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Technology for the People: Notes from the ONE Africa Symposium
The first-ever ONE Africa Symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa was designed to highlight novel technology and innovations unleashing Africa’s economic potential and promoting sustainable development. The 300 attendees were a cross-section of innovators, policymakers, students and academics. Two innovators: Sproxil and Transparent Aid, stood out.
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- Environment, Technology
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Nexthought Monday: Social Impact Bonds? An Innovative Mechanism for Social Change
Cut costs and increase effectiveness of social programs? Any government would probably sign up to a deal that combines both right away! And this is one of the key thoughts behind the Social Impact Bond concept developed and recently piloted by UK-based Social Finance. A closer look at how they work and what they could mean for social impact.
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- Finance, Uncategorized
- Tags
- impact bonds
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Friday Roundup – 3/18/11: Failure IS An Option, but Don’t Fail At Learning
Failure grown into meme that has built business guru empires and flooded the speaker/seminar circuit. Adam Richardson, a creative director at global innovation firm frog design, advises that we shouldn’t "fetishize" failure, but learn from it. What has our sector learned from our failures and how are we applying them to future projects?
- Categories
- Education
- Tags
- failure
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Leading the Next Wave of Corporate BoP Engagement
Most multinational corporations (MNCs) just don’t find the social business at the BoP niche attractive yet - or at least not enough to hire a large consultancy to come figure out how to make it work for them. Those successful in developing financially viable solutions to social issues within a large organization are known as social intrapreneurs.
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- Uncategorized
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Egypt’s 800-Billion Pound Gorilla
With an estimated 800 billion Egyptian Pounds ($136 billion) in domestic deposits, you’d think Egyptian banks should have plenty of loans and credit available for Egyptian small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). Not quite; considering the fact that Egyptian government debt held domestically is nearly the same amount.
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- Uncategorized
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Reinvent Maternal Health: It’s a Challenge
ABC News, The Lemelson Foundation, and Duke Global Health Institute recently teamed up to launch the Reinventing Maternal Health challenge. Targeted to university students, this challenge seeks to find the most innovative, impactful idea that will prevent thousands of women from dying in childbirth across the globe.
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- Health Care
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ViewChange Video of the Week: Profits from Plastic in Ghana
Plastic waste is an enormous problem in the West African country Ghana. Everywhere you look, the streets are littered with empty water bags and bottles. This video tells the story of how a Dutch-Ghanaian recycling company, Cyclus, has found a way to create a cleaner environment, while creating hundreds of jobs and generating profit from waste.
- Categories
- Education
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Guest Post: What Aid Agencies Can do to Boost Social Enterprise
Aid agencies have the capacity to nurture this growing field into a powerful set of new partners in their efforts to rid the world of poverty. But if not handled with care, the growing interest in social enterprise may overwhelm a fragile, nascent network still finding its voice. Five ways aid agencies can constructively engage social enterprise.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
