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The Science of Dirt (Part 1): Entrepreneur building and selling affordable, electricity-free water filters made with clay, sand and sawdust in India
While traveling in India, Chandrasekaran Jayaraman saw firsthand that most villages did not have good drinking water or good toilets. After determining that the problem was fixable, he set to work refining the government’s patented technology to make water micro-filters using clay. This is the first of a two-part Q&A.
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- Agriculture, Health Care
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- manufacturing, product design, scale
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NexThought Monday – Financial Innovation Moves Away from the Dark Side
After innovations like subprime securities helped crash the global economy in 2008, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker famously asserted that the only financial innovation that has improved society is the ATM machine. It’s an opinion that many still share - but the recent EMERGE conference showed otherwise. We explore six ways the U.S. financial industry is innovating to actually help low-income consumers.
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The Path Toward a B Corp Law in Argentina
There are currently 100 B Corps (Benefit Corporations) in South America. But in Argentina, there is no legal status for businesses that walk the line between nonprofit and for-profit. A team lawyers provides a blueprint for legislation in Argentina.
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Weekly roundup 6-14-14: When conventional wisdom gets upended
When conventional wisdom gets upended, well, we’re all a little better off for it. Here are two examples from this week, both of which dispel myths that have a tendency to solidify into facts.
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- Education, Technology, Telecommunications
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Indonesia’s New Economic Era: A presidential election on the horizon, the world’s most populist Muslim country faces old problems
Indonesia’s economy is set to outpace Germany and the United Kingdom by 2030, yet nearly half its population struggles to survive on less than $2 a day, according to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute. The upcoming presidential election could set the stage for an inclusive, equitable economy that lifts the poorest out of poverty, provides good jobs and rewards the business sector.
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- Uncategorized
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Inside the Tech Hub Movement: In-depth lessons from a global mobile entrepreneurship initiative
In the U.S. and Europe, startup accelerators have been the flavor of the day, whereas in Africa, Asia, and other emerging markets, entrepreneurial buzz was driven more by the rise of tech hubs. The World Bank has completed an in-depth assessment of about dozen tech hub initiatives since 2010 and it may mean for ITC development gains.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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Part of the Problem – or Part of the Solution?: EMERGE conference challenges financial service providers to raise their game in serving low-income Americans
Approximately 46.5 million Americans live in poverty, due in part to the 2008 economic crisis. But the industry that sparked the crash may be part of the solution, as financial service providers show increasing interest in the low-income market. In the first post in our Domestic Financial Innovation series, we explore the industry’s shifting attitudes toward bank and non-bank players.
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Taking a Multi-Dimensional View: Free WDI webinar series on assessing poverty impact
Many BoP ventures struggle to capture a complete picture of what is going on inside their organization. WDI’s Heather Esper on a new webinar series focused on how to how ventures can understand how their actions are truly influencing poverty.
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- Impact Assessment
