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Subsidy and Synergy: How Philanthropy Can Complement Impact Investing More Effectively
The original goal of impact investing was to build out the funding spectrum between philanthropy and commercial investment. But according to Asad Mahmood at SIMA and Nanno Kleiterp, the arrival of private equity firms — promising scale and market-rate financial returns — has pulled all the sector's energy toward the commercial end of the spectrum. They explore the key role philanthropic subsidy has played in the development of emerging markets business, clarify some misconceptions about its role in impact investing, and propose some ways philanthropists and impact investors can better align their efforts.
- Categories
- Energy, Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise
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You Can’t Have Global Standards Without the Global South: Why Emerging Markets Must Lead the Way in Driving Impact Reporting Transparency
In recent years, global standard-setting bodies have released widely adopted impact reporting standards, designed to ensure that companies disclose sustainability- and climate-related information alongside their financial statements. Though these standards are a huge step forward for global impact transparency, Ibukun Awosika argues that they reveal a troubling power dynamic between developed and emerging markets. She explores how key voices in the Global South were left out of the process of developing these standards, and proposes two changes that can ensure a greater role for them going forward.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
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Doing 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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Navigating the Financing Paradox for WSMEs: Workable Solutions for Increasing Financial Inclusion Among Women-Owned or -Led Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
In Africa, an estimated $42 billion financing gap exists for small and medium-sized enterprises owned or led by women (WSMEs). According to Nathalie Gogue-Ebo, Crystal Mugimba, Millie Maina and Shiemaa Ahmed at Open Capital, this gap has persisted despite the fact that women own the majority of the continent’s SMEs, and that globally, they default on their loans at a rate 53% lower than men. They explore the main roadblocks facing African WSMEs, and share some solutions that can ensure that these women entrepreneurs have access to the capital they need to thrive.
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Rethinking our Approach to Multilateral Collaboration: Why it’s Time to Give the Philanthropic and Private Sectors an Equal Seat at the Table
With only 17% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on track, doubts are growing about the effectiveness of the world's current approach to multilateral collaboration. As Simon Sommer at the Jacobs Foundation and Dina Ghobashy at Microsoft argue, part of the problem is that businesses and philanthropic organizations are rarely viewed — or treated — as equal partners of international institutions and national governments in pursuing development goals. They propose a new approach to multilateralism, based on greater cohesion between the public, private and non-profit sectors.
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Developing Vaccine Infrastructure in the Age of COVID Fatigue: How Strengthening Influenza Vaccination Systems Can Prepare Us for the Next Pandemic
It's widely known in the global health community that we must prepare for the inevitable emergence of another pandemic. But as Joseph Bresee at the Task Force for Global Health explains, this threat no longer feels urgent to many people who are still exhausted from fighting COVID-19 and other global threats. And though advances in vaccine development provide reasons for hope, building the systems that deliver them is difficult and time-consuming. He explores how stabilizing and expanding global influenza vaccine delivery systems can prepare the world for a more effective response to future pandemics.
- Categories
- Health Care
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An Emerging Priority in Climate Resilience: How Zambia’s Green Growth Strategy — And its Business Sector — Are Addressing the Risk of Climate-Induced Social Instability
Zambia — like other countries across Southern Africa — is confronting its worst drought in four decades, one of multiple climate-related crises it faces. According to Gracsious Maviza and Giulia Caroli at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and Ibukun Taiwo at CGIAR, these issues are putting a growing strain on the nation’s social fabric. They explore how Zambia's National Green Growth Strategy is addressing these challenges, highlighting four "Climate Security Pathways" in the strategy that can improve social stability — and generate immense opportunities for the private sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, WASH
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Zombie Stats are Running Rampant in the Agrifood Sector: Why They’re Dangerous, and How We Can Stop Them
“Up to 70% of the labor involved in coffee farming is supplied by women.” You may have seen this widely used statistic in articles and reports — perhaps you've even cited it yourself. But this number is based on old and extremely flimsy evidence, and as Cait Nordehn at TechnoServe argues, it highlights a troubling issue in the agrifood and broader global development sectors: the ongoing use of “zombie stats” — outdated, inaccurate or incomplete statistics that simply will not die. She explores why this problem has persisted, and how it can be addressed.
- Categories
- Agriculture
