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Why Mobile Wallets Won’t Work in India… Yet: The need is there, but obstacles remain
India has more competing mobile network operators than any other country, and it’s one of the largest and fastest growing mobile markets in the world. It’s also one of the most problematic countries for financial inclusion, with half the population lacking access to formal banking services. Mobile banking seems like an obvious solution, but as Ritesh Dhawan of MicroSave explains, implementing that solution is not so simple.
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- Uncategorized
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Focusing on the Next Generation: An exploration of enterprise impacts on child poverty
Traditional interventions to reduce poverty during early childhood are not enough. Given the magnitude of the challenge and the limitations of existing approaches, BoP enterprises have the potential to positively affect early childhood development. However, our understanding of the impact BoP ventures actually have on the lives of children remains vague, and ultimately limits their ability to improve the lives of at-risk children.
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- Education, Impact Assessment
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Beyond Technology: Five ways to support water irrigation in Sub Saharan Africa
Despite the growing demand for irrigation technology, the International Water Management Institute found that farmers still face significant barriers to groundwater irrigation success, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa. This is why the relatively low cost treadle pump grew in popularity, but it’s not the only solution.
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- Agriculture
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Success at Scale: How CARD Bank activated 480,000 poor savers in the Philippines
Grameen Foundation recently completed an innovative 4-year project with CARD Bank in the Philippines. Their goal: to provide access to secure, accessible and convenient savings accounts targeted to the poor. Julie Peachey describes how Grameen helped the bank open 480,000 new active savings accounts and create the infrastructure for implementation of mobile financial services, while helping its partner ensure sustainability.
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- Uncategorized
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‘Vanity is Not Monopolized By the Rich’: VisionSpring’s innovative way to sell eyeglasses proving to be sustainable; a Q&A with COO Peter Eliassen
Through a hub-and-spoke business model, middle-income customers are subsidizing company’s work with BoP consumers. And it’s proving to be sustainable.
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- Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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- supply chains
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‘I had 250 angry police officers banging at my door’: The CEO of Roshan on the promise and perils of providing mobile money in Afghanistan
As the CEO of Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications provider, Karim Khoja has been at the front lines of that country’s struggles to modernize its economy - and his experiences have been both inspiring and nerve-racking. In Part 2 of our Mobile Money Movers series, he talks with Global Envision’s Kyla Yeoman about the lessons he’s learned about mobile money’s potential to transform lives.
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- Technology
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- digital payments
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Beyond the Metros: Nurturing regional social enterprise ecosystems in India
The social enterprise ecosystem, including impact investors, are centered in India’s major metros, a world away from some of the most pressing needs and challenging contexts for entrepreneurship in India. Villgro is hoping to break new ground by organizing a series of 15 single-day Unconvention|L (Unconvention|Local) events across India. The goal is create awareness of, and enthusiasm for, social enterprise in smaller cities across the vast country.
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- Education
