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Will Bureaucrats Ruin Microfinance?
A column in today?s New York Times suggests Indian microfinance institutions might soon be subject to regulations, such as interest rate caps, that would force them to dramatically reduce or even halt operations. Why must governments see the private sector only as a threat, and never as a...
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Consumer Culture in Latin America
To paraphrase Nestor Canclini, Argentina?s celebrated cultural critic, what happens when an anthropologist reads the Harvard Business Review and the McKinsey Quarterly, two publications that advocate selling to the poor?? From what I can tell, there are three common reactions.? The first...
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Summer Reading Series: IDB America
I don?t know how I managed it, but I burned through my summer reading list in record time earlier this month.? Perhaps it was a week spent on vacation in Northern Michigan; maybe the heat has kept me inside more than usual.? In any case, I figure folks might be wrapping up their own summer...
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Part II: Rwanda Finds Hope in Coffee
Part I of this series described Rwanda?s burgeoning cooperative movement and its thriving coffee industry, which have combined to alleviate crippling poverty and ethnic tensions in this country. Part II of this series places the current success of Rwanda?s coffee industry in a broader...
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Dr. V, Founder of Aravind Eye Hospital, Remembered
Over at the Acumen Fund?s blog, Jacqueline Novogratz comments on the recent death of Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy ? founder of India?s Aravind Eye Hospital. BOP practitioners and international development experts may be familiar with the hospital, which revolutionized eye care by applying...
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More Developments: Fostering a Sustainable Business Climate in Asia
Since covering the lighter side of sustainable enterprise in China last week, I thought it would be helpful to discuss a more practical effort underway to make social and environmental impacts a mainstream consideration among businesses in the quickly developing East Asian region. ASrIA has...
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Part I: Rwanda Finds Hope in Premium Coffee
This Sunday, the New York Times Business section ran a front page article -- Coffee, and Hope, Grow in Rwanda -- on the remarkable story of Gemima Mukashyaka, an orphan of Rwanda?s 1994 genocide, who has returned to her parents former coffee farm and, with the help of USAID and a local...
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Rising Ventures: The Sweet Smell of Success in China’s Rose Industry
More great news about sustainable business trends in China- check out this article on how the country’s organic food exports have surged, increasing at a 50% annual rate. An amazing story related to this development that you should read as you head out for the weekend: Jiangyou Xun Pai...
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