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Sorry, ‘Feel Good’ Investors: Deep Impact Requires Concessions
There's a big crowd of investors on the side of the return continuum seeking a feel-good, low-risk way of earning an invitation to speak at the next GIIN or SOCAP, according to Greg Neichin and Diane Isenberg of Ceniarth. There are far fewer willing to make the necessary and realistic concessions required to generate impact in the most underserved places in the world.
- Categories
- Investing
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Is Microcredit a Vaccine or an Antibiotic?
In his third post in a series, Timothy Ogden asks if microcredit is a vaccine or an antibiotic. In other words, does it work best when delivered at the right dose and at the right moment, or when it's made available to an entire population? Thinking through that frame, he believes, can help social investors clarify their theory of change and guide what areas of microcredit innovation to invest in.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Learning From Failure: Lessons From Nigeria About Integrating Technology Into Rural Health Systems
A study showed that most people living in a Nigerian territory lacked access to health care, leading to a radical eHealth pilot project. That pilot failed, but lessons learned ultimately led to a stronger and more sustainable eHealth framework in Nigeria and can help others who hope to integrate technology into health systems, especially in limited-resource settings.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- data, failure, rural development
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Measuring the Impact of Social Design
A group of talented people will come together at the Measured Summit in New York City on Jan. 24 to discuss protocols for measuring the impact of social design in an effort to understand it better, evaluate where it works and why, attract and prepare the next practitioners to take it further, and scale those things about it that have earned attention and hope.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Tags
- product design
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Social Business Roundup: Building Our Immunity to Anti-Vaxxers, Solar Loans With a Side of Health, and SRI Goes Robo
There’s a crisis of trust in the world, some of it well earned – and some, like skepticism about vaccines, completely unwarranted. We cover an alarming uptick in the anti-vax movement's profile, an effort to pair solar loans with health care in Ghana, and the emergence of "robo-SRI" in this news roundup.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing, solar, vaccines
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Fintech or Die: Five Ways Microfinance Can (and Must) Respond to the Digital Age
MicroSave founder Graham Wright hasn't been shy in criticizing the ways lenders are currently leveraging fintech to serve low-income clients. But his views on its potential in microfinance are far more bullish than this criticism might suggest. "Very soon, if MFIs don't develop a strategy and implement fintech behind that strategy, I think they will simply become irrelevant and slowly but surely shrink and die," he said in this frank video Q&A.
- Categories
- Technology
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Announcing NextBillion’s 2017 Editorial Calendar and Our First Monthly Theme: Microfinance
It's a new year, and NextBillion is announcing a new approach to showcase our diverse array of content: Each month, along with our regular coverage of the broader social business world, we’ll dedicate special coverage to a specific sector. We're launching the concept this month, with a special focus on microfinance. You can view our full 2017 editorial calendar here.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- microfinance
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Tools of the Recycling Trade Include … Tricycles
Lagos has a trash collection problem. A very big one. When Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola heard about it, she thought it represented a business opportunity. So she started a recycling firm, Wecyclers, which shuttles recyclable materials from homes to processing centers on a fleet of tricycles. In this Q&A, she talks about how she got the idea and where she hopes to take it.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise
