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Can Mobile Money Boost Financial Inclusion in Southern Africa?
Mobile money offers opportunities for the unbanked to save, spend, and transfer money using just a cell phone. Linda Du ’19, an MBA student at Yale SOM, traveled to Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to talk with providers, customers, and others about the technology’s potential to give the poor access to the financial system.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Electricity is Just the Beginning: Why Off-Grid Solar Opens the Door to Value-Added Services
Lack of energy access is a much-discussed issue in rural households and businesses across the developing world. But according to Mansoor Hamayun, CEO of BBOXX, electricity is just the beginning: Solar home systems could lay the foundation for a host of related services that could transform the quality of life in off-grid communities. Hamayun discusses “Tomorrow’s Rural Home,” BBOXX’s vision for the off-grid home of the future, which shows how solar energy access could create new markets and power economic growth in Africa and beyond.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Why the Social Impact Sector Needs a ‘Bizarro Davos’: A Modest Proposal That Nobody Will Like
It’s that time of year again: Time to talk about the true meaning of Davos. But among all the hot takes and well-earned snark at the expense of insufferable elites, it’s worth asking if the rest of us are so different. Even those of us who work in the social impact sector don’t seem to object to high-brow conferences, and few regular folks seem willing to make the kinds of sacrifices that may be necessary to tackle the generational challenges we face. NextBillion editor James Militzer discusses this dynamic, and makes a sure-to-be-unpopular proposal.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise
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Viewpoint: Why toilets should be on the agenda at Davos
As the world’s cities grow, and the extreme weather patterns that accompany climate change take greater hold, innovation in sanitation presents more than great opportunity and must not be relegated to the corporate social responsibility team.
- Categories
- WASH
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Stupid Stoves: Why Rebranding Won’t Solve the Clean Cooking Alliance’s Problems
In her recent interview with NextBillion, Clean Cooking Alliance CEO Dymphna van der Lans described the organization's ambitious new vision. But her words didn't sit well with Warm Heart Worldwide founder Michael Shafer, who raises a pointed question: After nearly 10 years of massive investment, hype and exposure, he asks, "Where is the Clean Cooking Alliance now? Getting rebranded and starting over!" Shafer argues that the Alliance's current efforts fail to address the major issues that have hampered it from the start – and proposes a different way forward – in this provocative post.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Press release: Young people to Davos leaders: more jobs, better education
“There are 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 today – the world’s largest-ever group of young people. Every month, 10 million reach working age – and they’re finding that yesterday’s skills no longer match today’s job market,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said at a meeting today in Davos bringing together the Forum’s three communities: Global Shapers, Young Global Leaders and Schwab Social Entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Education
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Viewpoint: How the digital finance revolution can drive sustainable development
A new task force convened by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will consider how these two topics might best intersect: how the digital revolution in financing could be shaped not only to minimise potential harms, but in ways that could help advance the SDGs’ inspiring vision.
- Categories
- Finance
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A new lease of life: How Bempu’s innovative wristband is saving thousands of babies
A bracelet meant for infants, it monitors their temperature whereby parents get alerted with an audio-visual alarm when their baby gets dangerously cold.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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