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The Difference Between Entrepreneurship and a Lack Thereof in Rural South Africa
I recently spent three weeks in South Africa, primarily in the rural Limpopo Province bordering Mozambique, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. While the Republic of South Africa is the 25th richest country in the world, I was struck by the extent to which first-world lifestyles co-exist with endemic...
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Too Much Money Chasing Too Few Investments?
In recent years, the capital markets have infused millions of dollars into the ’development sector.’ While we applaud the growing interest in development through enterprise, the question arises: are there enough quality investees? Or, more simply, is too much money chasing too few...
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Big Award for the KickStart CEO
So it seems KickStart has something else going for it, as if a viral video featuring Maasai rapper Mr. Ebbo weren’t enough... The CEO of the San Francisco-based social enterprise, Martin Fisher, won the Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability this week for his innovative and affordable...
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SMEs Are What’s Next
"What poor countries need most is not more microbusinesses. They need more small-to-medium-sized enterprises, the kind that are bigger than a fruit stand but smaller than a Fortune 1000 corporation.” These were the words of James Surowiecki last month in his New Yorker piece What...
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- Education
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- academia
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Bee Stings and Poverty
Last night I read a good piece in the interesting Aguanomics blog. It comes from a recent article related to “The Persistence of Poverty: Why the Economics of the Well-Off Can’t Help the Poor” a book by Charles H. Karelis. I found it thought-provoking and worth sharing with the...
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Interview with Erik Simanis: BoP, Green, Development and Much More
Erik Simanis is not your average Ph.D. student.? For one thing, he’s done work on his degree at two separate institutions (the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business.)? Furthermore, he’s spent more time...
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Market for Change: Promoting Responsible Outsourcing
I just ran across one great idea (and a great video that explais it), via NextBillion ally Emeka Okafor and his great blog Timbuktu Chronicles. Market for Change was founded in 2007 “to catalyze sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation by creating a thriving, active...
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MicroEnergy Credits Corporation: Catalyzing Clean Energy for the BoP
It is impossible to argue against the need for reliable energy at the BoP. Energy drives every facet of society, from nourishment to communication. According to the UNDP, at least 1.2 billion people suffer from energy poverty, which has profound impact on health, education, and livelihoods. ...
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- Energy
