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The Most-Viewed, Most-Shared NextBillion Posts for July
July’s most popular posts dug into the how-to of selling new technology products to low-income customers, the case for closer collaboration between microfinance and health care industries, and why philanthropic organizations could and should be the glue that holds the social enterprise sector together.
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- Health Care
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150 Million Bank Accounts – Is That Enough?: Infrastructure is only one part of designing an inclusive financial system in India
Indian prime minister Modi recently announced an ambitious new plan for financial inclusion for all Indians. The plan focuses on the estimated half of the country’s population that does not use a bank, providing them with debit cards and insurance policies (among other things). But IPA points out that creating an inclusive financial system will require more than ATM cards.
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NexThought Monday – The Affordable Housing Puzzle: Three pilot projects in India aim to assemble the pieces –customers, financing and scale
Can the low-cost or affordable housing segment business in fact be profitable, and more importantly, scalable? asks housing developer and researcher Dhaval Monani. He points to new pilot projects that show promise in delivering safe, very low-cost homes that come with a profit for developers.
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Weekly Roundup – 8/23/14: From cola to credit, the customer is always right
Despite the many and ongoing debates in economic and academic circles, there’s a role to play for multinationals, startups, and small and medium sized companies in alleviating poverty and reaching the underserved. Three examples this week hammered home the idea that, no matter the size of the business or its model, it all starts with the customer.
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FEATURED EVENT: The 17th Microcredit Summit, September 3-5 in Mérida, Mexico
For 17 years, the Microcredit Summits have been exploring the use of microfinance as a means to end extreme poverty. This year’s Summit, which has the theme "Generation Next: Innovations in Microfinance," will take place in Mérida, Mexico this September 3rd to 5th. NextBillion Financial Innovation will be a media partner at the event.
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- Impact Assessment
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Smart Loan Products, Smarter Lending Approach: Kazakhstan’s Asian Credit Fund serves the country’s financially underserved, rural poor
There’s a dramatic income gap between rich and poor in Kazakhstan. Recognizing this, in recent years Asian Credit Fund (founded in 1997 by Mercy Corps) has been targeting the country’s most remote areas, adapting its products to the rural context, with a sustainable twist.
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Taking Gender Integration Further: Giving women the skills they need to compete in markets
In some ways, applying a gender approach to a market-oriented activity is contradictory. You want your beneficiaries to make decisions based on sound business principles while also increasing women’s participation. But the reality is that women disproportionately lack the needed business skills and resources to actively participate. One initiative recognizing this produced strong results.
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- Agriculture
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The Companies Act has Promise, but Will India Inc. Cash In?: Business value and social good can converge if companies shift focus from compliance to results
There is much excitement in India around the social Companies Act, which stipulates that 2 percent of corporations’ profits must be spent on CSR. But the surge in CSR spending stemming from the new law will only be successful if execution looks markedly different from how CSR and philanthropic money has been spent in the past, says Dalberg’s Gaurav Gupta.
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