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Weekly Roundup: Warmth and Light
Two innovative product companies that came out of one university course are delivering some basic things to children (of different ages): warmth and light. In the case of the latter, there are also some great lessons how to grab the public’s attention and imagination for a new product for the base of the pyramid.
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Vestergaard Frandsen: Life Saving Textiles
With patient capital, philanthrocapitalism, and venture capital models becoming ever more popular ways to fill the voids of the base of the pyramid (BoP), the power of the market is emerging as increasingly vibrant. Vestergaard Frandsen, a European manufacturer of emergency relief and disease control products is harnessing that very power.
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Kenya Dispatch: Toilet Parties in the Nairobi Slums
"Once you don’t have it - that’s when you realize the value" -- David Kuria, founder and CEO of Ecotact, speaking about toilets. As an investor and partner with Ecotact, Acumen Fund is eager to continue the celebration with Kuria and his team, as they grow from 17 facilities to a target of more than double that within the next year.
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Kiva Fellow in Bolivia, Part 2: Profiles of Entrepreneurs
We hear a lot about microfinance empowering the poor, but who are these people that we are ostensibly helping? Are we actually helping them? At least at Fundaci?n Agrocapital in Bolivia, the answer is an uncontestable "YES." These entrepreneurs are grateful to have access to micro-loans.
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BoP Career Paths: Interview with Chris Laurent of MicroVest
In this series, NextBillion brings you Baase of the Pyramid career path stories and best practices from across the BoP industry spectrum. Today’s post features an interview with Chris Laurent, Business Development Officer at MicroVest; a capital-mobilizing intermediary for microfinance institutions.
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New Business Models for Sustainable Trading: Part 4
It’s easy to hate the middle men. These invisible actors in the supply chain are often portrayed as shady characters who create little "value", instead contributing to higher prices at the grocery store register and lower wages to farmers. What do they do, anyway?
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Students: Make the Most Out of the Recession
I’ve been chatting with a number of my students in Social Venture Creation about their commitment to their projects post class. To my delight, many are strongly considering moving forward to launch because of the state of the jobs market. And even better, they are recruiting their colleagues to join on!
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Finding the Efficient Frontier of Financial and Social Returns
One of the most heavily-attended panels at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference this year was titled: Social Impact Investing: Putting Your Dollar to Work in the Developing World. Moderator Amit Bouri opened with a question for the audience: "How many believe that to increase social impact, financial investors must sacrifice financial returns?"
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