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‘Ready, Steady, Scale!’: A Practical Tool to Assess Your Social Business
To scale in base-of-the-pyramid markets, social ventures need to learn to operate and grow in complex, uncertain and resource-limited markets, and become highly adaptive to market and social context. That's why the MIT Practical Impact Alliance developed "Ready, Steady, Scale!" It's a guide to help inclusive business practitioners better understand their organization’s readiness for scale and to clearly identify opportunities for improvement.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Fixing the Social Enterprise Skill Shortage: Why a ‘Fundamental Rethink’ is Needed
Social business advocates and intermediary organizations often focus on supporting entrepreneurs themselves – but there is a bigger challenge lurking beneath the surface, says Amani Institute co-founder Roshan Paul. It's crucial to build the teams that organizations need to grow and thrive in the marketplace. The problem, however, is there's a shortage of resources focused on growing those teams and talents that make social enterprise possible.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Social Impact Incentives: A New Solution for Blended Finance
In just six years, social enterprise Clínicas del Azúcar has grown into the largest private provider of specialized diabetes care in Mexico, but faces an almost constant challenge to balance its financial and social performance. That's where social impact incentives (SIINC) come into play. A new solution for blended finance, SIINCs align profitability with social impact by paying social enterprises directly for proven social outcomes.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Managing Trade-Offs Between Impact and Profit – Finding the Formula for BoP Business
Eugenia Rosca's study of small enterprises in BOP markets reveals that many of them have similar characteristics and are founded to respond to highly pressing local issues. The businesses usually identify a social need and develop a market to address it; then, in time, around one-third of them reported an increased orientation toward economic goals. To be successful, they should acquire skills, resources and capabilities for both social and economic activities.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise
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Addressing Eye Care in Emerging Markets with Blended Finance
WHO estimates that 39 million people suffer from blindness, more than half of them due to cataracts, and more than 90 percent of blind people live in the developing world. Cataracts are often curable but the traditional surgery is expensive. Convergence is supporting GlobalVision's plan to build on the affordable eye model that Aravind pioneered in India and establish a network of 60 eye care hospitals in emerging markets over the next 10 years, borrowing techniques from the microfinance sector.
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- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Subscribe to NextBillion Notes in July, Get Free Chapter of Jonathan Lewis’ New Book, ‘The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur’
If you're into social business, you're probably familiar with Jonathan Lewis. He has founded multiple social enterprises – and now he's sharing his insights in a new book, "The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur." It's a great read, and all the book's profits will be donated to social justice causes. To celebrate our Entrepreneurship Month, we're giving away a free chapter to all subscribers of NextBillion Notes, our e-newsletter. Sign up in July to take advantage of this free offer.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Through Social Investing, Asia’s ‘On a Journey to Help it Help Itself’
AVPN's recent annual conference, known as “Asia’s top social investment event,” attracted representatives from 32 countries, including 18 Asian ones, reflecting the reality that activity is taking off across the region, says John-Paul Hamilton of Dasra. And it seemed fitting that the conference centered on collaboration, which is more essential than ever to ensure a progressive and suitable continuum of funding.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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The Dirty Secret of Social Enterprise: Scale is Overrated
Author Jonathan C. Lewis writes that for some staggering societal problems – like deaths from child poverty and modern-day slavery – scaling solutions is an urgent necessity. However, for social entrepreneurs, he says the important thing is not organizational size, geographic coverage or budget, but progress toward social justice. He urges leaders to focus less on size and more on striving to maintain balance.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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