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Bottom-up Solutions to the Climate Emergency: Three Innovative, Eco-Inclusive Enterprises Take a Local Approach
We just reached the end of the hottest decade on record, and local communities – particularly in the Global South – are bearing the brunt of the impact. As climate change disrupts development efforts and worsens global food crises, population displacement and water scarcity, there's a growing need for more resilient communities. The SEED Awards highlight eco-inclusive enterprises that are addressing this challenge – authors at SEED discuss some promising examples.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Social Enterprise
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A Future Beyond Short-Term Profit: A Movement Builds for Mission-First Business Structures
Business as usual is not working to solve major world problems—in many cases it’s actually causing them, due to flaws built into the foundation of conventional business and investing structures. Jasper van Brakel of RSF Social Finance discusses how this realization is sparking a grassroots global movement behind mission-first business, rooted in stakeholder governance and seeking profit as an engine for creating social, cultural and ecological good.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Climbing the Tech Adoption Mountain: Seven Ways Nonprofits and Social Enterprises Can Leverage Technology for Greater Social Impact
Nonprofits and for-profit social enterprises now benefit from a vast array of technological innovations – but they often struggle to implement them. Devon Ferreira at Originate shares insights from some of the leading minds in the nonprofit and social enterprise world, about how impact-focused organizations can adapt to the challenges – and leverage the opportunities – of new technologies.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Tackling Africa’s Youth Employment Challenge: Can Social Enterprise Play a Role?
Social enterprise is becoming an increasingly popular business model in Africa – a clear sign that the continent is gradually shifting from aid-led solutions to enterprise-led solutions. Yet despite their potential, social enterprise markets and ecosystems remain in their infancy, says Stephen Hunt at the Challenges Group. He explores how social enterprise can address one of Africa’s key development challenges: employment and job creation for young people.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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The Hidden Value of Untapped Ideas: Three Development Sector Approaches that Deserve a Second Look
The development challenges facing African countries – from income inequality to crippling infrastructure gaps – are huge and growing. But while tackling these issues will require innovative responses, “innovative” may not necessarily mean “new.” Aubrey Hruby at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center explores three ideas that the development sector discarded – or never considered in the first place – which may hold the key to solving some of Africa’s biggest challenges.
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- Social Enterprise, Transportation
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Filling the Funding Gap: Two Innovative Ways to Improve Financing Opportunities for Social Impact Entrepreneurs
Social entrepreneurs often struggle to scale their enterprises because of difficulties accessing tailor-made capital. According to Carola Schwank at Siemens Stiftung's empowering people.Network, this is often due to a clear mismatch in pairing up social entrepreneurs and impact investors. She explores two key solutions to this crucial challenge, featured in Siemens Stiftung's “Innovative Financing for Social Entrepreneurs” report.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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Coronavirus, Employment and Data: Announcing NextBillion’s 2020 Special Series
NextBillion is pleased to announce the topics of our 2020 special series. These three year-long series will cover innovations and challenges in employment, the "untold stories" of social entrepreneurs, and the risks and opportunities of Big Data. Each will be managed by a different member of our editorial team. Check out the descriptions here, and email the appropriate editor if you’d like to discuss a potential guest article. We’re looking forward to following the discussion!
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- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Navigating Risks as Private Equity Moves into Impact Investing: Examples from Kenya
It's no surprise that impact investing has been adopted by development-focused organizations – but it has increasingly also attracted the attention of more profit-driven institutions, including some leading private equity firms. While this represents a milestone in the sector's march toward the mainstream, Julio De Souza and Gianluca Storchi at StratLink Advisory Group discuss some persistent concerns – illustrated with examples from their home base in Kenya.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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