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Rural Knowledge Meets Tech Innovation: What Ultra-Poor Entrepreneurs Can Teach the World
What happens when Barefoot College, a global NGO which trains entrepreneurs in poverty-stricken rural areas, melds its expertise and values with tech innovators like Apple? It sparks the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneur who has much to teach the world, says Scot Bolsinger – along with new opportunities for rural communities to share and connect in ways never before possible.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Social Enterprise Sector Is Missing Link in Africa Wealth-Creation Chain
The objectives of social businesses are generally seen as meeting social goals. They often reinvest profits back into the business or target audience or community. Africans may have to start thinking of using social enterprises -- whether at village, community or non-governmental organisations -- to create businesses, manufacture goods, expand financial services and farm commercially; and to serve as alternative public-service providers, delivering education, energy and accessible finance.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Report: Leveraging digital to unlock the base of the pyramid market in Africa
The level of formal banking and insurance penetration across Africa remains low due to the fact that consumer spending power for the majority of the population is low and unsteady. This has been seen as a hindrance to providing products and services through traditional distribution models, even though this market represents the majority of spending power in Africa.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Guarantees Transforming Impact-Investing Finance
“Guarantees are underutilized in impact investing, and hence there’s great potential for scaling their use,” says Abhilash Mudaliar, director of research at the GIIN.
- Categories
- Investing
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The High Cost of ‘Data Darkness’ in the Developing World
The developing world is data dark, writes Tara Thiagarajan of Madura Microfinance; gathering even the most elementary data is a monumental task, requiring feet on the ground, paid employees and auditing systems. Without it, however, products don’t have good market fit, customers don’t get what they really need and the cost of customer acquisition and delivery is higher.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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From Trash to Resource: How Technology Can Help Informal Waste Pickers Solve India’s Recycling Problem
Due to its dependence on informal waste pickers, urban waste management in India is at once a complex problem to solve, and an excellent business opportunity. Kabadiwalla Connect, a tech-based social enterprise, is using smartphones and innovative logistics to help this informal ecosystem of urban recyclers make a better living and keep untold tons of garbage out of landfills.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise, Technology, WASH
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WHO to help bring cheap biosimilar cancer drugs to poor
The World Health Organization (WHO) is to launch a pilot project this year to assess cheap copies of expensive biotech cancer drugs in a bid to make such medicines more widely available in poorer countries.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Geodata Technology Moving Into New Fields. Literally.
Geodata and ICT applications help farmers with precision farming, leading to increased yields and improved quality. This information has not yet been made available to financial institutions at a large scale, but it has the potential to increase access to finance for smallholder farmers. The Rabobank Foundation and NpM have launched a Board of Inspiration to help speed the process.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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