Results
Blog Post
Many recent studies have found that microfinance has no impact, or minimal positive impact, on clients’ lives. To find out why and to fix the problem, financial service providers need client outcomes data, but few FSPs collect it because they think it would be too expensive and time-consuming. Turns out, according to the SPTF Outcomes Working Group, it's not.
Client Outcomes Data in Microfinance: Few Have It But Everybody Needs It
News
Step out of the frigid drizzle into Unilever’s factory outside Liverpool in northern England, and the brightly lit, automated assembly line gleams in stark contrast to the gloom outside. Thousands of bottles shoot down a conveyor belt with a click-clack sound, in a streak of bright purple. Look more closely, and there is an important detail. The new bottle is squatter than the older, taller style on another assembly line, with a smaller dispenser and a label explaining that this version of Comfort brand fabric conditioner is good for 38 washes, rather than the 33 of the last-generation package. The message is clear: Customers need to help save one of earth’s most precious resources—water.
Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s Plan to Save the WorldNews
Since 2001, impact VC firms have raised $13 billion to invest in companies that provide a social or environmental benefit as part of running their for-large-profit business. Indeed, $10 billion of that has been raised since 2010 alone. Impact VCs are VCs first that intend to generate market-beating financial returns because of, not in spite of, an impact-oriented investment thesis.
Investing in GoodBusinessBlog Post
In this Q&A, Amy Ahearn and Santiago Melo of Acumen explain how the use of education technology, or "edtech," is evolving in emerging markets. For one thing, it's become obvious that in addition to building technology, organizations that hope to reach scale must also build relationships with teachers, and approach districts and governments as customers.
EdTech Startups are Flashy, But Teacher Relationships Remain CriticalNews
It’s easy to see global health as a far-off issue, one that doesn’t have much impact outside isolated parts of the world. But at a symposium on global health today at the University of Washington, leaders in the field argued just the opposite.
Global Health Leaders Seek New Ties to Tech Industry, While Aiming to Avoid ‘Innovation Addiction’Blog Post
Bart A.J. de Jonge and Si Technologies came up with a way to protect farmers around the world and their crops against increasingly common droughts that devastate local communities. He wanted to get the product in the hands of hands of millions of subsistence farmers quickly, but it took years, for a variety of reasons. Here, he offers advice to other social entrepreneurs, including this: "Change is a long haul, but don’t give up."
Find Good Partners and Don’t Quit: Lessons from a Water-Ag InnovatorNews
Up in arms against the central government's drug pricing control regime, the Indian pharma industry feels it is a short-sighted move that will stifle innovation in the country. Instead of slashing prices of drugs, the government must focus on holistic development of the healthcare sector, pharma honchos said here on Tuesday.
Drug Pricing Control Regime Short-SightedNews
Diagnosing disease often requires analysing and detecting single cells with lab tests that cost hundreds of dollars each. Hospitals in a poor country stricken with a disease epidemic like HIV or malaria simply might not have the funds to run all of those tests. Scientists are looking for a cheaper option.
This Tiny Disease-Diagnosing Microchip Only Costs A Cent To Make
