NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Startups for Good: The New Breed of Social Impact Incubators

It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes an ecosystem to scale a business that will transform the world. For many industries, support networks already exist in the form of business incubators, accelerators, venture capital, and other tools that will help grow an organization. For businesses designed with social and environmental impact in mind, there are far fewer resources to nurture them to world-class status. That’s the niche Mi...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Social Business is About Future of Humanity

The third Global Social Business Summit began in Vienna yesterday to discuss the progress of global movement of the new business concept to find ways to tackle the most pressing needs of the world. Chancellor of Austria Werner Faymann inaugurated the summit at the Congress Centre of the Austrian capital. Dr Michael Haupl, mayor of Vienna, greeted more than 500 delegates from 56 countries. With the motto of "Pioneering for Results," the 2011 summit has brought together indivi...

Source

The Daily Star (link opens in a new window)

Region

Europe & Eurasia

The Best Countries to Invest in are the Worst

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) - The United Nations Development Program recently completed its annual Human Development Report, listing the well-being of nations based on their economic prosperity, education levels and life expectancy. Considering that this column is devoted to investing with an impact, elevating social welfare by investing in, say, Norway, the highest ranked on the HDI, isn’t as easy to do as it might be by investing in, say, the Democratic Republic of the Cong...

Source

MarketWatch (link opens in a new window)

Embrace ICT for Development, Minister Urges SMEs

Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SME) operators have been urged to leverage the power of the Internet in transforming their businesses. Speaking at the Google Business Summit in Lagos, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said research supports the concept of putting businesses online. "Today, Nigeria has an estimated 33 million Internet users and we have targets to double this number in the next three to four years. Getting your business o...

Source

The Nation (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Ujjivan?s Social Development Program Helps Underprivileged Children in Kolkata

Ujjivan Financial Services, Bangalore-based Microfinance Institution (MFI), set up a concrete water reservoir at Vidhya Bhanvan Primary School at Kasba, Kolkata. Also Ujjivan presented two water purifiers to the underprivileged students at "Children of Topsia" school, as part of its national Social Development Program. The 400 students of the primary school till now had been suffering without proper access to drinking water. The ’Children of Topsia’ school is run by a Span...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

SKS Microfinance Should Present Themselves as a Business, Not as Do-gooders: Vinod Khosla

In one of the toughest environments to raise money, Vinod Khosla recently closed a $1.05-billion fund and promised to use most of this cash to back startups that he believes will change the way the world consumes energy. Since 2004, when he started Khosla Ventures, the Sun Microsystems co-founder has displayed almost messianic zeal in his quest to find alternative energy companies that can disp...

Source

The Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

A Maintenance-Free Bike to Give Africans Some Mobility

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left thousands of people stranded, with ruined infrastructure putting basic needs-health care, school, building materials--out of reach. So bicycle-components manufacturer SRAM Corporation founded World Bicycle Relief , and, through partnerships with aid organizations, brought more than 24,000 bicycles to people in Sri Lanka. The organization has since expanded its bike-givin...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Transportation

Tags

transportation

LinkedIn Connects Chilean Social Entrepreneur with Kenya

Sebastian Salinas Claro, a young social entrepreneur from Chile is headed to Kenya to help launch a social entrepreneurship program. This event came about through the leading social networking website for professionals, LinkedIn. Sebastian, who founded a small social enterprise called Emprediem earlier this year. The company conducts workshops in entrepreneurship and social innovation. Sebastian’s Kenya endeavor began when a friend informed him that he was connected with Alex...

Source

Justmeans (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa