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Acumen Fund Announces Duncan Onyango as New Director of Acumen Fund East Africa
Nairobi, Kenya, August 15, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty across Africa and in South Asia, today announced Duncan Onyango as the new Director of Acumen Fund East Africa. Mr. Onyango joins from Rift Valley Railways having served as Group Chief Finance Officer. He replaces Biju Mohandas who is leaving Acumen after five years of leading Acumen’s local office and building the portfolio to its current size of $29 million in cumulative investments. Mr. Mohandas will play an informal role through this transition.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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With $2M from Eric Schmidt, biNu brings smartphone apps to dumb phones
Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures is leading a $2 million Series A round in biNu, an Australian startup that enables feature phones to run cloud-based smartphone apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Google. BiNu highlights the opportunity in developing markets where smartphone penetration is low.
- Categories
- Technology
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UN Unveils Sustainable Devt Network on Global Problems
The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has launched a new independent global network of research centres, universities and technical institutions to help find solutions for some of the world's most pressing environmental, social and economic problems.
- Categories
- Environment
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TISS, DBS Bank tie-up to support social entrepreneurship
Singapore-based DBS Bank and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) joined hands to launch a programme which will support social entrepreneurship.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Avon’s ‘Lipstick Evangelism’ Shows Promise in Poverty Fight
Lipstick may be the newest weapon in the fight against global poverty. A recent study (PDF) by University of Oxford researchers suggests that selling Avon (AVP) cosmetics have helped women in South Africa become financially independent. Other businesses are mimicking Avon’s model of direct sales as a way to alleviate poverty in developing countries.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bill Gates Thinks About Poop – And You Should Too
On Tuesday and Wednesday, engineers, philanthropists, media and more from around the world will gather at the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle for the “Reinvent the Toilet Fair,” a $3 million project funded in grants by the Foundation that will showcase revolutionary new toilets that don’t need water, electricity or even a connection to a sewage system. The goal of the project is to help improve the lives of the 2.6 billion people in the third world who do not have access to a toilet.
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Rwanda to develop off-grid lighting
LAGOS, Nigeria, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Approximately 85 percent of Rwanda's population has no access to the electricity grid, leading energy officials to seek "off-grid" solutions.GVEP International, a charity that battles poverty and climate change by promoting access to modern and renewable energy sources, has produced a report outlining investment possibilities in Rwanda's off-grid electrical sector, which includes solar lanterns and solar photovoltaic systems.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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Future Group to pitch Mother Earth chain against retailer Fab India
MUMBAI: Future Group, the country's largest retailer, will pitch its Mother Earth chain directly against ethnic products retailer Fabindia by expanding rapidly and borrowing its rival's social enterprise-style business model.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia