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Best Ideas of 2011: 2012, the Year of Archimedean Entrepreneurs
Around 200 BC, Archimedes made a formidable dare: "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world". Two thousand years later, ‘Archimedean entrepreneurs’ are responding to this mythical challenge, moving Africa beyond the "starving-growth" paradox to address the greatest challenge facing us.
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- Social Enterprise
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The View from Canada: Impact Investing 2.0 – Your Money, Your Way
At the Social Finance Forum hosted by the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing last month in Toronto, speakers revealed new opportunities and new mechanisms for retail-sized investors seeking social and monetary dividends - from solar bonds to affordable housing.
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- Uncategorized
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- impact investing
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Guest Post: Promoting Green Entrepreneurship in India’s Auto-Rickshaw Sector
Auto-rickshaw services in Indian cities are mostly unorganized, creating myriad economic and environmental problems for both drivers and customer passengers. But linking rickshaw entrepreneurs with social investors presents a huge business opportunity to bring about social and sustainable benefits - the focus of an EMBARQ India summit next month.
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- Uncategorized
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In Ghana, For-Profit Health Providers Are An Important Source of Care for Rich and Poor Alike
A new comprehensive analysis of Ghana’s health marketplace conducted recently for the World Bank Group should be mandatory reading for health enterprises, analysts, or others keen to enter, expand or study operations in this progressive west African country.
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- Health Care
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A New Direction in South-South Collaboration at the 6th Annual New Ventures India Investor Forum
Last month, New Ventures India held its 6th annual Investor Forum, which showcased 17 environmentally-focused SMEs to investors and business leaders in Mumbai. For the first time, the forum hosted several sessions dedicated to South-South collaboration giving 8 companies from across Asia and Africa the chance to present the case for entering India.
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- Environment
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Best Ideas of 2011: Understanding Three Affordable Housing X-Factors
I spent most of 2011 in Pakistan working at Ansaar Management Company on affordable housing projects in the flood-affected areas. Reflecting on the year, there are three distinct lessons that stand out. I call them X-Factors; lessons that, if understood broadly, could make a significant difference in the way in which housing is provided for all.
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- Uncategorized
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Financing Agricultural Supply Chains – Sustainably
In April of 2011, Rainforest Alliance and Citi Foundation hosted a Sustainable Value Chain Finance Workshop, which established a dialogue across the full range of agricultural sector participants, including buyers, exporters, retailers, producers, insurers, private and public financial institutions, development agencies and civil society.
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- Agriculture, Environment
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- supply chains
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Weekly Roundup – 1/8/12: Best Ideas of 2011 Making it Hip to Help the BoP
Warby Parker sells inexpensive, highly fashionable eyewear with the promise to give a pair to a child in need for every pair sold. The company bypasses the criticism that one-for-one models can be more disruptive than helpful. In partnership with VisionSpring, it doesn’t just drop eyeglasses in the developing world, but empowers local communities.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
