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Christensen Institute, MIT Legatum Center Launch Bootcamp for African Innovators
The Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank based in Boston and Silicon Valley in the United States, has announced a collaboration with the MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship aimed at empowering early-stage entrepreneurs in seven African countries to create new economic growth engines. The new collaboration, called Market-creating Innovation (MCI) Bootcamp, aims to bridge the gap between emerging market entrepreneurs and market-creating innovation opportunities.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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These Investors Want to Back ‘Ridiculously Early’ Female-Led African Startups
In 2019, female-led companies received less than 5 percent of the global venture capital. Bringing it to Africa, only 10 percent of the West African startups that cumulatively raised $1 million had at least one female co-founder in the past decade.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Minigrids and Cold Storage Are a Match Made in Sustainable Development Heaven – So What’s Keeping Them Apart?
The minigrid sector faces a dilemma: Most rural customers need electricity in the evenings, yet most minigrids generate their power during the day. This requires them to store unused power in expensive batteries, complement their solar power with diesel generators, or reduce production. As Seth Silverman and Tom Chaplin at Factor[e] Ventures explain, cold storage providers could offer minigrids reliable demand for their surplus power – yet these partnerships aren't happening. They explore the obstacles, and some potential solutions.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Entrepreneurship
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Pearl Recycling’s Simple but Creative Approach Towards Tackling Climate Change in Nigeria
Earth’s temperature is currently at 0.99 °C, and nineteen of the 20 warmest years we have witnessed occurred around 2001. It doesn’t help that according to a NASA Climate Change report, some of the devastating effects of climate change on our environment are heat waves, heavy downpour, erosion, rising sea-levels, drought, increased temperature, wildfires and many more.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Why 2021 Can and Should Be the Year for Breakthrough Collaboration
Spiralling COVID-19 infections and deaths, economic turmoil and political instability have continued unabated into 2021, further rattling our economies and societies. Last year has left us in no doubt that global systems, already under strain at the start of the pandemic, are broken. Failing to meet the SDGs, widening inequality and climate breakdown are just some of the symptoms of our crisis-stricken world.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship
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Black Businesses Matter: Leveling the Playing Field for Black Entrepreneurs in Africa and the Diaspora
For Black lives to matter, it is critical that we discuss more than just survival, but rather how to enable Blacks to thrive, says Charity Kabango at Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners. She argues that entrepreneurship is a key means to that end, as it empowers Black people to create jobs for themselves and others, and facilitates the flow of wealth within communities. However, limited access to finance and the absence of structured support has held back the development of entrepreneurship among Black people globally. She explores some solutions to this ongoing challenge.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance
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Avanti Finance Secures $2 Million From Dell Foundation
Mumbai, Jan 19 (PTI) Avanti Finance, an NBFC founded by Ratan Tata, Vijay Kelkar and Nandan Nilekani, has tied up with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to provide affordable loans to the pandemic-hit small businesses.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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New Mobile App to Reduce Food Waste Among Winners of $10 Million Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge
Today, data.org announced the eight global winners of the $10 million Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge, which aims to address major societal challenges through computer and data science. Among the winners is a project by BASE (Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy) and Empa that aims to give smallholder farmers in India access to sustainable cooling facilities through a mobile app to reduce food waste.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Region
- South Asia