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How to Scale Community Impact With a Market-Based Approach
"In a social business, community impact comes first," was one of the fundamental insights at the first Community Impact Development Group meeting hosted by Ashoka and the Siemens Stiftung last year. But, what do we understand by Community Impact? Why is it so critical to systems change? What are the diverse strategies that best achieve it?
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- Impact Assessment
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Engaging Peer-to-Peer Networks for Enterprise Selection: A New Pilot VC Model for the Impact Sector
Ross Baird, executive director of Village Capital (VilCap), identified one of the sector’s main problems: even though there are over 300 funds that label themselves as impact funds, fewer than five will invest in deals that are $250,000 or less. VilCap aims to radically democratize this mismatch between investors and impact enterprises.
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- Impact Assessment, Investing
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- venture capital
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“Hot” and “Bright” Business Models: Bringing Energy to the BoP
’We have technology - we just need a business model’ is the rallying cry for a whole lot of promising BoP projects. Many of these look good, but still face major difficulties in getting their products in the hands of people, and getting the people (or someone else) to pay for it. The "Energize the BoP!" business model generator provides support.
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- Uncategorized
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Housing Series: Sustainable Communities Generating Sustainable Habitats
We began Echale a Tu Casa over 25 years ago as a nonprofit to help low-income Mexican families improve home safety, health and hygiene conditions. Realizing that philanthropy would not permit us to have much of an impact on these living conditions, we created a social enterprise built on an integrated system of savings, credit and subsidies.
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- Environment, Health Care, WASH
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NextThought Monday: When Mass Marketing Meets Global Health, the Case of Lifebuoy Soap
While the UN continues to fall well short of its Millennium Development Goals and aid agencies pour ever-more money into hygiene aid programs, Lifebuoy is taking a very different approach. The Unilever brand recently launched an effort to globalize its hand washing campaign, marketing its way towards the one billion benchmark.
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- Health Care
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Weekly Round-up 11-6-11: Welcoming Two New Voices to NextBillion
I’d like to formally welcome two new writers to the NextBillion community. I use the term formally only because Andrew Eder and Logan Yonavjak have already contributed several in-depth posts to the site on subjects ranging from promoting agricultural business innovation in Zimbabwe to the urgency of environmentally sustainable investing.
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- Uncategorized
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Housing Series: Shelter After Disaster – Temporary Aid Or Pathway to a Better Future?
Over the past years the global humanitarian community has been working to develop solutions that offer disaster and conflict-affected families a more durable shelter than the tents traditionally provided. "Transitional shelter, " guides families on a pathway to durable shelter solutions, a process to choose from multiple options for their future.
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- Uncategorized
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- housing
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From Occupy Wall St. to Impact Investing, 2 Visions of Markets at Net Impact 2011
As the Occupy Wall Street protesters continued their encampment in Portland near the Net Impact 2011 venue last weekend, it became difficult to reconcile two visions of international markets. Still, speakers posited that concepts of global development and markets were merging fast, and offered the best solution to reducing economic inequality.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
