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Beyond Four Walls
A house is more than a roof overhead - it gives a sense of security, empowerment, and hope. This is a core belief that drives Ashoka’s Housing for All (HFA) program - along with the principle that the affordable housing market is ripe for market-based solutions. I learned this at the start of my summer internship with HFA’s India team this year.
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How Businesses Can Excel as the Poor Shift to Buying in Small Packs
My colleague expressed shock at the price of packaged mushrooms in supermarkets in Eastlands compared to those in Westlands in Nairobi. The price for the same product was almost double in Eastlands compared to Westlands. She was surprised at the pricing logic, but this is just a poverty penalty. I explained that the rich always pay less than the poor in many circumstances. Micro finance institutions charge higher interest rates for loans than mainstream banks while shylocks ...
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Enabling Safety in Self-Construction Practices: The Value Proposition for Technical Assistance
Sadly, the debate on housing in India lacks the vision of creating inclusive cities through urban design and planning. Highly subsidized government programs are not going to solve the problem and private efforts only work where land is extremely cheap. We founded micro Home Solutions on 3 principles: community, sustainable design and affordability.
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Continuing the Quest for Exits: the Role of Mission Markets
IPOs and major exits are still a rare delicacy in the impact investing sector. But Mike Van Patten is trying to change that. He’s founder and chairman of Mission Markets, a specialized financial services firm that provides investment banking and advisory, while operating an online private exchange for the social and environmental capital markets.
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- impact investing
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The Pyramid Within the Pyramid: Segmenting the BoP Affordable Housing Market
A new arrival to a slum and a rickshaw driver living in a slum both are defined as BoP. But the differences between them are as vast as night and day. How can they all be treated the same when it comes to delivering products and services? Since Ashoka launched the Housing for All initiative in 2008, it’s clear the BoP market is far more complex.
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Weekly Roundup: 10-16-11: Creating the Ecosystem, the Unreasonable Way
Like many relatively nascent movements, we use the term "ecosystem" quite a bit when referencing the social enterprise space. For many entrepreneurs (or the frogs in this somewhat stretched analogy) the Unreasonable Institute is that swamp, if you will. The third annual six-week acceleration program is accepting applications for 25 coveted slots.
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Housing for All Series: Sizing Up the Affordable Housing Deficit
The second article of the month-long series on Housing for All in partnership with Ashoka, examines the magnitude of the challenge, and its implications for higher education and certification for construction trades at all levels and skill fields: including technology, alternative building materials, and better planning/infrastructure needs.
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Launching a New Series: The Global Spread of Affordable Housing
Urban slums are the fastest-growing human habitat. By 2030, their populations will triple to over 3 billion people. Is the ideal of affordable housing for the masses a Utopian pipe dream? Or is it fertile ground to build houses, build markets, build income and build better futures for a billion people? Join us as we explore the potential answers.
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- housing
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