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Creating a Less Taxing Climate for Off-Grid Solar Energy
As countries are seeing the huge power and potential of decentralized renewables – such as off-grid solar – to combat energy poverty, taxes and tariffs on quality distributed energy products are no longer certain at all, and the trend looks set to continue.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
- Tags
- off-grid energy, solar
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Cashless in India: 50 days’ journey of a fintech professional
Are you sure you want to do this? Richa, my wife asked as I shared my idea to undertake an experiment in which I will stop using cash and instead use only digital forms of payment. Colleagues said going cashless in India is difficult and that I wouldn’t be able to manage more than a week. All this and the fundamental question “As a believer in digitization of cash, am I just propagating the theory or do I really understand the consumer side of story?” With this started the quest to understand “Cashlessness” first hand.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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5 Trends Accelerating the Acceptance of STEM Professionals in Sustainable Development
STEM innovation has led to many of the biggest social impacts in recent human history: chlorinated drinking water, oral re-hydration therapy, solar energy, and many more that we often overlook or underestimate. Fortunately, as STEM professionals forge their way in the social innovation space, there are five major trends accelerating their acceptance as sustainable development practitioners.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
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India’s Practo Plans to Take Digital Health-Care Success Abroad
Practo Technologies Private Ltd.’s audacious goal of bringing order to India’s chaotic health-care system is starting to bear fruit, helping to transform it into the country’s biggest online medical network. Now the startup is planning to go global.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Three Ways to Optimize the Smartphone Experience for the Next Billion Users
Across emerging markets, smartphone adoption is predicted to outpace bank accounts by the end of the year, opening up an increasingly clear opportunity for more multifaceted financial services. However, a range of technical constraints still hold some users back. Here are three ways to optimize for a more inclusive future.
- Categories
- Technology
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How can South Africa drive youth innovation and entrepreneurship?
Nearly a third of South Africa’s population is under the age of 14. As things stand, their future is uncertain. The economy is stagnant, the political landscape is shifting, and unemployment is at a record high. It’s possible to turn all that around, but doing so means equipping young people with skills beyond those found in the schooling system creating an environment which doesn’t just see entrepreneurship and innovation as viable options, but as necessities.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- innovation
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A Kenyan startup is showing global businesses how to talk to their customers
Ongair, a Nairobi-based startup, says instant messaging could and should replace the traditional channels of customer service—frustrating phone calls, inefficient e-mail exchanges, online chats that don’t work well on a smartphone, or SMS messages that costs businesses per text.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Diagnosis App Scoops Africa Health Prize
An app that allows rural doctors to seek advice remotely from experts won Africa's first prize recognising new technology that boosts health on the continent.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa