-
Rethinking What it Means to Start a Business: Why Systemic Venture Building Matters for Africa’s Food Future
Africa’s entrepreneurs are often seen as risky investments not due to any limitations of their own businesses, but because of the risks in the systems around them. As a result, as Dieuwertje Nelissen, Eveline Jansen and Rachael Kirui at Enviu argue, it's important for development stakeholders to move beyond de-risking individual businesses and to put greater effort into strengthening and de-risking the systems that support them. They explore this systemic approach in the context of African agriculture, sharing a venture-building model that can help entrepreneurs reduce early-stage risk and scale sustainable impact.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Social Enterprise
-
Alta Semper Secures USD $57.5 Million from EIB Group and IFC for Growth Fund II to Expand Healthcare Access Across Africa
Alta Semper Growth Fund II focuses on scaling market-leading healthcare and consumer businesses that improve access to affordable, high-quality products and services across Africa and other select growth markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
DEG Provides EUR 30 Million Funding to Africa Go Green Fund to Scale Energy Efficiency and Climate-Friendly Solutions Across Africa
AGG targets the scale-up of commercially viable climate solutions that reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
India Doesn’t Need Borrowed Solutions; It Needs Local Problem-Solvers: Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap
Sankalp Bharat seeks to spotlight entrepreneurs from India’s tier II and III cities as the country’s next growth engine, says Vikas Bali.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
German DFI DEG Commits $50 Million to DPI’s Fourth Africa-Focused Private Equity Fund
The vehicle aims to inject capital into mid-tier African companies that are positioned for expansion but lack sufficient access to equity finance.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Viewpoint: Rethinking Development Funding Means Making It Matter to the Median Voter
Development assistance that connects global impact with national interest is a formula that voters can understand.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
-
Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2025: Vote for Your Favorites by Jan. 4
NextBillion’s “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest has been an annual tradition since 2012. As we do each December, we’ve highlighted 12 of our most-read articles from the past year: You can find links to them in this article, or on the homepage below. We invite you to read them and vote for the ones that influenced your thinking the most. You can vote up to once per hour between today (Dec. 19) and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 4. We thank you for your support and engagement over these past 20 years, and we wish you a happy and prosperous 2026.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Finance, Investing, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation
-
Viewpoint: There Is No Such Thing as Impact Investing
There is philanthropic investing, and there is commercial investing, and there is nothing in between.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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.