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Social Business Roundup: An SDG Lovefest at Davos, a New Rival for M-Pesa and a Really Big Direct Investment Fund
Has the World Economic Forum in Davos lost its relevance? Not to the folks gathered there this week who were knee-deep in talk about sustainable investing and social enterprise. Those discussions are only the start of a jam-packed Roundup this week. There's also a new mobile platform by MasterCard that could rival M-Pesa in Kenya, plans for a $2 billion direct investment fund, and plenty more ...
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
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Mastercard Delivering Financial Inclusion: One Small Kenyan Farm At A Time
The problem with building financial inclusion — particularly in a developing world context — is that it is a tough goal to pursue directly. While there isn’t much in the way of disagreement that more should be done to connect the approximately 2.5 billion adults who are totally (or nearly totally) detached from formal financial services, actually implementing a plan that actually makes a difference is often a very separate matter.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Can the Mobile Phone Call Youth Back to the Farm?
This post by Christopher Burns and Milani Chatterji-Len, about how mobile phones can offer youth a pathway back to the farm, was October's most popular article. It's the latest entrant in our Most Influential Post of 2016 contest. Please read or re-read the posts and then vote for your favorite(s). Voting ends Jan. 2, and we'll name the winner on Jan. 4.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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10 Developments Shaping Smallholder Finance in Africa
This post tackles a tough question: How do we reduce the risk of agricultural activities so that financial institutions will provide loans to small farmers in developing countries? It proved to be the most popular article on NB in August, and thus earned a spot in our annual Most Influential Post contest. We're publishing a new entrant in the contest every day through Jan. 2 and we'll announce the winner Jan. 4.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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NextBillion’s Most Influential Post of the Year Contest 2016
All our posts discuss important topics. Some, however, are so well-written and well-read that they change and even lead that discussion. Those are the ones that are included in our fifth annual Most Influential Post of the Year Contest. Please read or re-read the posts and then vote for your favorite(s). You may vote up to a dozen times. Voting ends Jan. 2, and we'll name the winner on Jan. 4.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care, Investing
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Superstrains of Rice That Will Feed A Changing World
“I’m Swamp Girl,” says Indrastuti Rumanti, a bubbly scientist with the Indonesian Center for Rice Research. She’s just ducked out of a lengthy meeting with her fellow rice-heads here in Bogor, but the conference room is not Rumanti’s preferred habitat: She’d rather be mucking about in experimental rice paddies.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- research
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Turning Cassava into Gold: Small Producer Taps into Big Demand in Kenya
The founder and managing director of Mhogo Foods in Kenya has found a niche processing cassava into gluten-free flour, starch and animal feed, and sees a bright future for Kenyan cassava farmers and processors like herself. “Cassava is a drought-resistant crop not very hard to care for in the farm," especially when compared to maize, she said. "That is why I process it.”
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Indian social enterprises have huge potential: British Council report
A majority (53%) of social enterprises in India are focussed on skill development, followed by 30% on education, according to a study on Indian social enterprises relased by the British Council on Thursday.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
- Region
- South Asia
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