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Healthcare With the BoP Series: Staying Out of the Medical Poverty Trap In Pakistan
An adolescent golf champion who grew up to be Pakistan?s first female cardiologist, Sania Nishtar wields influence in forums from the World Health Organization to the Clinton Global Initiative. Through her NGO, Heartfile, she has honed in on one critical barrier to health delivery for the poor: serious shortfalls in financing.
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- Health Care
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Beleza Natural: Valuing Brazilian Women’s Self-Esteem
Beleza Natural is much more than a one-off beauty parlor. Founded in 1993, the company began operating in a basement in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. After less than 20 years in business, Beleza Natural has grown to 80,000 customers a month, and has become a national archetype for service and access for a clientele living at base of the pyramid.
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In Haiti, the Fonkoze Model of Social Evolution – Part 2
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series on Fonkoze’s operations following last year’s earthquake in Haiti. New Fonkoze clients pay a one-time membership fee for life, and they quickly encounter an organization structure designed to communicate to them what a democratic institution looks like.
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Financial Inclusion: Banking in the Amazon (With Video)
Autazes, a municipality in Brazil’s Amazon region, did not have a single point of access to banking services until 2002, when an agent set up operations there. Since then, Autazes has experienced significant economic and social changes, as the local population has access to government payments and other banking services for the first time.
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Building Markets for Financial Inclusion … Beyond Micro-credit!
The micro-credit crises under way in Andhra Pradesh will probably affect micro-credit operations globally. Time to take a broader look at financial inclusion ? on how to bring credit, transactions, savings and insurance to those currently excluded formal banking ? through a review of the Global Financial Inclusion report by McKinsey.
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Inclusive Business Has Buy-in, Now We Need Action
The Inclusive Business concept has been adopted by the United Nations, the International Business Leaders Forum, and other major organizations. Convincing multinational corporations was a critical step in validating and positioning market-based solutions as profitable ways to create wealth and prosperity. But how will we really achieve scale?
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- Education
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An Update from the Financial Services for the Poor Team at the Gates Foundation
On November 16 and 17, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hosted a Global Savings Forum which brought together leading players from around the world. The foundation presented its strategy to provide millions with affordable access to safe places to save.
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Financial Services for All Kenyans: Equity Bank and M-PESA Go Head to Head
Kenya is home to two extraordinary, but very different, financial service providers that have reached massive scale with unprecedented speed: Equity Bank and Safaricom’s M-PESA.
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