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Sustainable Connectivity: How Biofuels Can Boost Mobile Access, Support Small Farmers – And Fight Climate Change
Mobile connectivity is sweeping through rural Africa and Asia – but it has a major drawback. It’s dependent on cellular towers that often rely either on diesel power, which has economic and ecological costs and limited availability, or solar panels, which require clear, sunny skies. Fortunately, another solution is emerging: bioenergy. John Garrity, Dennis Garrity and James Daniel at the Evergreening Global Alliance explore its positive impact on food security, grid infrastructure and global climate change.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Technology, Telecommunications
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Helping the Digital Revolution Reach the Corner Store: Piloting Mobile Solutions for Micro-Retailers
Across the developing world, there are millions of small-scale shopkeepers who want to build their businesses. But with no training in management skills, many often struggle to run their shops. Can digital tools help address this challenge? TechnoServe sought to answer that question by piloting a smartphone platform that worked with shopkeepers in Kenya to improve the operations of their stores. Alice Waweru explores the program’s benefits and limitations.
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- Technology
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How Data-driven Strategies Can Improve Impact Investing Outcomes
The Rockefeller Foundation has been designing ways to harness data effectively in order to improve the effectiveness of impact investing. “Data really helps you understand the nature of the problem, and thinking about data ahead of time helps you structure your experiments and your interventions,” said Zia Khan, vice president of initiatives and strategy at the foundation
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- Investing, Technology
- Tags
- data, impact investing
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See Who Won NB’s Top Post of 2018 Contest
Thank you to everyone who voted in NextBillion's seventh annual Top Post of the Year contest. Here are the winners and their vote percentage totals as well as the complete results for this year's competition. Congratulations to the top three winning contributors for their articles, which both challenged and enlightened us. And Happy New Year to all of our readers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Health Care, Investing, Technology, WASH
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The big tech and innovation trends in Africa for 2018
Fintech companies across the continent providing key services in loans, savings and payment, have been increasingly rewarded with investment and significant nods.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- e-commerce, fintech, startups
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What Was the Top NextBillion Post of 2018? Vote for Your Favorite
As 2018 comes to a close and we look back at the year's top posts, it's clear that the social sector is developing an increasingly willingness to challenge long-held assumptions – even when this leads to uncomfortable discussions and difficult course corrections. As NextBillion launches our seventh annual "Top Post of the Year" contest, we encourage you to vote for the post that influenced you most in 2018. You can vote up to once every six hours until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (U.S.) on Jan. 3, and the winners will be announced on Jan. 4. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!
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- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Inclusive Innovation: How Two Mobile Technology Startups are Changing the Game in Microfinance
Securing a bank loan is an onerous task for anyone. But for the 2.5 billion unbanked people worldwide, the obstacles can seem insurmountable. And microfinance and village savings groups both have significant limitations, particularly for people without a credit history. June Sugiyama of Vodafone Americas Foundation explains how two winners of the foundation's annual Wireless Innovation Project competition are overcoming these limitations through mobile technology.
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- Finance, Technology
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The Superplatforms are Coming … And They Will Transform Financial Inclusion
With their big brands, big budgets and big data, superplatforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba already know more about most banks’ customers than the banks themselves. As these internet giants make increasing inroads into financial services, what are the implications for low-income customers – and their existing providers? David Porteous of BFA and Olga Morawcynski of MasterCard Foundation explore how these platforms are reshaping the face of financial inclusion around the world.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- data, financial inclusion, fintech
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