-
The gap between India’s richer and poorer states is widening
East Asia’s growth pattern has for decades been likened to a skein of geese, from Japan at the vanguard to laggards such as Myanmar at the rear. The same pattern can often be seen within big countries. Over the past decade, for example, China’s poorer provinces have grown faster than their wealthier peers. India is different. Far from converging, its states are getting ever more unequal. A recent shake-up in the tax system might even make matters worse.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
The million-dollar social enterprise
Project Everest grew 1000 per cent last year and is on track to grow 250 per cent this year. In calendar 2016 the venture made $1 million in revenue.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
People Are Cooking With Human Poo — and That’s a Good Thing
In Kenya, the future of sanitation may entail turning human waste into fuel.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Do Farmers Really Want to be Paid in Mobile Money?
Do farmers really want to be paid in mobile money? To answer this question, I’ll ask you to first entertain a brief thought experiment.
Imagine that your employer told you that next pay period, your company will start paying you in Bitcoin. How would you react?- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
-
Exclusive: Documents reveal largest USAID health project in trouble
Between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2017, only 7 percent of the health commodity shipments delivered through the GHSC-PSM project arrived at their destination “on time and in full” — a common metric for measuring the performance of a supply chain.
- Categories
- Health Care
-
Behind Credit Suisse’s foray into microlending to the global poor
In its early days, Grameen Bank put microfinance on the map by making tiny loans to communities of female small-business owners who put social pressure on one another to repay the loans. Microfinance has come a long way since then. Today, data-enabled microloans are made to small-business owners, farmers and consumers all over the world, often through smartphones and loan officers wielding iPads.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Viewpoint: Marginalized Returns: Impact investing has been seduced by a false narrative of combining social impact with financial gains
Impact investing was originally created to improve the lives of others; that impact investing could also deliver financial returns to investors was a means to that end. But nowadays, achieving predefined financial returns has become the primary goal, with the needs of investors taking priority over the interests of the communities their funding seeks to benefit. This trend has fueled a growing mismatch between the supply of impact investment and the demand for funding from enterprises working to improve conditions for marginalized communities.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
-
Australia’s decreasing foreign aid budget offers chance for private companies to cash in
A handful of companies are cashing in on Australia's dwindling foreign aid budget, securing billions of dollars to do some of the work the Government used to do itself.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.