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How Cross-Industry Collaboration Can Spur the Digitalisation of the Last-Mile Distribution Sector
Last-mile distributors play a critical role in bringing energy and other life-changing products and services to customers in sub-Saharan Africa, and digitalisation is key to enabling these companies to operate at scale. But as Javier Baranda Alonso at Energy 4 Impact explains, both distributors and digital service providers often struggle to understand and service each other’s needs. He shares insights from a research report that highlights ways to accelerate the digitalisation of last-mile distribution by building bridges between the two sectors.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology, Telecommunications
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Redefining the Corporate Value Chain: How Social Procurement Can Benefit Both Corporations and Social Businesses
The challenges of scale and the need for greater corporate involvement are perennial topics of discussion in the social business sector. But according to Lucie Durand and Daniel Nowack at Yunus Social Business, both of these challenges can be addressed through social procurement – the practice of integrating social businesses into corporate value chains. They discuss how this strategy can harness corporations' buying power to scale social enterprises, and share insights from a how-to guide for industry practitioners interested in social procurement.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Viewpoint: Social Entrepreneurship Leads the Charge to Reinvent Capitalism
These Ventures Present Ways to Harness the Power of the Marketplace to Achieve What Current Capitalism Struggles to Do.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Region
- Global
- Tags
- corporations
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Leveraging Big Data to Improve Mental Health After COVID-19: An Innovative Research Method Reveals Unmet Needs and Untapped Opportunities in Nigeria
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a marked impact on the state of global mental health, particularly in emerging regions like Africa. According to Ravi Sreenath and Amy Nguyen at Ripple Research, this has generated a significant need – and a market opportunity – for digital health tools, as well as a need for better data. They assess the state of mental health in Nigeria, analyzing data from millions of conversations across news sites, blogs and social media platforms – and explore how this data reveals new opportunities for social enterprises and investors.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
- Tags
- climate health, COVID-19, data
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Analysis: Growing Locally and Deeply
Social enterprises do more for communities by eschewing the Silicon Valley model.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Region
- Global
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Announcing Our New Series: NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles
NextBillion runs our "Most Influential Articles" contest at the end of each year, in which we select 12 of our most-read articles from the previous year and invite readers to vote for their favorites. Since 2021 marked the 10th year of the contest, we're commemorating a full decade of thought-provoking analysis and opinion from entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and others in the emerging markets business and social enterprise sectors with a new series highlighting all of NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles from 2012 to today.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Where the ‘New Formal’ is the New Normal: Lessons on Innovation from India’s Artisan Economy
In India alone, over 200 million livelihoods are linked to the artisan economy, and the sector is a key source of employment for women and other marginalized groups. But according to Priya Krishnamoorthy and Aparna Subramanyam at 200 Million Artisans and Anandana Kapur at the Harvard Kennedy School, these largely informal creative businesses face systemic bias. They discuss the reasons for this lack of support, and explore a solution that leverages the advantages of informality and formality to empower these enterprises and the communities they serve.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Scale Is Overrated: Why the ‘Unicorn Industrial Complex’ is Holding Back Social Enterprise and Emerging Markets Business
Social enterprises and small and growing businesses (SGBs) are the focus of a lot of discussion and excitement in the development sector, as seen in recent SGB coverage on NextBillion and other publications. But Jack Foreman at Foresee Advisors argues that this discussion ignores the needs – and essential natures – of the vast majority of these businesses, particularly in emerging markets. He explains why the focus on scale – and investors' search for the next potential "unicorn" startup – overlook the crucial importance of SMEs that are content to remain small or medium-sized.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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