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South Africa’s Energy Schizophrenia: Why Hasn’t the Country Achieved Affordable Power for the Poor?
There are vast extremes between the energy rich and poor in South Africa, despite the country's great potential to make energy universally available. A new report by Impact Amplifier examines the reasons behind the discrepancies and describes five energy access business models for low-income communities: biogas, solar home systems, mini/micro grids, solar kiosks and solar appliances.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Social Business Roundup: SOCAP Aims for the Mainstream, Cambodia Caps Microcredit, Quali Health Simplifies Health Care
In announcing its new ownership, SOCAP mentioned the word “mainstream” six times – the popular social business and investing conference is clearly aiming to grow beyond its current niche. In Cambodia, the National Bank capped interest on microcredit to a maximum of 18 percent per year – about half of what some MFIs currently charge. And a visit to India inspired a South African doctor to launch a profitable health care clinic in a local shantytown. These stories and more in our weekly roundup.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Investing
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How Loan Guarantees Are Unlocking Private Capital for Clean Energy and Sustainable Agriculture
MCE Social Capital, a nonprofit impact investing firm, believes leveraging loan guarantees can unlock private sector capital for the more than 2 billion people who lack access to formal financial services. Over the past couple of years, MCE has expanded its focus to clean energy and sustainable agriculture in an effort to promote macroeconomic stability and a healthy planet.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Investing
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Viewpoint: From Risk to Resilience: It’s Time for Business to Collaborate on Climate Change
All over the world, the climate is changing. In some places, storm surges crash over flood walls. Elsewhere, crops wither, parched by drought. Climate impacts are varied and highly local. The only constant is disruption.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Tags
- climate change
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Heeding the Voice of the Planet: Why CSR Isn’t Enough
Academic and author Stuart Hart writes that we have inadvertently put most of our chips on continuous improvement inside of current fossil fuel-based businesses and have largely forgotten about the critical importance of disruption, innovation and transformational change to corporate sustainability. How do we move business from the folly of competing for corporate sustainability ratings to actually making a difference? It starts with providing the right incentives, Hart says.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
- Tags
- renewable energy
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Social Business Roundup: A Defiant Asset Manager, Salty Doorknobs and Who Has it Worse?
This week in social business, the world's third-largest asset manager is pressuring companies to add more women to their boards; a Nobel Prize winner's ponderings on inequality within nations might make you rethink life in America; and salt earns a chance to be a hero – for a change.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing
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Floating Hospitals Treat Those Impacted by Rising Seas
In parts of Bangladesh, flooding makes it impossible to build permanent hospitals. But that doesn’t mean people can’t get healthcare.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Saving Lake Atitlán: Women-Focused Business Provides Clean Water – and Good Jobs
After seeing that Guatemala's Lake Atitlán, where she was baptized, was contaminated, leaving thousands without jobs and clean water, Francesca Kennedy founded the social enterprise Ix Style. The company employs local female artisans to make Huarache sandals and bags, and donates 15 percent of proceeds to purchase water filters for families in Guatemala.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise