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Full Financial Inclusion in India? How the ‘JAM Trinity’ Can Help Businesses Make it a Reality
Changes in India’s financial inclusion ecosystem in the past 10 years have increased access, writes Prabhat Labh, CEO of Grameen Foundation India, but that's only part of the equation. More must be done to ensure poor families can actively use these services. Fortunately, the JAM trinity – Jan Dhan accounts, the Aadhaar ID system and mobile technology – has enabled completely new business models that scale processes for customer acquisition.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion
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Social Enterprise’s Achilles Heel: How the Information Deficit Limits Scale and Impact in India
While academic writing around social entrepreneurship has risen exponentially in the West, the same has not been true for Africa, Latin America and India – where there's also a general lack of information concerning diverse business models, innovative approaches and lessons learned, according to Devanshi Vaid. That's why India Development Review was created.
- Categories
- Education, Entrepreneurship
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A Toolkit to Identify Sustainable, Market-Based Energy Solutions in Off-Grid Areas
The MIT D-Lab, working with Mercy Corps, developed the Energy Assessment Toolkit to help organizations with strong connections in off-grid communities assess local energy needs, and select and implement market-based solutions that meet those needs. The toolkit includes surveys and interview guides that an organization can use to gather information from a range of stakeholders.
- Categories
- Education, Energy, Entrepreneurship
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More Than Lighting: Women Entrepreneurs Turn Solar Technology Into Opportunity
The entrepreneurs at Solar Sister, a social enterprise that uses networks of local women to directly sell solar lanterns in remote areas, aren't just lighting homes, they're transforming what rural Tanzanians do at home when it’s dark. Among the benefits they bring to communities they serve are more time for education, reduced health risks, increased productivity and larger household incomes.
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- Energy, Entrepreneurship
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Bridging the Chasm Within Southeast Asia’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem
While impact investing continues to grow in popularity globally, there is a shortage of social enterprises in Asia ready to take on the amount of capital and return assumptions needed to balance impact with the market-rate returns desired by many impact investors. Fixing the problem will require blurring the boundaries between commonly defined funding spaces – a key topic at the upcoming AVPN Conference.
- Categories
- Events and Competitions, Investing
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A Kenya Hospital Merges Quality and Efficiency with Mission
Real-time operational metrics and staff development have helped make Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi a role model in Africa.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Goal Within Sight: How Blindness Prevention Can Empower Women and Boost Emerging Markets
Ninety percent of the world’s visually impaired population live in low-income settings, and many lose their sight simply because they don’t have access to eye care. Women, who make up two-thirds of the world’s blind people, are especially at risk. Orbis, which partners with local hospitals in emerging economies to create customized eye care training programs, suggests it's time to rethink health care, and to do it through the lens of gender equity.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
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FinTech’s Elephant Seal Problem
Like the elephant seal, most fintech companies are focused on growing as large as possible. That means they usually choose a free business model to facilitate growth. Kristen Berman and Wendy De La Rosa of the Common Cents Lab say there's a better way: Abandon the free model and focus on removing the true psychological barriers to financial management.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion, Technology
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