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Women Feeding Africa: Innovative Business Solutions to Close the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity
Women quite literally feed sub-Saharan Africa: They make up 50% of its agricultural labor force and contribute 60-80% of its food. Yet they also face unique constraints that limit their productivity and reduce their returns. What would happen if women could access the same productivity resources as men? Agnes Makena and Racheal Wangari at Intellecap explore that question, highlighting enterprises and initiatives with innovative solutions to support Africa’s female farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
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Liberia’s Miracle Oil Brings Farmers Only Empty Promises
“We embraced the company because we wanted development,” he says, remembering the promises of schools and clinics if local people gave up land. “We were expecting education for our children, employment, healthcare.”
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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And the Winners of NextBillion’s Most Influential Article of 2019 Contest Are …
Tough questions and tougher answers: NextBillion's most influential articles of 2019 – as rated by our readers – confronted some confounding new realities in emerging markets business, and the potential futures they portend. And here are the winners! Thank you to the hundreds of readers who cast their ballots during the holiday period – and especially to the guest writers who shared these insightful pieces.
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Viewpoint: To Achieve the SDGs in a Warming Climate We Will Have to Change How We Produce Our Food
Although we are seeing the emergence of underground farms and giant high-tech, temperature-controlled greenhouses, the vast bulk of the world’s food production is grown under the sun and therefore exposed not just to warming temperatures but also the disease, pests, floods and drought that those warming temperatures can cause.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
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USAID, Awash Bank To Help Small Agribusinesses In Ethiopia
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Awash Bank announced a new partnership that provides $6.4 million to microfinance institutions and small- and medium-sized agricultural businesses in Ethiopia.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: ABC Fund Makes First Investment, Backing Cocoa Cooperative in Côte D’Ivoire
This investment will support over 2,700 cocoa farmers and is the first of a series of investments into cocoa cooperatives that together will help 10,000 cocoa farmers gain greater market access and secured revenue.
- Source
- Press Release
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Badly Needed, Hard to Deliver: The Challenges of Selling Drought Insurance to African Farmers
Millions of poor farmers in Africa can't move beyond subsistence levels because of droughts and other weather disasters. Insuring farmers against these risks is key to helping build their resilience to climate shocks. But providing this insurance – while making a profit – is no easy matter. Jim Hight explores the challenges in discussing WorldCover, a drought insurance provider that's gaining traction in Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Starbucks has failed in South Africa so far but is set for a do over
Just three years ago, residents of the Rosebank neighborhood of Johannesburg were buzzing around the launch of the first Starbucks store in sub-Saharan Africa. Even though the city has plenty of independent coffee shops and cafes and some local chains, the brand cachet of Starbucks brought with it a frisson of excitement and global modernity that some South Africans crave.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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