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Building a Network to Scale Up Technical Assistance
Newly budding networks where high impact businesses are coming together to develop tools, strategies, and best practices for a wide variety of contexts across the developing world. Last month, the Grassroots Business Fund hosted a two-day management training workshop in Nairobi, Kenya to help existing GBF clients gain tangible management skills.
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Back From the Brink: How Good Governance Spurs Growth in Post-War Liberia
Liberia has become much friendlier to entrepreneurs and business interests since President Sirleaf took office. The average number of days required to start a business plummeted from 68 to 20. (The worldwide average is 24). The number of start-up procedures required to register a business dropped from 10 to five, below the global average of 7.8.
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- Education
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- academia
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Fishing for Technical Assistance: How TA Investments at the Client Level Impact BoP Markets
Despite adding cost to business models, can technical assistance investments at the client level seed success and sustainability in the housing industry? Can TA to clients build capacity among BoP consumers, unlocking market potential beyond the initial transaction? Ashoka’s Housing for All initiative and the Hilti Foundation are betting yes.
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Taking the Plunge: ’Journeys for Change’ Dive Into India’s Social Enterprise World
Journeys for Change is no hectic commercial tour. Rather, it’s more of a pilgrimage. Over the course of nine days, Journeys for Change connects you with real people implementing real change with well-functioning models. You will slow down, reflect, and become more grounded in the realities of the field-and the possibilities in store.
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- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Let’s Talk: IDB Inaugural BoP Forum Highlights SME Growth, Network Connections
The 1st IDB Forum for the Development of the Base of the Pyramid in Latin America and the Caribbean kicked off Monday in Sao Paulo, Brazil by emphasizing the critical role of SME creation and growth. To highlight the increasing importance of the sector, the IDB announced plans to double investments in BoP-related businesses in 2012 to $100 million.
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- Education
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- academia
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The BoP Project: Focusing on Quality, Not Quantity, in Rwanda Coffee
Over the past ten years, a unique program has been brewing in the Rwandan coffee industry, relying on the international demand for high-quality, specialty coffee (not always "fair trade" certified), and helping increase the income of small coffee farmers in this rapidly growing country.
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- Agriculture
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Visiting Akilah: A Girls? Education Success Story and More
If social sector nerds like me were deflated to learn that some of Greg Mortenson?s schools don?t actually exist, they should be elated to find that not only is Akilah succeeding as a college, it is also setting new standards of excellence in education in Rwanda.
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- Education
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Friday Roundup 6/24/11: Pivot25 and East Africa’s “Venturesome” Consumers
I’m in Kenya at the moment, a place where you’ll find plenty of "venturesome consumers". M-PESA is to Kenyans what Dropbox is to Americans. Last week saw the first Pivot25, an app developer conference and competition that showcased solutions for many of the challenges faced by Kenyans and East Africans.
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