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A Woman’s World – Virtual Offices and Gender Gyms: A new Ashoka Changemakers/GE competition focuses on female business gains in MENA
Women Powering Work: Innovations for Economic Equality in the MENA Region is an an online competition by Ashoka Changemakers and General Electric. They are calling for initiatives that enable women in MENA to achieve economic equality, strengthen their families and communities, and benefit equitably from economic growth.
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Think Globally, Innovate Locally: If you’re trying to serve individual customers, you can’t be a plane ride away, says Accion Venture Lab’s Paul Breloff
Here’s a common quote among entrepreneurs: “We’re focused on the BoP in [pick an emerging market] – but our senior management team is based in [some fully emerged market].” But as Accion Venture Lab’s Paul Breloff argues, if you’re trying to serve individual customers, you’ve got to immerse yourself in the countless intangibles that make up their daily lives.
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Engaging Customers and Clients in Social Change
“Engaging Customers and Clients in Social Change” was the theme for the 12th annual Social Enterprise Conference at Columbia University’s Business school earlier this month. The premise took on the practical, and therefore often overlooked, side of social entrepreneurship. While social entrepreneurs may have fantastic visions for transforming the world, they can’t accomplish much without energizing and motivating those on the receiving end.
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Friction and Flow: How innovation can put relevance back into formal savings
Do you realize to what extent formal savings services are irrelevant to many of the world’s poor?Ignacio Mas explores the challenges of making savings products both relevant and simple, in a thought-provoking addition to NextBillion Financial Innovation’s opening series.
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Google Hangout with Antony Bugg-Levine: Watch the replay of our conversation with an impact investing pioneer
NextBillion Financial Innovation’s first Google Hangout took place on Oct. 15, and we hosted an outstanding guest: Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund and a true pioneer in impact investing. Check out our videotaped Q&A in this post.
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- Impact Assessment
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Microfinance in the Crosshairs: Will Kyrgyzstan’s usury bill backfire?
Microfinance has become a subject of controversy, as predatory lenders and unfair interest rates have tarnished its image and led to government interventions. But in Kyrgyzstan, a country with little financial regulation and no sovereign credit rating, increasing regulations may soon have negative consequences for the very clients they’re intended to protect.
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Drafting a Plan for Impact Sourcing: Identifying the Key Initiatives to Scale and Sustain Impact Sourcing
Thirty-one experts from all over the world involved in the Impact Sourcing sector wrestled with this intriguing and challenging question over five days at the Bellagio Impact Sourcing Conference. The five-day conference was convened by the Rockefeller Foundation and facilitated by the William Davidson Institute last month at the foundation’s conference center in Bellagio, Italy.
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- Technology
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NexThought Monday: Our Top 5 Tips for BoP Marketing: What are yours?
Inspired by discussions at the Hystra’s Marketing Innovative Devices to the Base of Pyramid as well as our own extensive experience in marketing life-changing products to the BoP, here at Living Goods, we thought it was high-time we shared our Top 5 Tips for BoP Marketing. Like any good list, we hope it sparks a vibrant discussion...
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