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  • Mirjam Schöning and Abigail Noble

    Part III: Getting the Most Out of Your Board

    If designed and managed correctly, a corporate governance board,strengthens, not weakens, the leadership of a social enterprise and helps to ensure the success of the social enterprise.
    In last week’s post, we at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship discussed the first step: creating the right governance board for your social enterprise. The focus of this post is on managing the board once it is created.

    Categories
    Social Enterprise, Uncategorized
    Tags
    business development, governance
  • Martin Herrndorf

    What the SOCCKET is (And What it is Not)

    It looks like the prototype do-gooder-gimmick – a football (soccer ball) that produces and stores electricity, which can power a solar lantern at night. Each ball financed by Western backers, they are donated in developing countries. I had the chance to kick it at the Rio Summit – it’s a fun concept, but does it hold up to its promise?

    Categories
    Energy, Technology
    Tags
    product design, renewable energy
  • Sanjoy Sanyal

    Is A Clean Energy Access Market Finally Emerging ?

    The fact that the poor are willing to pay for clean energy has been known for some time. The WRI-New Ventures Power to the People had estimated the Indian market for clean energy at about USD 2 billion a year. The IFC(W) report From Gap to Opportunity that estimates the total worldwide spend of the poor at about USD 37 billion on poor-quality energy solutions.

    Categories
    Energy
    Tags
    renewable energy
  • Nilima Achwal

    Weekly Roundup: Planting the SEED

    Social enterprises face a number of extreme challenges that are difficult to surmount in the first few years, at the center of which is the challenge of creating viable, scalable business models around their social innovations. That’s why Villgro, a social enterprise incubator in Chennai, India, has created an intensive training program geared to speed up the business model refinement process for entrepreneurs who have not yet raised external investment, with the aim of helping them to raise their first rounds of funding.

    Categories
    Social Enterprise
  • Sriram Gutta

    Cut Off From Infrastructure, Not From Support: SKS NGO Builds Self-Reliance in Isolated Communities

    The purpose of SKS’s ultra poor programme is to create sustainable livelihoods so that those living in extreme poverty can graduate into one of two paths: Axisting microfinance programme in the area (for the few that wish to expand their business or diversify into other activities), or to continue saving in groups and use their savings to strengthen and diversify their asset base (a viable transition for most).

    Categories
    Education
    Tags
    graduation approach, poverty alleviation, skill development
  • Jeremy Gilley

    Countdown to World Peace Day

    June 21 also marks the three-month countdown to Peace Day on Sept. 21, 2012, when we hope to see the largest global reduction of violence ever recorded on one day – the Global Truce 2012 campaign. We believe this will be the largest-ever gathering of individuals in the name of peace.

    Categories
    Agriculture
  • Ann-Kristin Achleitner and Judith Mayer

    Creating the Right Board for Your Social Enterprise

    While for-profit corporations often focus on accountability towards their shareholders, social enterprises are often torn between interests of their target group and interest of their funders. Research by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship revealed some interesting findings on this issue.

    Categories
    Education, Social Enterprise
    Tags
    governance
  • Acumen Fund

    (With Video): From SOCAP Europe – Why Giving Is Not Going Away

    At last month’s SOCAP: Designing the Future in Malmö, Sweden, the role philanthropy should take in fostering a strong impact investing sector was one of the key focal points. Adding to the buzz was new report published by Monitor in collaboration with Acumen Fund, titled From Blueprint to Scale: The Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing, the subject of a lively discussion from the forum.

    Categories
    Uncategorized
    Tags
    impact investing, philanthropy
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