NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

It is estimated that 98% of cyberattacks are launched using social engineering techniques to gather intelligence, gain access to critical information systems, and target exploits where they will hurt an organisation the most. Hackers know that if they can tap into your employees’ inherently good nature and desire to be helpful, they can manipulate them through emotions such as fear, greed, curiosity and urgency, to drive your employees to take actions that provide the social engineer with rapid access to a wealth of sensitive organisational information, that helps them disrupt your operations and wreaks havoc with your service delivery.

In this 60-minute webinar, we deep-dive into the social engineering techniques currently being used against power grid workforces and determine how these are likely to develop in the next 2-3 years. We review a range of cyber awareness programmes, cyber hygiene approaches, and incident response strategies, that are helping proactive power grid cybersecurity leads to outsmart and thwart the social engineers’ efforts. Finally, we determine the most effective multi-layered defence-in-depth approach to combatting next generation social engineering to help you build a more robust human firewall and get ahead of the threat.

By upgrading your workforce cyber awareness so that your people are able to intuitively strike the mindset balance between how things can made to work versus how things may be made to fail, you will be able to transform your workforce from the weakest link, to the strongest link, in your cybersecurity strategy.

TO PARTICIPATE:
Call: +44 (0)20 8057 1700
Email: registration@smartgrid-forums.com
Visit: www.smartgrid-forums.com/combatting-social-engineering

ANDE India, in partnership with BetterStories Ltd, will be convening a session introducing the Bangladeshi entrepreneurial ecosystem to the work that ANDE India does, along with highlighting the global network and services offered.

Do you work to support entrepreneurs in Bangladesh? Does your organisation provide critical financial, advisory and business support to small and growing business in Dhaka and other regions of Bangladesh? Are you looking to understand how to leverage other entrepreneurial ecosystem and supporters in and around the world to do your role better? Look no further, and register at the link below!

The event will be an opportunity for the burgeoning ecosystem in Dhaka and beyond to get an understanding of the global ecosystem that exists to support entrepreneurs. With over 120 ANDE members interested in working in Bangladesh, this event will also provide a chance for the invitees to network and form introductory connections.

Agenda:

Target audience – sign up if you are intemediary organisations that support entrepreneurs and small and growing businesses: both for and nonprofit investment funds, capacity development providers, research and academic institutions, development finance institutions, foundations and corporations

Time: 3-4 PM BST | 2:30-3:30 PM IST

An e-MFP Webinar on Inclusive Finance and Health Care

The European Microfinance Award 2021 is on ‘Inclusive Finance and Health Care’ – a complex, fascinating and challenging topic that has never been more relevant than today. “The first wealth is health,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, meaning that without health, there can be no wealth – no security or prosperity.

How true that is. For the poor, health is often the dividing line between the path to prosperity or a slide into destitution. Volatile and precarious incomes, combined with poor or non-existent universal health care systems means that low-income communities not only need access to health care, but also the ability to pay for it.

The European Microfinance Award is more than just the evaluation of applicant organisations and rewarding an outstanding winner. It is also an opportunity to more broadly raise awareness of how the financial inclusion sector can play a relevant role to facilitate access to health care among vulnerable populations.

To this end, we are delighted to welcome you to join us for a webinar that will present the current health care landscape, including the needs of low-income households and the costs they must bear to access health care, the role of different financial products such as insurance as well as crucial non-financial support, the particular health care needs of women, and the roles that financial services providers can play to address this enormous challenge.

We are extremely pleased to welcome Bobbi Gray, Research Director at Grameen Foundation, to lead this webinar, and she will be joined by Lisa Morgan, Technical Officer at ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility; Peter Wrede, a senior consultant with years of field experience, especially in health insurance; Barbara Magnoni, President of EA Consultants; and Shams Azad, Chief Operating Officer at BRAC Microfinance.

