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Why Sustainable Food is Key to Impact Investing in China
Tao Zhang founded one of China’s first impact investing vehicles for environmental SMEs, with a focus on the industrial sector. But he realized that there's a pressing environmental issue brewing at the consumer level – a demand for animal products increasing in tandem with rising incomes, bringing greater greenhouse gas emissions and health disparities. Zhang shares how his Dao Ventures consortium is making consumers part of the solution by partnering with other impact finance entities to boost the availability of – and appetite for – alternative protein sources.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
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Affordable, Scalable, Overlooked: Evaporative Cooling Can Fight Food Loss – Why isn’t the Development Sector Embracing It?
Food loss due to lack of effective storage is a global problem: In sub-Saharan Africa alone, approximately 23 percent of available food is lost or wasted. There’s increasing interest in an innovative yet old-school solution to the problem: evaporative cooling. But though the technology can be adopted with minimal training, low up-front costs and no electricity, it is not widely used. MIT D-Lab research engineer Eric Verploegen explores five ways to increase the effective production, dissemination and usage of this technology.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Technology
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Low Tech, High Impact: An Affordable, Hand-Powered Innovation Aims to Boost Food Production in Africa
For many global development players, high-tech innovations are the go-to solution for challenges in emerging markets. But according to Taylor Quinn of JUST, Inc., low-tech approaches can be even smarter. He discusses the promising potential of locally made and hand-powered machines in emerging economy value chains, and explores how JUST is using one such device to improve food security, increase access to quality nutrition and promote entrepreneurship in Liberia.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
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IBM’s Microfinance Blockchain in Kenya Tests the Viability of Hyperledger
IBM is back supporting a microfinance project using a Hyperledger blockchain to help administer small loans at low interest to food sellers in Kenya.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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After Years Of Violence, Chef Offers Colombian Farmers Pride And Profit
A Colombian chef turned social entrepreneur, Leonor Espinosa has made it her mission to revive traditional agriculture, ancestral foodways and culinary know-how among rural, mainly indigenous and Afro-Colombian people.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
- Region
- Latin America
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McDonald’s Philippines goes cashless with PayMaya
Over 40 McDonald’s restaurants nationwide have started accepting card payments for all types of Mastercard and Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards, through a collaboration with PayMaya Philippines.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Rethinking Food Security By Re-inventing the Cold Storage Chain
In developing countries, 40 percent of food losses occur after harvest and early on in the supply chain, leading to more than 250 million tons of food waste annually — mostly because of inadequate refrigeration and unreliable and expensive energy supply. Paula Rodriguez at InspiraFarms discusses the problem – and the company's innovative solution.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Technology
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