NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Africa Not Fit For Print; The ’Light’ Side Of The ’Dark’ Continent

A Chinese, Latin American, and North American student are sitting in a classroom. The teacher pulls out a map of Africa, and asks ’tell me what you see". The Chinese student speaks of opportunity and business; South African steel, Congolese minerals, and Angolan oil to power his country’s growth, and an endless list of future contracts for Chinese-built roads, bridges, and infrastructure to link the continent. The American reflects on Darfur, the Rwandan Genocide, thatched-roof villag...

Source

The Huffington Post (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Investing in Impact: Making the Case for Patient Capital

Case study highlights challenges facing the nascent social investing sector and explores ways to face them. ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Social investing. Impact Investing. Patient capital. That the idea itself has more than one name underscores the challenges facing an industry that seeks to invest in and grow companies that measure wealth both by profit and the ability to solve social problems. This relatively new sector in the venture capital world is trying to redefine the ...

Source

Michigan Ross School of Business (link opens in a new window)

Haiti Embarks on Economic Recovery Plan with Help from Private Sector

Much of the media coverage of Haiti ’s post-earthquake rehabilitation has focused on the role played by the international community and aid donors . But on the second anniversary of the ...

Source

The Guardian (link opens in a new window)

Note From the Horn of Africa: Leveraging Mobile Technology to Link Somali Youth with Jobs

Read the news, and initial reports about the Horn of Africa 1 are grim with famine and conflict dominating the headlines. But despite a food crisis and flare-ups of violence, key areas of the economy are growing steadily. Even ...

Source

KDID (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Rebuilding Afghanistan’s Villages, Rug by Rug

When Connie Duckworth flew into Kabul for the first time in 2003, the city below "looked like Berlin after World War II," she says. Since that visit with the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council -a non-partisan initiative tasked with supporting Afghan women-Duckworth has devoted her life and career to rebuilding Afghanistan, carpet by carpet. Duckworth founded ARZU , a nonprofit, ...

Source

GOOD (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Training and Mentoring Give Boost to Uganda Clean Cookstoves Producers

A five-year programme rewards entrepreneurship across East Africa by supporting micro-businesses to establish energy services and create employment opportunities in rural areas. Willy Bamwenyena, 25, stands out as a young resourceful entrepreneur, who has been able to identify the energy gap in his community, in rural Uganda, and turned the need into a business opportunity. The GVEP-led Devel...

Source

GVEP International (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Waste Ventures Gives India’s Waste Pickers Access to Carbon Markets

Urban India generates 40 million tons of rubbish each year, a figure that is growing by more than two million tons ever year. Just 25 percent of that rubbish is collected by government contractors and there is little recycling; the rest is dumped and left to rot, producing methane, which is 23 times more harmful to us than carbon dioxide. Waste Ventures is a social enterprise aims to build a model in waste management that empowers the was...

Source

Wired (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Environment

Tags

waste

Help (Businessweek) Find America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs

We’re kicking off our search for businesses to profile in our fourth annual roundup of America’s most promising social entrepreneurs. The idea is to find and report on business ventures that advance a social or environmental mission and aim to turn a profit. We’re asking readers to suggest candidates using the form at the bottom of this post. Interest in social enterprise has grown in recent years. The movement has given rise to a slew of investors, incubators, networking gr...

Source

Bloomberg Businessweek (link opens in a new window)