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Spiro Secures $50 Million to Boost African Expansion
Spiro, Africa’s electric mobility leader and battery swapping pioneer, today announced the raising of $50 million in debt funding from Afreximbank and two new investors Nithio and Africa Go Green Fund managed by Cygnum Capital. The new funding follows Spiro’s landmark $100 million investment in October 2025, which became Africa's largest-ever electric mobility investment.
- Categories
- Energy, Transportation
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: IDB Lab to Invest $8 Million in AgVentures III Fund to Advance Agtech Innovation
Fund manager SP Ventures' impact thesis is to generate social benefits for vulnerable populations by supporting technologies that democratize access to productivity and efficiency for small- and medium-sized farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
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Viewpoint: Measuring More and Learning Less
How an excessive focus on methods has distracted attention from the more fundamental challenge of building rigor and learning overall.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Storytelling for Velocity, Not Visibility: Why African Development Organizations Need a New Communications Playbook
Something subtle yet profound is changing in how global development organizations in Africa communicate about their work and impact. According to Chrisphine Omondi, a communications specialist with experience across the continent, these organizations have often relied on external communications consultants who produce reports, recommendations and strategies, then exit before those plans are fully implemented. He argues that this model no longer fits the pace and complexity of Africa’s evolving development ecosystem, and explores how African organizations can create a more holistic, systems-based communications model that aligns with the broader changes that are reshaping global development.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Entrepreneur-Friendly Inclusive Finance: A Survey of Brazilian MSMEs Highlights Key Lessons for Lenders
In Brazil, impact-focused lenders like Estímulo are successfully reaching small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with inclusive lending approaches. But as Carla Grados-Villamar at 60 Decibels and Lucas Conrado at Estímulo explain, inclusive finance is not just about disbursing loans — it’s about understanding entrepreneurs’ realities and adapting accordingly. They share findings from 60 Decibels' interviews with over 400 Estímulo loan applicants, highlighting lessons lenders can use to improve business outcomes for borrowers, and prepare non-borrowers for future credit opportunities.
- Categories
- Finance
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Rwanda Launches $13 Million Outcomes-Based Early Childhood Education Programme
Building on its early childhood reforms, the Government of Rwanda is pioneering outcomes-based financing as a core part of its national strategy, linking funding to measurable improvements in the quality and inclusivity of early learning.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Are Impact Investors Really Listening?: Why Capturing Stakeholder Insights is Key to Impactful Investment Strategies
Collecting data is easy for impact investors; acting on it is harder. As Taanya Khare at Acumen explains, most impact investment firms turn data-driven insights into action through intentional spaces like investment committees or portfolio review sessions. But she argues that listening is about more than surveys or feedback loops — it requires investors to sit down with company teams to make sense of customer insights, identify blind spots and co-create better solutions and impact strategies. She shares what Acumen has learned from embedding listening and impact management into every stage of its investment process.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Analysis: Why Impact Investing Might Collapse and How to Stop It
The current paradigm of viewing impact in isolation from the systems surrounding investments is not sustainable. Applying a systems lens helps investors make better decisions related to sourcing, management, and measurement that lead to lasting positive impact.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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