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Traditional Divisions Between NGOs, Charities, and Businesses Are Blurring With New Collaborative Projects on Water
The problem of global water access is as intransigent as they come. Some 768 million people – more than the population of Europe – still lack access to clean water. Likewise, this year’s Millennium Development Goal target of halving the number of people without sanitation will be missed by 8% – that’s half a billion people.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Tags
- philanthropy
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Can Social Enterprise Help 700 Million Who Lack Access to Clean Water?
The problem of global water access is as intransigent as they come. Some 768 million people – more than the population of Europe – still lack access to clean water. Likewise, this year’s Millennium Development Goal target of halving the number of people without sanitation will be missed by 8% – that’s half a billion people.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
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Micronutrients with Macro Impact: The first fortified flour launches in Ethiopia, a boon for the country’s health and its economy
This week, Ethiopia is celebrating a significant milestone: One of the country’s largest flour mills, ASTCO, is launching the nation’s first mass-market fortified flour. ASTCO is one of more than 150 companies that have participated in training sessions with Partners in Food Solutions. The organization’s CEO explains why he’s excited about the possibilities.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Tags
- nutrition
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Medical Researchers Challenged to Create an Affordable Dialysis Machine to Treat People in Remote Communities
Three leading health organisations have set medical researchers a challenge to make an affordable dialysis machine capable of using non-purified water as new figures show more people will experience terminal kidney failure.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Health Care
- Tags
- research
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Weekly Roundup – The BoP Beer Business
SABMiller wants to sell more beer to Africans, wants to source much more agricultural inputs from African farmers, and wants to generate much, much more revenue in Africa. The company forecasts it will grow revenue by 10 percent over the next three to five years in Africa. To achieve that goal it will use differentiated pricing to attract low-income customers across Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Lending to Poor Farmers: Seeding the Market
“Coffee is our gateway drug,” jokes Willy Foote, founder of Root Capital. “Then we move on to harder stuff, like cocoa, cashews, quinoa and sorghum.” That is how the firm got started in 1999, after Mr Foote quit his job as a Wall Street analyst, lending $73,000 to a coffee (and cardamom) co-operative in Guatemala. It has since expanded to 25 countries in Latin America and Africa, and in December set up shop in Indonesia, with a loan of $550,000 to an organic coffee co-operative.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Tags
- lending
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Who Moved My Cheese?: A social enterprise discovers that the dairy business is harder than it looks
In a poor region of Bolivia, goat milk producers often drink their own product, for lack of a market. Pro-Milk was launched to help them make and sell cheese instead. But the company was soon undermined by challenges in its business model and region. Fundación IES, a development institution that supported Pro-Milk, tells the story in the latest post in our business failure series.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
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A Quest to End Seasonal Hunger in Coffee Lands: How major companies are working with farmers during scarce times
When specialty coffee buyers visit coffee bean farmers, they usually want to taste the coffee for the flavor nuances, discuss price differentials, volumes, and delivery months. They don’t usually ask whether the kids are going hungry. Keurig Green Mountain doesn’t want to leave that question unasked anymore. And the company is not alone.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Tags
- supply chains
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