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Press Release: Smart Freight Centre and Shell Foundation Launch Report on Inclusive EV Financing for India’s Freight Drivers
The study of 1,500+ freight drivers across 11 states highlights pathways to improve livelihoods while accelerating freight decarbonization in India.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology, Transportation
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Indonesia’s Jailing of Gojek Founder Raises Fears for Investor Confidence
Authorities say Nadiem Makarim abused his authority to favour Google in the procurement of laptops for school kids.
- Categories
- Education, Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Philippines Taps AI to unlock Bank Loans for Small Businesses
The agreement aims to strengthen creditworthiness, boost productivity, and streamline loan application processes for local entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Flawed Assumptions Behind AI for Agriculture: What Artificial Intelligence Can — And Can’t — Do for African Farmers
There is a dominant mental model of AI for agriculture. According to Sheena Raikundalia at Kuza, the pitch goes something like this: “What if every farmer had a personal AI advisor telling them what to grow, when to plant and how much fertilizer or other inputs to apply?” That model is sleek, frictionless, and built on the assumption that farmers are operating alone with the algorithm, receiving personalized recommendations and optimizing their decisions accordingly. But as she argues, optimizing agriculture in Africa is not primarily an information problem: It is a trust problem, a market access problem, a collective action problem and a financing problem — and addressing those challenges requires a human connection. She explores Kuza's experiences offering an AI chatbot to Kenyan farmers, and shares lessons on how best to leverage both human and digital resources to support smallholders in Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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The Three Ingredients of Impact AI: Research from India Offers Guidance for AI for Social Good in Emerging Markets
The conversation around “AI for social good” has moved beyond hype and potential and into a high-stakes implementation phase, as a growing number of real-world use cases have emerged. Kalpa Impact conducted analysis of 97 startups and 13 non-profits deploying AI for social good at population-scale in India, seeking to understand who is building these tools, where they are being deployed and whether there is evidence of impact. Sushant Kumar and Ananya Mukherjee at Kalpa Impact share insights from this analysis, highlighting three key ingredients that can enable the successful deployment of impact AI in India and other emerging markets.
- Categories
- Technology
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Analysis: Your Next Nurse May Monitor You From the Philippines
The country has grown into a “clinical process outsourcing powerhouse … [and] a premier global hub for supporting overstressed international healthcare systems,” JL Botor, president of HIMAP, told Rest of World.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Global
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Kenyan Startups Fuzu and Kyosk Secure Funding from Jobtech Alliance
Jobtech Alliance, an ecosystem-building initiative around inclusive jobtech in Africa steered by Mercy Corps and BFA Global, aims to create an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to build platforms that deliver quality livelihoods, are inclusive, and enable users to engage in decent work.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Please Stop Designing Humanitarian Solutions for Donor Funding
DEEP, the Data Entry and Exploration Platform, is one of the 11 case studies documented in NetHope’s new Harnessing AI for Humanitarian Impact report.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Global
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