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Practical Progress Via the ’Opportunity Collaboration’
In October, the Opportunity Collaboration convened a group of 300 social investors and entrepreneurs to generate a strong cross-pollination of ideas and action for poverty reduction. In a recent interview, Founder and CEO Jonathan C. Lewis provided an update on the OC’s impact and shared some unvarnished views on the state of microfinance.
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- Impact Assessment
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Weekly Roundup-12/17/2010: Accessing Finance, Opportunity and More
As the holiday season approaches and many emails begin to switch to holiday travel mode next week, I want to take a moment to let everyone know that at NextBillion the lights will continue to burn brightly. So be sure to drop in to the site to participate in this conversation. Now on to the weekly roundup...
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- Uncategorized
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Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: CGD’s Impact Investing Report
"More than Money: Impact Investing for Development" attempts to capture current perceptions and foresight around impact investing. While building a competitive new financial asset market, impact investors also expect to aim for a broader social impact. "More than Money" outlines basic and approachable recommendations to realize both goals.
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- Impact Assessment
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- impact investing
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Inclusive Business Has Buy-in, Now We Need Action
The Inclusive Business concept has been adopted by the United Nations, the International Business Leaders Forum, and other major organizations. Convincing multinational corporations was a critical step in validating and positioning market-based solutions as profitable ways to create wealth and prosperity. But how will we really achieve scale?
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- Education
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Targeting the Ultra Poor: The Sustainable Agriculture Puzzle in India?s Most-Destitute State
Continuing our series showcasing the challenges faced by the "ultra poor," and new approaches that differ from traditional poverty alleviation interventions - this post examines the Network for Enterprise Enhancement and Development Support, a nonprofit that works in one of India’s poorest and most natural resource-rich states, Jharkhand.
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- Agriculture
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How to Save Microfinance from the Indian Government
Microfinance is on the brink of collapse in Andhra Pradesh and across India, but the market for banking to the ultra poor will not disappear. Therefore, the time is ripe for a discussion about the core competency of microfinance and what institutions will fill this void in the coming years, be they for profit or not.
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- Uncategorized
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iuMAP: Milaap Bridges the Gap for Microfranchisors
Capital investment is expensive and involves risk; if the already vulnerable entrepreneur fails to sell her inventory, she’s stuck with the liability. Inspired by his work with the business development team of SKS Microfinance, Anoj Viswanathan founded Milaap, a crowd-funded, low-cost, risk-tolerant capital model focused on microfranchises.
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- Uncategorized
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Innovations and Challenges in Carbon Finance
Several clean tech projects serving the poor are, in part, financed by the creation and sale of carbon offsets. Carbon finance improves the product’s value proposition by providing additional revenue streams to make them financially viable and available at a lower price point for end-users.
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- Energy, Environment
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- solar
