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Aavishkaar Raises Rs 500 crore for Foreign Investments
Aavishkaar, India's biggest social entrepreneurship focused venture capital fund, would be investing about Rs 500 crore ($75 million) in start-ups from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- venture capital
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SACCOs Seek Speedy Regulation in Uganda
Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs) leaders have asked government to fast track regulation for microfinance institutions in the country in order to attract more people to use their services and protect clients.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- microfinance, regulations
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Solving Complex Social Problems Through Collaboration
Geneva Global, a tiny but mighty philanthropic consulting firm that specializes in international development, is helping to change the world from its small suburban corner of Wayne, Pa. With a team of just 52 staff members, they are quietly igniting social good on a global scale through the repetitive flexing of an approach called dumbbell collaboration.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- philanthropy
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What Nestlé Forgot to Mention When Giving Its Reasons for Scaling Down in Africa
Five years ago, Nestlé announced its bold expansion plan for the sub-saharan Africa region: a $161 million investment to build three new factories and 13 new distribution facilities. The desired outcome? Increased sales for the food multinational and 750 new jobs for the 21 countries in the region. This plan was inspired by the much-talked about economic revival of Africa and its “rising middle class”.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- impact investing
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Africa: Gates Foundation Changes Focus to ‘Last Mile’ of Delivery
AllAfrica's Juanita Williams andMelissa Britzinterviewed Dr Ayo Ajayi, the director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Africa Team, about the foundation's new approach to working with the continent.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bandhan Bank Is Born: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh’s Incredible Journey From a Sweet Shop to Owning a Bank
In most Indian languages, the word Bandhan means bond or togetherness. His bond with the credit-deprived poor in Eastern India’s villages and a Rs 2 lakh loan were the initial capital for Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, the son of a small sweet-shop owner from Bengal, to begin a microfinance institution, Bandhan Financial Services Ltd, and grow it to a private bank in less than 15 years.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Thread Raises $3.5 Million Round for Clean Textile Innovation
Thread, a Pittsburgh-based startup dedicated to creating dignified jobs in the developing world, recycles plastic into socially responsible fabric.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- impact investing
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This High-Tech Vision Test Could Make the World See 20/20
While providing charity eye care in Haiti, Joel Kassalow noticed that a complex eye-testing machine was essential, unwieldy and too costly to buy in multiples — and it became a bottleneck in giving people necessary care. So he offered an innovation he’d created at his company, Smart Vision Labs: a version of the same machine at one-fiftieth the weight and one-hundredth the cost.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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