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Breaking Out of the Social Impact Conference Rut: Five Ways to Design a Truly Impactful Event
Have you ever been to a conference and felt a strange sense of déjà vu – an uncanny feeling that you've seen the sessions, read the buzzwords and heard all the stories before? Even for passionate, insightful members of the social impact community, it's easy to fall into the “same old” when planning a conference. Madhu Viswanathan at the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative at the University of Illinois shares tips for fellow changemakers who seek to avoid this rut when organizing their own gatherings.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Uncategorized
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Reviving India’s Artisans: How a Hybrid Model Helped One Social Enterprise Connect Craft Makers with Consumers
Exploitation in the global garment industry is well-known. But despite the perils of the sector, social enterprise Industree Foundation sees in it an opportunity. The organization provides skills training, safe working conditions and necessary equipment to rural women in Indian villages, bringing sustainable livelihoods to remote areas and time-honored artisan craftsmanship to the wider world. As part of NextBillion's "Course Correction" series, two Industree employees share how the organization overcame challenges of scale and sustainability with a hybrid model of social business.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Boosting the Social Impact of Food Tourism: The Keys to a Collaborative Model
Héctor Gerardo Ibarra talks about social entrepreneurship a lot – sometimes to children as young as second grade. He helps them understand the concept by identifying a specific local problem and a solution involving something they already like doing. The same can be said of Ruta Origen, a social enterprise he co-founded to confront unfair payment of Mexican producers, paired with a solution that involves plenty of traveling and eating. In this post, Gerardo Ibarra details a collaborative impact model that is similarly straightforward, but by no means easy.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Social Enterprise
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The Switchback Solution: Is ‘Pay and Cook’ a Game Changer in the Movement to Popularize Cleaner Cooking Fuels?
For years, countless entrepreneurs have been trying to enable low-income people in emerging markets to move from traditional fuels to clean cooking fuels. But they've struggled with the same problem: customers’ tendency to switch back to traditional fuels when it comes time to buy refills for their clean cooking fuel tanks. Emmy Wasirwa at WANA Energy Solutions discusses his company's innovative solution to this challenge.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Social Enterprise
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The (Business) Case for Confidence: Why Unlocking Women’s Self-Confidence Should be a Major Development Priority
Evidence shows that building self-confidence is important: It affects how we interact with colleagues, how we present ourselves to new people, and how we perceive ourselves and our capabilities. That's why, according to Megan Madeira At Resonate, women's self-confidence is something the social business and development sectors must address. She discusses how Resonate's workshops help build women's confidence, amplifying the impact of development programs and boosting the effectiveness of businesses in the process.
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- Education, Social Enterprise
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Employee Engagement, Investor Value: Why the Time has Come for Inclusive Employee Ownership in Emerging Markets
Employee ownership programs are increasingly common in developed countries, but in emerging markets, there are few companies that give equity to all employees. Solar home system provider Fenix International decided to buck that trend in Uganda, on the request of their local employees. Fenix CEO Lyndsay Handler discusses the transformative changes sparked by that decision – and advocates for a similar approach in other companies in Africa and beyond.
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- Energy, Social Enterprise
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How Can Corporations Make the Transition to Sustainability? A Q&A with the Authors of ‘All In’
Global corporations can play a major role in addressing the core social challenges of our time. But how can they make the transition to sustainability – especially when many of their business models depend on unsustainable resources or practices? That's one of the questions explored in 'All In: The Future of Business Leadership,' a new book by three leading thinkers in corporate sustainability. In this Q&A, the authors discuss the keys to effective corporate sustainability leadership, the importance of the year 2030, and the ways smaller social enterprises can contribute.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Spinning Off a Tech Firm from a Nonprofit: How to Solve the ‘Innovator’s Dilemma’
Social impact technology startups capture a lot of media attention – leading to the impression that, on the whole, most are successful. In reality, failure rates are high. Brent Chism, CEO of TaroWorks, discusses the reasons why these businesses often falter. He also shares how his company and its parent organization, Grameen Foundation, were able to sidestep common pitfalls through smart funding strategies, well-timed adjustments and wise managerial choices.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology