NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Goizueta MBAs Help Fix the Bolivian Recycling Business

On Aug. 3, seven MBA students from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School will travel to Bolivia as part of a project designed to put their skills to work solving a waste problem in the nation’s capital in Santa Cruz. The students will help determine the feasibility of building a more efficient recycling plant and creating jobs in the process.

Source

Bloomberg Businessweek (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Education

Region

Latin America

Tags

research

Impact Investment and Beyond: Mapping support for social enterprises

There is a lot of excitement about social enterprise, and a lot of interest in understanding, financing and supporting these enterprises. But there has been no comprehensive data on the actual amount of capital investment and non-financial support given to social enterprises and the development of their market infrastructure. ODI undertook a study to establish existing data gaps and to see if it was both feasible and useful to compile this data. Emily Darko of ODI describes their findings.

Categories

Education, Social Enterprise

Tags

impact investing, research

7 Female Social Innovators Changing the World

Michelle Wright celebrates seven amazing women who are pioneering social change.

Source

The Next Women (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Education

Engaging the Diaspora Communities for Development: Calvert Foundation aims to join retail investing for good with diaspora populations

This week, we are excited to explore values-based investing with a new demographic: diaspora communities. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation recently awarded Calvert Foundation a grant to conduct a feasibility study for the diaspora initiative, with the goal of launching a pilot for a specific diaspora community at the conclusion of the study.

Categories

Education, Investing

Tags

impact investing, research

Modelling Inclusive Business Success: Online course on managing key BoP biz barriers kicks off in fall 2013

The European BoP Learning Labs and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development are to teaming up to offer an e-learning course this autumn. The course will target technical and middle management professionals who aim to improve their understanding and skills on approaches to developing, implementing, and scaling inclusive business models.

Categories

Education

Tags

Base of the Pyramid

Imagining a ‘Smart Country’ – Such as Rwanda

Everyone is talking about “smart development” and “smart solutions” – the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to tackle the most pressing development problems such as poverty, access to basic services, and job creation. But if a whole country decided to become “smart” what would that look like to its citizens, government, and private sector?

Source

The World Bank (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Education, Technology

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Building an Affordable Learning Market: The Pearson Affordable Learning Fund one year on, lessons learned in education impact investing

The Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF) was established in May 2012, with a mandate to invest in the creation and servicing of low-cost-private school chains around the globe. Here are a few of the things we’ve learned about education impact investing in the year since we launched.

Categories

Education, Impact Assessment

Tags

impact investing

Enlisting Quacks in the Battle Against TB: An alarming study from Lepra highlights the need to train and regulate informal providers

Tuberculosis is second only to HIV/AIDS as the world’s deadliest infectious disease - and improper treatment can increase its drug resistance. But alarming research from the international charity Lepra suggests that proper treatment is rare among the informal providers common at the BoP. Lepra spoke with NextBillion Health Care about the need to enlist these providers in the fight against TB.

Categories

Education, Health Care

Tags

public health, research