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Viewpoint: After Some Teething Troubles, Frugal Innovation Is On the Rise
Victor Hugo once said that “nothing can stop an idea whose time has come”. He failed to add that a lousy product launch can delay it. In the first decade of this century it seemed that frugal innovation’s time had indeed arrived: to meet surging demand from new consumers in emerging economies, innovative firms in those countries were stripping products of their fripperies and cutting their cost drastically. The new world had at last produced a big, new management idea.
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- Uncategorized
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In Zimbabwe, All Bets Are On Mobile Money & Data As SMS Declines and Telecoms Shifts
Numbers don’t lie, especially in business, and when the right sort of numbers are going up it becomes a celebrated truth.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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For Youth, By Youth: Creating Jobs, Sustainability and A Future Vision for Kenya
Simeon Ogonda’s vision for Kenyan youth is ambitious. He wants to transform young people from job seekers into job creators who build and support sustainable and transparent enterprises. “My vision is to bring up more young people who can develop their own businesses, work hard, and trust that so long as they keep their passion alive, they will not fail in what they’re doing,” he said.
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- Agriculture, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Card Payments Drop as Mobile Money Use Grows in Kenya
Payments made using plastic cards dipped by a fifth in 11 months to November last year as mobile phone-based payments ate into commercial banks’ business.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Three Questions with David Aylward, Senior Advisor on Global Health and Technology at Ashoka
Food Tank, in partnership with The George Washington University, is hosting the 1st Annual Food Tank Summit in Washington D.C. on January 21-22, 2015.
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- Agriculture, Health Care
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PRESS RELEASE: National Advisory Board on Impact Investing Names Darren Walker As New Chair
Today the U.S. National Advisory Board on Impact Investing (NAB) named Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, as the new Chair, joining the leadership team that includes Matt Bannick, Managing Partner at Omidyar Network, and Tracy Palandjian, CEO of Social Finance US.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing
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Tampax, Toilets and Shark Tanks
Inspired by the ABC reality TV show Shark Tank, PSI’s corporate partnerships team recently conducted its own version of the contest. Teams of PSI staffers presented five ideas to three judges, Sumathi Balasubramanian, senior manager, initiatives for girls and women, PSI; Marcie Cook, senior regional director, Asia and Eastern Europe, PSI; and Adeeb Mahmud, director, FSG. The winner was the Tampax for Toilets campaign, submitted by Dan Lawner and Genevieve Kelly of PSI’s East Africa department and Malaria and Child Survival department, respectively. Watch their winning presentation above or read below for more on their idea:
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- Education, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bill and Melinda Gates Want to Fix Another Messy Global Problem: Banking
Bill and Melinda Gates have taken on some of the world’s messiest problems, funding projects to improve the design of toilets and condoms and even create urine-powered fuel cells. Now, in their annual letter published today, they’re outlining ambitions to tackle another messy sector: banking.
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- Uncategorized
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