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Frequent Flier Miles at the Base of the Pyramid
OK, so you are a cell-phone user in rural Nigeria or Zimbabwe, and your provider is Econet Wireless. You’ve been a customer for a while, so you’ve accumulated loyalty rewards, just like airline frequent flier points. You live in a small hut in a village with no electricity, so you can’t use your phone as much as you would like, because you can only charge it on market day at the district headquarters. But now you can get a big discount on a solar lantern, or if you hav...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mining Proves a Test of Mettle for Peru’s Ambitions of Economic Development
The resignation of Peru ’s deputy environment minister amid violent protests against the country’s largest ever mining project has highlighted how weak institutions, unable to ensure decisions are made on the basis of robust information, undermine green policymaking in Latin America. José de Echave quit in late November, calling environmental impact studies on the $4.8bn (£3.1...
- Tags
- mining
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Citi Micro Entrepreneur Awards 2011 Honors Individual Enterprise
The Citi Micro Entrepreneur Awards 2011 recognized nine micro entrepreneurs and a community owned enterprise at a ceremony presided over by Dr. K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India. The Citi Micro Entrepreneur Awards 2011 received over 800 applications from 77 nominating organizations. There were 74 % women nominations and four new categories introduced - youth, green, innovative and community owned enterprise. The 2011 awards took into account geographical, socio-e...
- Region
- South Asia
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Prince of Poverty Leaves Behind Questionable Legacy
Vikram Akula was the golden boy of microfinance when he launched his company SKS. How did things go so horribly wrong?. The story of Vikram Akula is almost like a classic Greek tragedy with epic peaks, troughs and betrayals that could easily make up a Hollywood movie. Akula remains a controversial character, whose very name incites admiration and criticism in equal measure. Some say that he gave birth to the microfinance industry as we know it in India. Others say that his model of lend...
- Region
- South Asia
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Endeavor Takes Center Stage at Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul
ISTANBUL--( BUSINESS WIRE )--This week, more than 120 Endeavor network members have gathered in Istanbul to participate in the 2 nd ...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Should Philanthropies Operate Like Businesses?
It’s your money, and you’re willing to give some of it away to a worthy cause. But you want to see results. Measurable progress toward agreed-upon goals. Regular proof that your investment is achieving maximum impact. That’s the way businesses operate, and charities should be no different. That’s one way to look at it, anyway. Others argue that things work differently in the world of nonprofits and social change. Tackling some of society’s biggest problems is u...
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Africa Can Make Significant Progress Towards the MDGs
Most African countries may not achieve all the MDG targets by 2015. What matters more is that they all make significant progress in all areas of the MDGs and sustain, or even accelerate, this progress in accordance with their national conditions. Arguably, the political and economic conditions in Africa in 2011 are a lot better than they were...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Diary of a Social Entrepreneur
Asister organization of the World Economic Forum, the Schwab Foundation has been awarding social entrepreneurs in South-East Asia for five years. It chose Neelam Chhiber of Industree Crafts Foundation as the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 in partnership with the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation (the foundation is the social wing of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, whose promoters are closely related to those of ...
- Region
- South Asia
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