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Can Red Bull Make Social Entrepreneurship An Extreme Sport?
As a college student in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thato Kgatlhanye, thought up a clever product to improve both the environment and the lives of school-age children living in the struggling, largely rural communities that surrounded her: a backpack made of recycled plastic bags with a solar-charged light attached. The bag itself would reduce waste and trash heaps in the region. At night, the light could act like a lantern allowing kids without electricity to continue studying after dark.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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Venezuela asks the UN to help boost supply of medicines
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has asked for help from the United Nations to boost supplies of medicine. Mr Maduro said the UN had the expertise to normalise the supply and distribution of drugs in the country. Venezuela's Medical Federation said recently that hospitals had less than 5% of the medicines they needed. The president blames the problems on an economic war against his government and the sharp fall in oil prices.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Latin America
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Latin America impact investors set sights on social returns
After six weeks at the Aravind Eye Hospital in the Indian city of Madurai, talking to everyone from the janitors to the head of the low-cost eye-care centre, Javier Okhuysen and his partner flew back to Mexico City with a business plan, and opened their pilot eye clinic four months later.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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500 Startups launches fund to invest $10M for entrepreneurship in Latin America
Seed funding and networking guru 500 Startups launches its second Latin American Regional fund to bring $10 million in commitment to Spanish-speaking startups. The fund, Luchadores II, will be first anchored by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), and has plans to invest in over 120 companies through the Mexico City-based LatAm 500 Seed Program over the next 2 years.
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- Health Care, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
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WCCN Invests in Pro Mujer to Support Women In Latin America
A fund to counter the effects of the U.S. government's controversial “global gag rule” has raised around $190 million, it was announced at a conference in Brussels today, as development leaders said it would not be possible to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals without access to family planning services.
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- Investing
- Region
- Latin America
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Brazil’s Creditas Gets $19 Million Amid Boom in Local Fintech Financing
Creditas Soluções Financeiras Ltda, a Brazilian financial technology firm focused on secured consumer loans, has obtained $19 million from investors in a financing round that will allow it to provide borrowers with funds for one-fourth of what they pay to domestic lenders.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Omidyar Network invests $2.9M in new Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology to accelerate and scale innovation across the region
Alliance to be run by Fundación Avina and will be the next iteration of the Accelerator Fund for Civic Innovation - the key funder of civic tech innovation in Latin America.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- impact investing, scale
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Proposed Joint Venture to Produce and Sell Cuban Vaccines to Treat Cancer Seeks Investors
A joint venture between the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, and the Center for Molecular Immunology in Havana could open its doors to new U.S. investors as early as April.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- vaccines