-
When People Say They ‘Lack the Money to be Banked’ – Here’s What They Mean
Between 2014-2015, Bankable Frontier Associates worked with other partners to collect baseline data on access to financial services in three member countries: Fiji, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. In these surveys, not having enough money also emerged, unsurprisingly, as the number one reason for not having a bank account among unbanked Pacific Islanders. But here's what we found when we dug a bit deeper.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
How PayPal is Moving Beyond Payments: An Interview with Tyler Spalding
Many people know PayPal primarily through its ubiquitous buttons enabling online donations to nonprofits, blogs and other websites and causes. But it also has a significant presence in the world of social business – something that represents a growing priority for the payments provider. We discussed this evolving focus with Tyler Spalding, lead manager on PayPal's Social Innovation team.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Blueprint for Ignition: How the Catalyst Fund Got Started
The Catalyst Fund's intervention is specific: It provides small, flexible grants of up to US $100,000 alongside mentoring and advisory services from investors and a robust learning agenda, dedicated to supporting innovative but pre-investable inclusive fintech startups. Here's how the Accion Venture Lab team worked with the Gates Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Quona Capital, Grey Ghost Ventures and the Omidyar Network, among others, to create it.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
-
How Entrepreneurship Unlocked Workplace Daycare for the Children of Garment Workers
With Bangladesh reigning as the cheapest place to produce clothing in the world, the government and the multinational businesses that depend on low-cost labour have yet to tackle the root of poor working conditions. One social entrepreneur, however, has steadily made progress partnering with communities and factories to improve the lives of women workers and their children. Ashoka Fellow Suraiya Haque founded Phulki in 1991, and today the organisation operates nearly 90 community-based and 25 factory-based daycare centres in Dhaka.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Helping Smallholders Grow a Pharmacy on their Farms
Eliminating hidden hunger is not easy, but with resources in the right place, with governments, donors and civil society working together and with the right policies developed, BRAC believes it can introduce poor children in developing countries to a nutritious vegetable – the orange-fleshed sweet potato – they will come to favor.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Tags
- nutrition
-
NexThought Monday: Sprinters vs. Limpers – Three Critical Success Factors for Digital Finance Deployments
According to the GSMA, there are 271 mobile money services in operation across 93 countries, and digital financial services are now available in over 60 percent of developing markets. An increasing number of services are reaching scale, as 30 services now have more than one million active accounts. But 241 have failed to do so. So what separates these 30 “sprinters” from those deployments that are merely limping along?
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Weekly Roundup: Social Enterprise Meets Reality TV – Is That a Good Thing?
Today, 12 India-based social entrepreneurs will make TV history as the world’s first reality show about social enterprise and impact investing is broadcast on NDTV. The program is being billed as an attempt to mainstream the sector via a popular medium - a worthy goal, but is reality TV really the right way to achieve it? We discuss this question, and other developments in the social business space, in this roundup.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
-
A Holistic Approach: Three keys to helping small businesses access the finance they need
Among the many obstacles to the growth faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, the inability to access credit tops the list. How can intermediaries, such as nonprofit organizations supporting SMEs, help them access the credit that they need? There is room for a more holistic approach to supporting SMEs in search of financing. Here are three key lessons drawn from TechnoServe’s projects to support entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