Together, this outstanding panel of experts will talk about the fundamental challenges to be addressed, where innovation in facilitating access to affordable health care is to be found, where it is needed, and who is well placed to do it. There will also be time for Q&A too in what will be an interactive and dynamic discussion.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 26th May at 3-4:30pm CEST!

According to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, corporations are now viewed as the most trusted institution and are seen as more ethical and competent compared to NGOs, the government, and the media. As such, the expectation of companies to positively contribute to society has increased multifold over the past year. The issues we face—the global pandemic, structural racism, climate change, and economic inequality—are systemic in nature and can no longer be ignored nor dismantled as independent issues.

Join SAP, Medtronic Foundation, Under Armour, and PYXERA Global as they discuss the latest findings from PYXERA Global’s 9th Global Pro Bono State of the Practice report—The Road Ahead: Trends in Corporate Social Impact in 2021 and Beyond.

Global Pro Bono is the most effective tool for companies to alleviate societal problems while engaging their talent. With nearly 30 corporate respondents, the report offers critical insights into how to leverage a company’s most valuable resource—its talent to address rising community needs, while meeting societal and employee expectations. In this webinar, you will learn:

• How to pivot your social impact programs to address urgent challenges, while leveraging your talent.

• Critical factors that enable a Global Pro Bono program to successfully adapt in the face of crises, such as COVID-19.

• How to fit your social impact and Global Pro Bono programs into your company’s overall ESG strategy.

• How SAP, Medtronic Foundation, and Under Armour have maintained and in some cases, expanded Global Pro Bono programming during COVID-19.

Participating speakers:
• Hemang Desai, Global Program Director, Corporate Social Responsibility, SAP
• Lara Fedorov, Portfolio Manager, Medtronic Foundation
• Lynn Quayle, Lead, Social Advocacy and Volunteerism, Under Armour
• Gavin Cepelak, Senior Vice President, Global Pro Bono, PYXERA Global

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: https://www.pyxeraglobal.org/trends-corporate-social-impact/

Time: 12:00 PM ET

This month CASA Programme is encouraging as many people to join as possible by making this an open event. They encourage you to register but you can also join the meeting directly by clicking on the following link on the day of the event:

Zoom link: https://cabi.zoom.us/j/96484149601?pwd=blpMVVBKZFY2K2lXT1JHWVp3UXVldz09

Meeting ID: 964 8414 9601
Passcode: 26052021

As demand for food increases, most analysts think that sourcing from small-scale producers will be critical to food security…

This webinar will build on a recent publication by the CASA Technical Assistance Facility:Sourcing from smallholders: complex challenge or commercial opportunity? Perspectives from investors and agribusinesses.The publication captures investor perspectives on the commercial viability and development impact of sourcing from smallholder farmers. Five specific routes will be identified for investors, agribusinesses and development partners to support investment in smallholder-sourcing models. The discussion will also acknowledge and address the challenges in sourcing from smallholders can bring and use case study evidence to show what can be achieved.

Investors should map the investment gap…through systematic classification and tracking of smallholder-sourcing agribusinesses to provide greater clarity on this ‘asset class’. This can improve guidelines on the blend of capital and Technical Assistance (TA) required to boost effectiveness.

Agribusinesses should invest in thorough upfront…including supply chain, context and end-market analysis, before implementing a small-scale producer sourcing model. In-depth, early analyses helps manage the complexities of the models. This analysis should also pinpoint where private capital should be deployed when commercial gains are evident, and highlight where public funding is needed.

Partnerships between investors, donors and agribusinesses provide essential upstream support to smallholder suppliers.

Investors could establish agricultural investment vehicles…with longer investment horizons than the typical Venture Capital or Private Equity timeframes. An example would be a Permanent Capital Vehicle (PCV),with flexibility for investments to generate returns at their own rate.

Agribusinesses and investors…should leverage monitoring and impact measurement to improve business operations and integrate impact data into existing management systems.

Time: 12:00 (noon) BST (GMT+1)