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Uganda’s Newest Utility: Pay-as-you-go Solar Power
In Uganda, telecom provider MTN and a company called Fenix are gearing up this year for a nationwide rollout of pre-paid electricity, similar to pre-paid airtime, but using solar kits. Uganda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa - a continent where some 600 million people are off the power grid.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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OPINION: Sustainable investment performance criticisms ‘out-of-date’
Arguments that sustainable investment approaches are too simplistic and don’t offer competitive returns have been labelled as “out-of-date” by Kevin Parker, chief executive of Sustainable Insight Capital Management.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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Healthcare on the go
Most of us have been embarrassingly blind to the fact that so many Indians can't see. Or that so many Indians do not even have access to basic healthcare.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Tags
- scale
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Bata targets low-income markets
Czech footwear maker works with village vendors to sell low-cost shoes in rural areas of Bangladesh, Colombia and Bolivia.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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Considering Social Impact in Big Business: Can pioneer companies spark a race to the top?
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is defined in many ways, covering everything from employee volunteerism to recycling campaigns. But how do companies actually reach a point of systemic corporate responsibility? Aarthi Rao explores this question in the context of the outdoors industry, focusing on Patagonia and the Deckers Outdoor Corporation.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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Merck expands its Capacity Advancement Campaign to Mozambique
Merck Germany has expanded the Capacity Advancement Program first rolled out in Kenya to Mozambique, a move to show its taking Africa seriously.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- supply chains
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West Africa: Breaking the Cycle of Youth Unemployment, Poverty
Youth unemployment and underemployment are among the main barriers to development in West Africa, say experts. Not only does the exclusion of young people from the labour force perpetuate generational cycles of poverty, it also breaks down social cohesion and can be associated with higher levels of crime and violence among idle youth.
- Categories
- Environment
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Banking on Impact: Building the business case for social and environmental due diligence in lending
Conducting social and environmental due diligence can be a challenge, but Root Capital has found that its financial costs are surprisingly low, and its financial benefits surprisingly large. It has published scorecards and methodology that other financial institutions can use to partially avoid the fixed costs of developing their own due diligence tools.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing, lending
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