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Do You Speak Social Finance? Helping Entrepreneurs and Impact Investors Overcome their Language Barrier
Social entrepreneurs and impact investors often speak different languages: Entrepreneurs are fluent in the dimension of impact, while investors are more focused on the bottom line. A new education platform called the Social Finance Academy strives to bridge this gap via free, online learning packages that enable investors and entrepreneurs to reach common ground. Christina Moehrle and Maxime Cheng of Roots of Impact explore the platform's early success and potential impact.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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A Business Accelerator Puts India’s Urban WASH Challenges Front and Center
India's cities are plagued by multiple water, sanitation and hygiene challenges, from inadequate drinking water to low sewerage network coverage. Private sector innovators and entrepreneurs are tackling these challenges with new technologies, products, services and business models. But their successes are inconsequential compared with the scale of the problem. Niyatee Goyal and Aditya Tejas at Ennovent discuss a USAID-supported platform that's addressing these problems on several fronts – including through a business accelerator.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology, WASH
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Crowdfunded Farming: Connecting Investors with Smallholders in Indonesia
Despite the importance of agriculture in Indonesia's economy, smallholder farmers are 2.3 times poorer than the general population – and they have little access to formal financing that could boost their production and income. Because of this, many fall prey to loan sharks and go into debt. To address this vicious cycle, the crowdfunding platform Crowde is helping smallholders connect with investors, who help finance their farms in exchange for profit-sharing. Heri Siswanto discusses the successes – and challenges – of this approach.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Technology
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World Ocean Summit Coming to Mexico March 7-9: NextBillion Readers Get 20% Discount
The fifth World Ocean Summit will be held at Riviera Maya, Mexico, on March 7-9, 2018, and will grapple with some of the most intractable problems plaguing the world's oceans — as well as explore new possibilities. The Economist Group puts on the event, which will convene 360+ global leaders, for a constructive and solution-focused dialogue. NextBillion readers can get a 20 percent discount on tickets.
- Categories
- Environment
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Two Problems, One Solution: How Fintech is Boosting Access to Banking and Insurance for Domestic Workers in Mexico
More than 2 million domestic workers in Mexico go unseen by the formal financial system – they don't pay into a pension or social security system, and remain unbanked and badly underserved. Mexican fintech startup 4UNO is serving this hard-to-reach segment with an innovative banking and insurance product delivered through their employers. BFA's Gabriela Zapata explains how 4UNO is avoiding the pitfalls traditional financial institutions have faced in working with low-income clients.
- Categories
- Finance, Health Care
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The ‘Strange Bedfellows’ Myth: How Fintechs and Financial Institutions Can Partner for Mutual Benefit – And Greater Financial Inclusion
The classic tech-meets-tradition narrative often portrays fintechs and established financial institutions as natural adversaries. But research from the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) and the Institute of International Finance found quite the opposite to be true. CFI's Sonja E. Kelly explores the report's findings, which detail the surprising scope for collaboration among these players – and the potential impact on low-income customers.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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Revolutionizing Payday: Mobile Money’s Transformative Impact on Liberia’s Public Workers
Imagine if every time you picked up your paycheck, you had to navigate a long and dangerous ride, deal with endless lines and cash shortages at the bank, and pay expensive fees and bribes – a process that cost you several work days and up to 15 percent of your salary. That used to be the situation facing health and education workers in Liberia, but the government’s innovative use of mobile money has turned things around. Erica Bustinza of FHI 360 oversees the program that made this possible, and she discusses its impact.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Does Digital Finance Really Address Low-Income Customers’ Needs?
Digital financial services are proliferating across the developing world, yet providers are having trouble coming up with products that meet low-income customers where they live. For instance, for a rural customer, how can a stagnant digital savings account compete with a productive egg-laying hen? Maha Khan and Annabel Schiff, representing the newly formed Mastercard Foundation Partnership for Finance in a Digital Africa, unveil new research exploring how digital financial services can meet people's needs alongside more traditional services.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
