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PAYGo Solar at a Crossroads: Why the Industry Must Choose Between Protecting Customers and Satisfying Investors
Over $500 million in investor financing has poured into off-grid solar in the past year. But while that's an exciting development for the sector, there is a downside. As BrightLife CEO Stefan Grundmann explains, PAYGo solar operators are facing heightened investor pressure to expand their reach and aggressively deliver greater sales. In response, many companies have taken new measures to boost business – some of which have led to troubling new risks for customers. Grundmann explores this issue, and how the industry and its investors should respond to it.
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Less Golf, More Gender Equity: A Q&A with Impact Investor Morgan Simon
From filing shareholder resolutions as a teen to founding multiple impact investing funds and penning a successful book, Morgan Simon has spent nearly two decades combining finance and social justice in diverse and innovative ways. NextBillion caught up with her to discuss her distinctive career – and how her role within the sector has been shaped by her gender – in this interview, part of our special series 'By Women, For Women.'
- Categories
- Investing, NextBillion Originals
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Bringing the Tech Revolution to Health Care: New Report Provides First-Ever Snapshot of Global Digital Health Ecosystems
As the role of technology in health ecosystems grows, the global health sector needs a data-driven approach to measure and improve the status of digital health structures. That's the goal of the Global Digital Health Index (GDHI), an interactive digital resource that tracks, monitors and evaluates how health care providers use digital technology. Joanne Ke Edelman at the Global Development Incubator explores how data collected from 22 countries for GDHI’s inaugural “State of Digital Health” report provides the first-ever snapshot of digital health ecosystems throughout the world.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Can Superplatforms Transform Financial Inclusion in the Least Developed Countries? Emerging Insights from Nepal
Superplatforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba are at the forefront of technology in countries around the world. But can their model work down market? Using insights generated by homegrown superplatforms in Nepal, Keyzom Ngodup Massally and Audrey Misquith at UNCDF discuss their potential to build a new-generation financial sector in the least developed countries.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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The Impact of Equal Education: Solutions to the Gender Disparity in Sub-Saharan African Schools
About 132 million girls are out of school around the world, and the problem is fundamentally tied to gender. With issues ranging from child marriage to misperceptions about menstruation, girls face unique obstacles to education in many countries. Mark Buttweiler explores how Bridge International Academies is tackling the gender disparity, via a multifaceted, research-based approach that supports equality both in the classroom and the surrounding community.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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Good for Investors, Good for Business: Helping Financial Advisors Embrace Sustainable Investing
The chorus of investors demanding sustainable investing has hit a fever pitch – not just among millennials or women, but among all ages and genders. This has not gone unnoticed by financial advisors, but meeting client demand for these investments can be challenging. The Investment Integration Project recently published a guide to help advisors get past their anxieties and harness the business-building potential of sustainable investing. William Burckart and Jessica Ziegler discuss the key takeaways.
- Categories
- Investing
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Bridging the ‘Off-Grid/On-Grid’ Divide: How Grid Integration Can Build the Energy System of the Future
The cost of solar modules has dropped by over 80% since 2009, and it’s estimated that the world’s solar power capacity will triple by 2022, driven in part by off-grid energy. Yet without an effort to make connections between off-grid systems and national grids, the growing global movement toward mini-grid solutions cannot reach its potential, says Tatiana Bessarabova at Endeva. She explores how Endeva, SOLshare and other players in the energy sector are working to make grid integration a reality in Bangladesh.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Ceramics in Global Development: How an Affordable, Overlooked Technology Could Spark a Micro-Scale Industrial Revolution
In the developing world, diseases caused by polluted air and contaminated water claim millions of lives. Yet initiatives to distribute clean cookstoves and water filters have often struggled to bring affordable solutions to poor communities. According to Reid Harvey at TAM Ceramics, both filters and cookstoves can be inexpensively produced with an unexpected technology: ceramics. He explores how a breakthrough in ceramic science and design, combined with a focus on local production and distribution, could boost entrepreneurship while delivering life-changing products to the poor.
- Categories
- Energy, Entrepreneurship
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