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ViewChange Film Friday: ’With My Own Two Wheels’
For most Americans, the bicycle is a choice. It is a toy, a recreational tool, or an eco-conscious form of transportation. In 2010, 3 mountain biking buddies from Santa Barbara set off on a round-the-world journey to film the stories of individuals for whom the bicycle is not a choice, but a machine that opens new economic opportunity and purpose.
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The Age of Big Data
Where should we build the next road? Can we predict where disease will spread to next? Many disciplines tackle these issues in their own, disparate ways. But according to Nathan Eagle, featured speaker at Columbia Social Enterprise Conference, we’ve entered a new era where that might not always be the case - all thanks to mobile phone data.
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- Technology
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Creating Demand With Social Marketing: ColaLife’s Approach
Too often ventures forget they need endeavor to create demand for the products they offer in BoP markets. ColaLife is a rare example, as it thought this through this early in the design phase. Fitting into the unused spaced between crated bottles, ColaLife’s "AidPods" contain Anti-Diarrhea Kits (ADKs) for home use by mothers and caregivers.
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- Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Beyond Four Walls
A house is more than a roof overhead - it gives a sense of security, empowerment, and hope. This is a core belief that drives Ashoka’s Housing for All (HFA) program - along with the principle that the affordable housing market is ripe for market-based solutions. I learned this at the start of my summer internship with HFA’s India team this year.
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The Pyramid Within the Pyramid: Segmenting the BoP Affordable Housing Market
A new arrival to a slum and a rickshaw driver living in a slum both are defined as BoP. But the differences between them are as vast as night and day. How can they all be treated the same when it comes to delivering products and services? Since Ashoka launched the Housing for All initiative in 2008, it’s clear the BoP market is far more complex.
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Aakash: Game Changer or Another Brick in the Wall?
"Aakash," touted to be the world’s cheapest tablet, was launched by the Indian government last week and distributed via pilot program to 500, rual primary school students across India. With the considerable buzz surrounding the $35 device, will the BoP market truly have something to cheer for?
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- Technology
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Friday Roundup – 10/07/11 The Next Steve Jobs …
As the plane landed upon my return from the ANDE Conference, I fired up my iPhone to read a news alert: ?Apple Announces Steve Jobs Has Died.? I flashed back to my old Apple IIe. Who would be the next iconic innovator to bring the power once held up on high to the people? Would their cause be bringing affordable technology to the poor?
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- Technology
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Making the Market VS Making It In the Market, What One Laptop Per Child Can Teach Us
Since its much publicized launch in 2005, Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child program has been both lauded and criticized. In a recent conversation hosted by NYU’s Reynolds Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs, he was steadfast in defending against criticisms about the efficacy of OLPC, but signaled new directions for educating poor children.
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- Technology