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Impact Investing Lessons for NGOs: Mercy Corps’ Scott Onder Discusses its Social Venture Fund
We don’t typically associate NGOs, particularly humanitarian organizations like Mercy Corps, with impact investing. But since 2015, Mercy Corps has run the Social Venture Fund, which invests in and accelerates the growth of innovative, scalable ventures that can positively impact millions in the developing world. NextBillion interviewed Scott Onder, managing director of the fund, about Mercy Corps' experiences as an investor, the rationale behind this ground-breaking approach – and lessons for other NGOs that may be considering a similar move.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Breaking the Catch-22 of Poverty: What’s Next for the Graduation Model?
People in extreme poverty are trapped in a catch-22: They're poor because they can't build a livelihood, and they can't build a livelihood because they're overwhelmed by the crises of poverty. The graduation approach can break this cycle – but though research has demonstrated its effectiveness, it's difficult to scale. Evelyn Stark of MetLife Foundation and Jaya Sarkar of Trickle Up discuss Trickle Up's efforts to adapt the model to achieve mass scale and sustainability.
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- Impact Assessment
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More than Money: Changing Financial Services One Startup at a Time
The Financial Solutions Lab – managed by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) with founding partner JPMorgan Chase & Co. – is looking for fintech startups and nonprofits to compete in its $3 Million Challenge to help underserved people. Winning organizations will receive a $250,000 investment. The fintech innovators who will rise to the top, writes CFSI's Shannon Austin, are those solving real financial problems faced by real people – often the same problems experienced by the founders themselves.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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In a World of 5 Billion Mobile Phone Users, ID Policy Needs to Catch Up – Fast
With a global subscriber base of over 5 billion, the mobile ecosystem has created a digital platform that is increasingly connecting everyone and everything. Yet millions risk exclusion from this network – and the social, digital and financial exclusion this implies – due to lack of proof-of-identity. A new GSMA report offers a global perspective of the trends and linkages between access to mobile and access to official identification - and explores solutions for reducing the "identity gap."
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- Finance, Technology
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Why Do Low-income Women Entrepreneurs Fail? New Research Provides Some Answers
Everybody loves a business success story, so research on entrepreneurship tends to focus on the Facebooks and Ubers of the world. But in reality, new ventures are more likely to fail than to succeed, and there's a dearth of research on the reasons why – particularly when the entrepreneurs are women in emerging markets. The Failure Institute joined with Pro Mujer to study the failures of hundreds of small businesses run by low-income women in Mexico. Leticia Gasca of the Failure Institute explores the four main causes of failure these women faced.
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- Impact Assessment
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Deciphering the Data Deluge: Making Data More Useful for Financial Inclusion
Data can have a transformative impact on financial inclusion efforts. But it will reach its full potential only if industry stakeholders can truly understand and utilize it for the benefit of customers. In this Q&A, Camilla Nestor, CEO of MIX, discusses how MIX's FINClusion Lab is making data available to financial services providers, regulators, policymakers and others in a format they can actually use.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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‘Eye-opening’ Impact Assessment: How Benchmarks Can Boost Social and Business Outcomes
For the last ten years, Acumen has been investing in off-grid energy companies in the developing world. In its new Energy Impact Report, the impact investing nonprofit talked directly to thousands of customers about their experiences - good and bad - with these companies’ energy products. Acumen's Kat Harrison discusses the survey's revealing results.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Super Platforms in Africa: Not if, but When
Imagine low-income, rural entrepreneurs throughout Africa actively leveraging super platforms like Facebook and Alibaba to conduct all their business interactions, from customer payments to orders from suppliers. This scenario isn't that far-fetched, says BFA's Yanina Seltzer. She explains why the march of the super platforms into Africa is inevitable – and what it will mean for financial services providers, regulators, and small and medium enterprises.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
