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After the Grant Ends: Why Rural Water Utilities Fail — And What We Learned from Building One
For decades, rural water projects in low- and middle-income countries have followed a familiar pattern: Infrastructure is built, communities are trained, a ribbon is cut — and within a few years, the system stops working. After leading the early operations of Max TapWater, a social enterprise providing piped water in rural Bangladesh, Saif Islam identified a fundamental reason for these failures: Investment continues to prioritize capital infrastructure over the operational and maintenance budget needed to sustain it. He explores this challenge, and shares other lessons he has learned about how rural water facilities can sustain operations beyond the grant period.
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Brazil Shifts from Mandatory to Voluntary Sustainability Reporting
The revised regulation, while making sustainability reporting voluntary, creates a “comply-or-explain” system, under which a public company that chooses not to file a sustainability report is required to justify the decision through a market announcement, including the reasons for the decision, by the time it files its annual financial statements in 2027.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
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Second Emerging Markets CLO Advances World Bank Group Push to Mobilize Private Capital for Jobs
This strategic approach is designed to attract private capital at scale for investments in productive sectors with the greatest potential to create jobs and drive growth.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Press Release: 3IF Ventures Reaches USD $12 Million First Close to Scale Africa’s Inclusive Insurance Market
Africa’s insurance protection gap is one of the most underserved opportunities but also one of the most significant barriers to economic resilience on the continent.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The True Cost of Impact-First Investing
Drawing on one of the first collaborative cost studies of its kind, spanning eight leading impact-first investment organizations managing $197.2 million across 362 investments, this paper challenges one of the sector’s most persistent myths: that impact-first funds are inherently inefficient.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
- Tags
- data, impact investing, research
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Courageous Capital: How Africa Built its Own Tech Ecosystem
Africa’s tech sector has been thriving for almost three decades, during which its entrepreneurs have quietly built a self-sustaining ecosystem. And as Marsha Wulff at LoftyInc Capital explains, instead of government and charitable institutions taking the lead, it has been Africa’s own innovators who have developed its tech infrastructure and driven its commercial success. She explores how African entrepreneurs and investors have built a vibrant and resilient tech ecosystem that addresses the continent's unique needs — and taps its massive growth potential.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Proparco Backs Early-Stage Tech Fund in Africa
The investment aims to strengthen early-stage technology financing in Francophone Africa and support startups operating in high-growth digital sectors.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: ResponsAbility Finances Robust International to Strengthen Climate-Smart Agricultural Supply Chains in Emerging Markets
The strategy is structured around three core pillars: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and sustainable production and consumption.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Global
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