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Gearing up for the 2012 Harvard Social Enterprise Conference
NextBillion is heading to Harvard this coming weekend along with 1,500 attendees and 75 speakers to cover the annual Social Enterprise Conference. The student-run conference, jointly produced by Harvard Business School and Harvard School of Government, is in its 13th year and boasts a wide array of keynotes, panels, a social business plan competition, and a career fair - all embodying innovation, inclusion, and impact.
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Your Coffee, Their Lives, Our Planet
At the most basic level, engaging smallholder farmers in global agricultural supply chains may be one of the most powerful ways to reduce global poverty and ameliorate environmental degradation. It was a key point of discussion at the Sustainable Value Chain Finance Workshop, co-hosted by the Rainforest Alliance and Citi Foundation.
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- Environment
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- supply chains
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On World Day of Social Justice, the Role For Business
Jake Walter is the country director of TechnoServe/Mozambique. Since 1998, he has led TechnoServe’s efforts to create a competitive and sustainable commercial agricultural sector that promotes opportunities for small-scale producers and creates jobs for the rural poor. Prior to joining TechnoServe, Jake was a vice president for ABS Global, a bovine genetics and technology company.On the World Day of Social Justice, Jake discusses how TechnoServe’s work in Mozambique contributes to a stronger society, and how business can be a means to promote social justice.
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- Agriculture
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NexThought Monday: Imaginary Engineers
The dabbawallahs, or "box people," deliver about 200,000 home cooked meals daily to about 80,000 offices at lunch time and have achieved six sigma status. This low-tech operation shows systems improvement is not just about applying the newest technology or management principle to an organization.
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- Education, Technology
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Weekly Roundup: 2-19-12 – Going Beyond ‘Potential’ in Southeast Asia
There seems to be no lack of enthusiasm in the potential for China and Southeast Asia as fertile ground for a social enterprise sector. By launching the Impact Ventures Accelerator Program, LGT Venture Philanthropy hopes to go beyond ‘potential’ toward establishing a new a network for cultivating enterprises in the region.
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- impact investing
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Scaling up Environmental Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies – Framing the Discussion
Although environmental entrepreneurship continues to hold great promise for sustainable development, it also faces great challenges from an overall market perspective. To find some answers to these challenges, we interviewed a number of pioneers in environmental entrepreneurship development.
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- Energy, Environment
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Between Multinational Buyers and Small Farmers, Root Capital Looks to Manage Growth
Willie Foote, founder and CEO of the social investment fund Root Capital, said it is poised for significant growth in the next five years. The challenge, he said, will be in managing that growth.Root expects to triple its portfolio in the next five years to $170 million and build credit up so that it can disburse $284 million in one year.
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- Agriculture
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A Responsibility and a Market: Why Danone May Represent the Future of BoP Business
Eric Soubeiran leads the company’s BOP business efforts as head of Danone’s newly launched BOP Business Unit based in Gurgaon, India. In our recent conversation, Soubeiran described in detail Danone’s trajectory related to BOP markets beginning with the launch of Fundooz, a yogurt product for kids in India.
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- Health Care
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- nutrition
