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Africa’s Student Housing Crisis: An Overlooked Need Offers a Major Opportunity for Impact Investors
As COVID-19 spreads across Africa, universities are shutting their doors in unprecedented numbers. But for many African students, home is not an ideal learning environment. According to Abayomi Onasanya at Student Accomod8, that's one reason impact investors should focus on a long-overlooked goal: student housing. He explores how campus housing can make higher education more accessible to millions of young Africans.
- Tags
- housing, impact investing, youth
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Bottom-up Solutions to the Climate Emergency: Three Innovative, Eco-Inclusive Enterprises Take a Local Approach
We just reached the end of the hottest decade on record, and local communities – particularly in the Global South – are bearing the brunt of the impact. As climate change disrupts development efforts and worsens global food crises, population displacement and water scarcity, there's a growing need for more resilient communities. The SEED Awards highlight eco-inclusive enterprises that are addressing this challenge – authors at SEED discuss some promising examples.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment
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The World’s First 3D-Printed Neighborhood Is Being Built in Mexico for Families Living on $3 a Day
New Story is a nonprofit that helps families in need of shelter. It has built more than 2,700 homes in South America and Mexico since it was founded in 2014. This is the first homebuilding project it's done with 3D printing.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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White House Touts Help For Poor Areas — But Questions Endure Over Who’ll Benefit
Smith, who helps lead the White House efforts on the zones and other domestic policy matters, told NPR that the zones help cities and towns draw on private-sector investment in an innovative way. But the federal law does not specify how those funds should be used; investors might build affordable housing — or they might build high-end apartment buildings.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
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Tracking Goats and Bleach, Artificial Intelligence Helps Out in Crises
From knowing if it's safe to rebuild a damaged home to readying aid for displaced people, technology that harnesses AI is proving handy before and when disasters hit.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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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, Technology
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Report: Habitat for Humanity finds Housing Microfinance helps improve living conditions in Kenya
As part of the project, housing microfinance loans were offered not only to informal workers with unsteady incomes, but also to low-income salaried workers making between US$5-10 per day.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- housing, microfinance
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When Student Could Not Find His Calling, He Used Architecture to Build Some Stability for Refugees
Upon further research, Scott learned that between 15-20 million of them still live in tents, essentially camping in terrible conditions for 12 to 17 years on average. Between that, and the general lack of innovation as it relates to shelters, Scott quickly realized he’d found his calling.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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