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Social Enterprise Bean Voyage Giving Women Farmers More Control, More Income
A young social enterprise nonprofit called Bean Voyage is seeking to dramatically increase the incomes of women farmers by cutting middlemen from the supply chain, improving quality and leveraging an e-commerce platform for sales in key consumer markets.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Latin America
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Bill Gates Just Pledged $31 Million to Fight Malaria in Latin America
In their latest move to combat the world’s most devastating illnesses, Bill and Melinda Gates pledged $31.5 million yesterday to eradicate malaria in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Latin America
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Runa Steers Towards Natural Energy, Away from Tea
Nothing drives impact like dollars. It’s a simple idea, but, for Runa, it represents the seed of an entirely new business-focused outlook.
The Brooklyn-based company, founded in 2009 by college roommates Tyler Gage and Dan MacCombie, produces ready-to-drink iced teas and energy drinks made with guayusa, a plant traditionally used as a natural source of caffeine by indigenous groups in South America. Through its vertically aligned supply chain— in which it sources organic crops from Fair Trade Certified partner farms in Ecuador— Runa has made ethical business practices and sustainable farming a key part of its identity.- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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Latin America’s Fintech Rebels Declare War on Inflation
A frustrated 49 percent of the region’s population and many small- and medium-size businesses are outright excluded from traditional financial services, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Others, who have access, don’t even bother using the system because of decades of broken promises.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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Ethical Investors Tightening Screws on Emerging-Market Debt Issuers
Prices on Vale and Samarco bonds plummeted by about a third after the disaster. Vale, along with mine co-owner BHP Billiton, is facing a multi-billion dollar claim.
Events like that are increasingly spurring fund managers to look closer at environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks before investing in emerging markets, where polluting industries and accounting issues have often gone unpunished.- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- regulations
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Trocafone raises $15 million to expand its used electronics marketplace in emerging markets
Latin America is the fourth largest smartphone market in the world, the company said, despite the fact that roughly 418 million people can’t afford to buy one, according to data from the company.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Press release: 20 Top African Start-Ups Enter World Bank Group Digital Acceleration Program
Selected from a pool of over 900 applicants, these start-ups specialize in digital solutions for the African market, including fin-tech, transportation, health care, education, human resources, and B2B. All companies provide a digital product or service currently available in one or more African markets and show potential to scale across the region.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- accelerators, startups
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Viewpoint: Venezuela’s likely default could teach you a lesson: Don’t invest in dictatorships
If the default occurs, they’ll only be getting what they deserve. And as an added bonus, the spectacle of a Venezuelan default — the first by a major country since Argentina’s in 2001 — would help convince investors across the world that it’s not good business to invest in state-run companies of repressive regimes.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing, public policy