, she joined the marketing department of an emerging telecommunications company in Nigeria, Suburban Telecom. Tayo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Princeton University.

Articles by Tayo Akinyemi

  • Wednesday
    December 15
    2010

    Tayo Akinyemi

    iuMAP: Milaap Bridges the Gap for Microfranchisors

    Capital investment is expensive and involves risk; if the already vulnerable entrepreneur fails to sell her inventory, she’s stuck with the liability. Inspired by his work with the business development team of SKS Microfinance, Anoj Viswanathan founded Milaap, a crowd-funded, low-cost, risk-tolerant capital model focused on microfranchises.

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  • Wednesday
    August 25
    2010

    Tayo Akinyemi

    Investing in Microfranchising: What Should I Know?

    To date, this series has focused on the mechanics of microfranchising from the entrepreneurs’ s point of view. This post, second to last in this series, looks at microfranchise from the perspective of the investor.

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  • Wednesday
    August 11
    2010

    Tayo Akinyemi

    A Closer Look at “Conversion Franchising”

    This post is the fourth entry in a series focused on microfranchising, a common way many social enterprises distribute their products. It is part of a series that introduces iuMAP, a web-based social enterprise database.

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  • Thursday
    July 29
    2010

    Tayo Akinyemi

    A Closer Look at the “Business in a Bag” Model

    This post is part of a series that introduces iuMAP, a web-based social enterprise directory developed by Ayllu and launched in media partnership with NextBillion. It analyzes the "business in a bag" model of microfranchise, used by several social enterprises to expand their operations.

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  • Thursday
    January 21
    2010

    Tayo Akinyemi

    Shea Yeleen: Promoting Market Access for African Shea Producers

    I was reminded of the "theory of resonance" while talking to Rahama Wright, social entrepreneur and founder of Shea Yeleen International, a nonprofit working to help African women secure sustainable livelihoods via shea butter production.

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  • Friday
    January 15
    2010

    Tayo Akinyemi

    Gates Foundation Supports Savings Accounts for the Poor

    The Gates Foundation is at it again. On Wednesday, it announced $38 million dollars in funding to support programming that will give the poor safe, effective ways to house their savings. Six grants will go to 18 MFIs that offer microcredit but will "make savings accounts available to an initial 11 million poor people over five years."

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  • Tuesday
    October 13
    2009

    Tayo Akinyemi

    Ayllu: Scaling Social Enterprise through Microfranchise

    Melissa’s journey began with two simple questions. First, what would happen if several social enterprises were located in the same community? Secondly, how can they be brought to scale? As you’ll soon discover, Ayllu is tackling this problem head on. With no further ado, Ayllu!

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  • Saturday
    September 26
    2009

    Tayo Akinyemi

    Africa Social Enterprise Forum 2009

    As many of you know, today is the 2009 Africa Social Enterprise Forum in New York City, organized by Co-Chairs JerryAnne Heath and Magogodi Makhene. ASEC boldly confronts the notion that all the best thinking (and doing) in social enterprise comes from the West, and I applaud the organizers for making this distinction.

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