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Energy access for all in Africa: does enterprise hold the key?
Local companies, international groups and charities are all using business approaches to improve access to clean, safe energy
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- Base of the Pyramid, solar
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Inside the Toolboxes : oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy 2013
lot of toolboxes, guidebooks, and protocols have been written about how BoP business models should look and how to best implement them. But as two scholars who have led many of those efforts recently summarized: “corporate interest ... has dropped precipitously or migrated to the CSR (i.e., philanthropic) side of the business.” The new oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy, in Istanbul this September, seeks to uncover some of the underlying dynamics with which managers overcome these challenges.
- Categories
- Education
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How to Build Successful BOP Business Models
Private companies that want to succeed in doing business with markets at the base of the pyramid (BoP) need to know their customers and their spending habits. They demand quality goods and services even though their cash flow is limited and it fluctuates. Several business people who have cracked this code will talk about how they overcame barriers to enter BoP markets at the IDB’s BASE II Forum International on June 6-7 2013 in Medellin, Colombia.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Putting the Horse Back in Front of the Cart: The dominant model of business education is broken
We desperately need new models of business education and entrepreneurial development appropriate to the challenges we face in the 21st century, which include epidemic inequality, ecosystem degradation, and a looming climate crisis.It is for this reason that I have become closely involved in the founding of the new Emergent Institute (originally the Indian Institute for Sustainable Enterprise), based in Bangalore, India.
- Categories
- Education, Environment
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What are the most promising Base of the Pyramid business models in Latin America?
Housing, education and banking, increasingly through mobile technology, are three of the fastest growing areas for private companies doing business with the Base of the Pyramid. Dozens of BoP business practitioners and experts will discuss their companies’ successful models at the Inter-American Development Bank’s II BASE Forum International set for June 6-7, 2013 in Medellin, Colombia.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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April’s Most Popular Posts on NB
This month, our top three most-read articles examined how companies are succeeding in reaching out to consumers at the base of the pyramid, as well as a sharp critique of one of those models. Here are the April winners of the “NextBillies,” our monthly awards for the most read and most shared posts. Congratulations to all!
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Reflections on the next wave of water innovation
Paul Polak believes that the solution to expensive and often dirty diesel powered water pumps in emerging market lies in fundamentally re-engineering the affordability of solar powered (solar photovoltaic) pumps. His new company, SunWater is developing a 2 kilowatt solar-powered pumping system that can do the same job as a 5 horse power diesel pump, coupled with drip irrigation and water storage solutions, to boost yields for small farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
- Tags
- Base of the Pyramid, solar
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NexThought Monday – The BoP Beyond Income Levels: Exploring the ‘opportunity access’ approach
The focus of the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) has been centered almost exclusively in the economic limitations of low-income communities. But in our report, “Understanding the BoP from an Access to Opportunities,” we expand this focus and recognize the multidimensional concepts of poverty, including an analysis of the BoP through their access to a joining of five basic necessities: water, energy, education, housing, and information and communication technology.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Impact Assessment
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