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Breathing Life Into Ethiopian Health Care: Firm aims ‘to set the bar as high as possible’ as country’s only medical device manufacturer
There were no medical device manufacturing companies in Ethiopia. That is, until Tiffani Diage, Fasil Kiros and Birhanu Assefa Belay found the funding for a start-up firm to make mechanical resuscitation devices.
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- Health Care
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Can Digital Currencies Change the World?: Bitcoin is a tech-savvy alternative to traditional payment systems, but could it meet the needs of the financially excluded?
Riding on the Bitcoin hype, a legion of techno-optimists believes that digital crypto-currencies have the potential to transform ineffective global payment systems, and ultimately spur global financial inclusion. But will digital currencies such as Bitcoin truly change the global payment infrastructure and bring financial access to millions?
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- Technology
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Featured Event: Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014: There’s still time for NB readers to register at a discount
Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014 is set for April 9-11 at Hotel Renaissance, Powai, in Mumbai. NextBillion is serving as a media partner for this year’s summit, and there’s still time for NextBillion readers to register by using the discount code: NXTBSUS. The summit is the flagship event of Intellecap’s in-house initiative, Sankalp Forum, a platform for social entrepreneurs.
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- Uncategorized
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- impact investing
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The Right Way to Talk About Money: Ignacio Mas discusses the impact words can have on financial behaviors at the BoP
Words can have a major impact on the way people think and feel about their money, says Ignacio Mas. In this Q&A with Mercy Corps’ Kyla Yeoman, he discusses how financial service providers should take customers’ psychological needs into account when designing products - and how the words used to describe these products can affect the way they’re used.
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- Uncategorized
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How Business Can Lift People Out Of Poverty: 4 insights from the world’s best social entrepreneurs
How do you profitably sell to a customer who earns less than $2 per day?
It is probably the most daunting business question in the world — as well as the most important, because that’s the earning power of nearly one third of humanity. The challenge is immense. And yet a new kind of entrepreneur is springing up who sees things differently, for whom business is the best way to fight poverty.- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Health Centers Paying Off in Kenyan Slums: Access Afya’s award-winning model is based on empowering clients
Access Afya runs two micro-clinics in Nairobi slums with plans to expand to four sites by the end of 2014. Monthly revenue increased more than 150 percent in 12 months and both sites are covering between 70-80 percent of their operating costs in 2014. Access Afya’s goal is to have all four sites, current and planned, self-sustaining by the end of the year.
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- Environment, Health Care
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The Challenge of Keeping it Simple: India’s best start-ups focus on solving real customer problems
Too often, start-ups serving the BoP try to do too much, says Vikas Raj of Accion Venture Lab. Though there’s nothing wrong with wanting to change the world, in varied and complicated settings like India, no individual outfit can solve every problem. Instead, effective startups take local realities into account, focus on a basic customer pain point, and then work from there.
- Categories
- Technology
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- mobile finance
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Mining Local, Sourcing Local: Why companies that take proactive steps to utilize local suppliers will have the edge
From Canada’s far north to Sub-Saharan Africa, citizens who live around mining operations want to see benefits in the form of jobs, tax revenue, and economic development. The companies that increase the amount of local goods and services they purchase will both benefit economically and benefit the community.
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- Uncategorized
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- mining, supply chains
