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South Africa’s Energy Schizophrenia: Why Hasn’t the Country Achieved Affordable Power for the Poor?
There are vast extremes between the energy rich and poor in South Africa, despite the country's great potential to make energy universally available. A new report by Impact Amplifier examines the reasons behind the discrepancies and describes five energy access business models for low-income communities: biogas, solar home systems, mini/micro grids, solar kiosks and solar appliances.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Social Business Roundup: SOCAP Aims for the Mainstream, Cambodia Caps Microcredit, Quali Health Simplifies Health Care
In announcing its new ownership, SOCAP mentioned the word “mainstream” six times – the popular social business and investing conference is clearly aiming to grow beyond its current niche. In Cambodia, the National Bank capped interest on microcredit to a maximum of 18 percent per year – about half of what some MFIs currently charge. And a visit to India inspired a South African doctor to launch a profitable health care clinic in a local shantytown. These stories and more in our weekly roundup.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Investing
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The Girl Effect: Accelerator Connects Girls in Poverty with Silicon Valley Innovators
What if girls destined for poverty in developing countries were connected with some of the best minds in Silicon Valley? They can be, thanks to the Girl Effect Accelerator, an initiative of the Nike Foundation and the Unreasonable Group. The program helped Annetty Chama go from having no job – and no hope of getting one – to becoming her family's primary bread-winner in Zambia.
- Categories
- Education
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The Distributed Economy: Four Ways Blockchain Can Transform MSMEs in Emerging Markets
Micro, small and medium enterprises are the largest employers in many developing countries, but their growth is limited by a lack of access to savings, insurance, credit equity and payments services. Traditional companies aren't stepping up to solve the problem, but blockchain can help. Here are four ways this new type of data application can further MSME growth.
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- Technology
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How Loan Guarantees Are Unlocking Private Capital for Clean Energy and Sustainable Agriculture
MCE Social Capital, a nonprofit impact investing firm, believes leveraging loan guarantees can unlock private sector capital for the more than 2 billion people who lack access to formal financial services. Over the past couple of years, MCE has expanded its focus to clean energy and sustainable agriculture in an effort to promote macroeconomic stability and a healthy planet.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Investing
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FinTech’s Elephant Seal Problem
Like the elephant seal, most fintech companies are focused on growing as large as possible. That means they usually choose a free business model to facilitate growth. Kristen Berman and Wendy De La Rosa of the Common Cents Lab say there's a better way: Abandon the free model and focus on removing the true psychological barriers to financial management.
- Categories
- Technology
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Heeding the Voice of the Planet: Why CSR Isn’t Enough
Academic and author Stuart Hart writes that we have inadvertently put most of our chips on continuous improvement inside of current fossil fuel-based businesses and have largely forgotten about the critical importance of disruption, innovation and transformational change to corporate sustainability. How do we move business from the folly of competing for corporate sustainability ratings to actually making a difference? It starts with providing the right incentives, Hart says.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
- Tags
- renewable energy
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Social Business Roundup: A Defiant Asset Manager, Salty Doorknobs and Who Has it Worse?
This week in social business, the world's third-largest asset manager is pressuring companies to add more women to their boards; a Nobel Prize winner's ponderings on inequality within nations might make you rethink life in America; and salt earns a chance to be a hero – for a change.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing
