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What Rural Solar Energy Enterprises Can Learn from Mobisol’s Hard-Earned Lesson
Energy access pioneer Mobisol’s insolvency, announced last spring, sparked questions about the industry’s health. But according to Rob Goodier, managing editor at Engineering for Change, subsequent analyses suggest that many of the company's problems were internal, not a reflection of the industry as a whole. He explores what the rural energy sector can learn from Mobisol’s struggles, based on interviews with industry insiders and two people close to the company.
- Categories
- Energy
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Avoiding Impact Washing, Hero Worship and Other Ethical Marketing Pitfalls: A Q&A with Justin Belleme
How should impact-focused businesses market what they do – without succumbing to pitfalls such as impact washing or hero worship? We posed that question to Justin Belleme, the director of strategy at JB Media Group. As one of the few marketing agencies with a B Corp certification, JB Media works with multiple impact-focused businesses and organizations, including the SOCAP conference. In this Q&A, Belleme explores how well-intentioned impact entrepreneurs and their communications teams can keep their marketing in line with their missions.
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- Entrepreneurship, NextBillion Originals, Technology
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Inside-Out: The Good and the Bad of insight2impact
Does this situation sound familiar? A development program generates lots of intriguing insights – but once it's over, these learnings end up languishing in a sparsely read report in the back pages of a website. That’s the scenario insight2impact (i2i) aims to avoid. As the program wraps up, i2i lead Hennie Bester describes how it's bringing the insights it has generated, from both successes and failures, to the organizations that can use them – including through a new partnership with NextBillion.
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- Finance, NextBillion Originals
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A Watershed Moment in Impact Investing: The ‘Ninth Principle’ Shifts the Focus Beyond Good Intentions
In 2014, the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce laid out recommendations for the development of the impact investing market, in what Tideline managing partner Ben Thornley calls a "watershed moment" for the sector. Now, he says, that vision is becoming a reality, thanks in part to the launch of the IFC’s Operating Principles for Impact Management. He explores the importance of these principles – and why the ninth principle "is the real game-changer."
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- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Mainstreaming Impact Finance: Major Momentum and Gaps in the Transformation of the Financial Industry
There are exciting signs of a new level of mainstream corporate interest in sustainable business and finance. But despite the significant progress made in the sector since the 1970s, challenges remain – from lack of transparency in impact measurement, to lack of clarity about what impact even means. AlphaMundi founder Tim Radjy explores why we need to transform the rules of business and shift our systems to sustainable alternatives – and how impact finance can help make that happen.
- Categories
- Investing
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An African Solution to the Digital Skills Gap: Preparing for the Future of Work in Emerging Markets
With the rise of artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing, the nature of work is transforming. But while many focus on the possible downsides of these changes, like AI-fueled job loss, Becky Santora at Digital Divide Data points out some upsides as well. She explores the new technical and analytical skills necessary in the work of the future – and how emerging markets workers can prepare themselves.
- Categories
- Technology
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The Sales Mistakes That Are Holding Back Africa’s Solar Enterprises – And How to Fix Them
Selling solar energy products is challenging, so you'd expect solar enterprises to focus on making their sales departments as effective as possible. But in fact, as Whitten & Roy Partnership CEO Scott Roy points out, most solar companies are underemphasizing sales, harming not only their businesses but the broader industry's growth. He shares essential tips for how they can create truly effective sales teams.
- Categories
- Energy, Entrepreneurship
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The Development Tool Nobody’s Using: Why it’s Time for the Women’s Empowerment Sector to Leverage Media and Advertising
In women’s economic empowerment circles, there’s no shortage of initiatives involving corporate partnerships with NGOs - often focused on agriculture or garment supply chains. But as Mara Bolis at Oxfam points out, this focus has led the sector to overlook other potential areas of impact – including media and advertising. Sharing some compelling examples, she argues that media could have as much – or even more – influence in shaping women’s economic opportunities as changes to global value chains.
- Categories
- Technology
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