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Weekly Roundup: Foundation Under Fire, Hartigan Remembered and Blockchain Unchained
NB's editors pay their respects to social entrepreneurship pioneer Pamela Hartigan, ponder the future of the Clinton Foundation, discuss blockchain technology's march toward the development sector mainstream, opine on Michael Bloomberg's new role with the World Health Organization, and wonder why, if everyone's talking about "rigorous research," no one is using it?
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- blockchain, research
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A Bridge Too Far? Bridge International Academies Responds to Ugandan Government’s Allegations and Closure Plans
The Ugandan government recently announced plans to close Bridge International Academies, the celebrated for-profit school company operating in Africa. Uganda's education minister claims that the schools “showed poor hygiene and sanitation which put the life and safety of the school children in danger.” Bridge vehemently denies these charges, and we talked to the company about where things stand.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- regulations
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Is Ultra Poverty Graduation Working?
The graduation approach centers on creating effective pathways for the ultra-poor living at the bottom of the poverty pyramid. In countries like Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia, Peru, Ghana and Pakistan, studies have documented the approach's impact in causing (yes, causing) broad and lasting economic impacts and improvements in psychosocial well-being.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
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A Demographic Time Bomb: The Urgent Need to Prepare Undocumented Hispanic Immigrants for Retirement
The United States is home to some 11.3 million undocumented immigrants, mostly Latin American. These immigrants are aging, and whether they stay in the U.S. or return to their home countries, many are woefully underprepared for the financial burdens of retirement. The consequences of ignoring their retirement savings needs are significant – but so are the opportunities to reach them with financial products.
- Categories
- Investing
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Impact Investing Comes of Age: ImpactAlpha Rounds up Nine Stories Shaping the Marketplace
Impact investments represent some of the greatest wealth generating opportunities of our time, from the trillions needed to build a clean global energy grid, to the opportunities in delivering essential services to the emerging middle class. Here are nine recent developments that highlight the sector's growing significance, part of ImpactAlpha's ongoing collaboration with NextBillion.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Svadha: ‘The First Step for Households Is to Get a Dignified Toilet and Use It’
Svadha, a sanitation business founded in India in 2013, trains entrepreneurs to sell and help install sanitation and hygiene products, and then support them after the sale. The approach is working: In the past six month the company has doubled its revenue and the number of entrepreneurs in its network, to more than 200.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Borrowing and Saving – Not Two Sides of the Same Coin
From a mathematical point of view, borrowing and saving are mirror images. In both cases many small payments allow for one or more large payouts. Only the sequence differs. But after traveling to India and Kenya as part of a research project, we were struck by vast differences in the way people make borrowing and savings decisions - and these have profound implications for financial service providers.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Weekly Roundup: The Death of a Salesman, a Megaphone for Mom, and a Target on BlackRock
Divestment activists in the gay community turn their sights on BlackRock, a tragic suicide reveals trouble in India's health care industry, and a new study shows the value of constructive nagging in this week's Roundup.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
