-
On the Quest for Exits: Proteak’s Successful IPO
In the impact investing sector, conversations about the need for financial exits abound, but there are scant few cases. Proteak, a Mexico renewable tropical forestry company that sells conflict-free plantation teak wood products, is one sterling example. In a two-part interview, Proteak Founder Hector Bonilla walks us through the firm’s 2010 IPO.
- Categories
- Education, Environment
- Tags
- impact investing
-
The Doughnut Hole in Sustainable Finance
Despite the recent upsurge in attention to "social," "impact," and "clean tech" investing, there is still a structural gap ? a doughnut hole ? in sustainable finance. But this also means that there is a huge opportunity for visionary financiers to invent the new investment categories and asset classes needed to fill this gap.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
-
SOCAP11: Waste Management that Works
Parag Gupta, founder and CEO of Waste Ventures recently told me that urban India produces a mound of garbage that weighs twice as much as the Empire State Building every week. In that big pile of trash, Gupta and his team identified a glowing opportunity for economic, social, and environmental impact.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
-
Serving the Trillion Dollar BoP Energy Market
Not everyone wants to spend their weekend in a conference room discussing challenges like benchmarking low-cost solar home lighting systems, finding the right business model, and raising the seed capital. But for the 11 social entrepreneurs gathered with experts and the CSTS Clean Energy Sector team, there’s no place else we would have rather been.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
-
Heating Homes With Human Waste is Saving Lives and Tigers in Nepal
Dirt gets a bad rap. I’m sitting on a dirt floor in Badreni, Nepal, in a home built largely of dirt (waddle and daub) and there’s nothing dirty at all about this place. I’m a guest in a biogas home--one of 7,500 the WWF has helped build to date and one of 40,000 that will dot this Nepalese landscape five years from now. A small but powerful blue flame whispers in the corner and brings light to the faces of my host family. That flame lights and heats the home; it also warms t...
- Categories
- Environment
- Tags
- waste
-
INNOVARE or the Phenomenon of the Unprecedented Question
Alejandro Aravena is one of the most internationally successful Chilean architects for his work in ELEMENTAL, a for profit "Do Tank" project with social interests that works on public impact projects at the Catholic University of Chile and COPEC. Aravena did what few can do: focus on asking the right questions to clearly define a problem to solve.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
-
For Piramal Fellows, Innovation Comes Naturally
The Piramal Fellowship for Sustainable Business is an opportunity for aspiring business and community leaders to engage where business and social impact meet. Fellows are placed in leadership roles with for-profit ventures designed for social and environmental change. As the organization recruits its next class, two fellows share their experiences.
- Categories
- Education, Environment, Impact Assessment
-
Fairfax Enters India to Invest in Local Firms
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, a $30 billion (Rs.1.3 trillion)-plus diversified financial services company that owns stakes in Kraft Foods Inc. and Dell Inc., is entering India to invest in listed and unlisted Indian companies, a senior company official said. It will buy both minority as well as controlling stakes. Founded by Indian-born Prem Watsa , 61, popularly known as the Warren Buffett of Canada, Fairfax has appointed Harsha Raghavan, former India head of private equ...
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- South Asia
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.