-
NexThought Monday – Needed: A New Kind of Infrastructure: Digital infrastructure must be a priority – and the need goes beyond technology
For decades, the development community has stressed the importance of infrastructure, usually focusing on things like roads and water systems. But to ensure that the benefits of the mobile revolution reach the world’s poor, we now need to consider digital infrastructure as well. And as USAID’s Nandini Harihareswara describes it, this must include more than cell phone towers and Internet cables.
- Categories
- Technology
-
Twitter Top Ten
Unlike in the world of global soccer, this week in global development was marked by a fair amount of positive news. We captured some of it in this week’s Top Ten list, which features everything from mobile money momentum and impact investing resources, to promising health care innovations - along with a couple of cool videos.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care, Technology
-
Weekly Roundup: Fewer hungry people, a lot more patents and a spotlight on the whiteness of NGOs
A bit of good news floated across the news wires this week: The number of hungry people in the world has dropped dramatically. Considering the drop in hunger, perhaps it’s not a coincidence that as a globe, we never been more inventive, according to a surge in patents.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care, Technology
-
Regulators as Customers: Positive, negative, and subtle ways governments are affecting Inclusive business – and vice versa
Moaning about government regulation and red tape simply does not do justice to the complex field of inclusive business. Caroline Ashley sees a host of positive and negative influences of government and policy, and explores how inclusive businesses are influencing their local and state governments.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
The BoP Isn’t What it Used to Be: IDB’s upcoming forum to focus on how income changes are leading to business opportunities
More than 400 million people in Latin America live at the base of the pyramid today, and they represent a $760 billion annual market. The Inter-American Development Bank’s BASE III Forum will provide an opportunity to discuss how to tap into this largely unexplored market.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
-
Recognizing a Neglected Opportunity: The multiple benefits of electronic wage payments
Consumer goods companies rely on massive supply chains with millions of workers in developing countries. Many of these workers are women, and many are still paid in cash – and herein lies an opportunity for change. Digitizing these wage payments could help workers and employers, while boosting financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Gender Mobility: A deeper dive into female-friendly business, economic programs harnessing cell technology
Women are 21 percent less likely to own a phone than a man in developing nations.The mobile development community is aware of this gender gap and has kickstarted a number of programs to help. Global Envision profiles a few of the mobile providers that are ahead of the game with female-targeted programs.
- Categories
- Technology
-
Into Acumen’s Latin American Expansion: Patient capital fund hopes to deploy $8 million in 10 enterprises in Colombia and Peru in five years
Earlier this month, the philanthropic impact investing group Acumen announced it would be expanding to Latin America. We caught up with Acumen’s Latin America Director Virgilio Barco about Acumen’s long-term social sector and portfolio goals, and the state of impact investing across Latin America, which may have gotten a slow start compared to other regions of the world, but seems to be making up ground at a rapid pace.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
