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What´s Holding Back the BoP Housing Sector?: The need is clear – so where’s the investment?
UN statistics indicate that some 67 new low-income housing units are needed somewhere in the world every minute. BoP housing and related infrastructure is massively ripe for investment, with an estimated profit potential of between US$ 177 and US$ 648 billion up to the year 2020. So why hasn’t this investment happened? Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- housing, infrastructure
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Powering the BoP: Micro-grid payment and metering solutions offer promise in India
Commercial micro-grid enterprises that provide reliable power supply are gradually building trust among low-income consumers in India. Mechanisms to enhance payment and collection are a big component of this effort. Sowmya Suryanarayanan of Intellecap’s Research Team explores the challenges these companies face, and how they overcome them.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- infrastructure
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Microloans Aren’t Just for Businesses Anymore: Increasingly they’re helping the poor meet basic needs
A more universal and basic approach for microloans to assist the more than 3 billion people who live on less than $2.50 a day is providing small loans to break up payments for large purchases.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Tags
- infrastructure
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The New Cities Summit: Putting the ‘human’ back into our discussions on the 21st century city
A year has flown by since our inaugural global summit on the future of cities, the New Cities Summit, which we held in May 2012 in Paris. Since then, the connections we’d hoped to foster by inviting such a wide set of prominent actors from all aspects of urban life flourished in ways we could not have predicted – in unexpected combinations and places. This year, we’re hosting our summit in São Paulo, Brazil.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- infrastructure
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India’s Solar Power Surge : Low interest loans and government subsidies could electrify off-grid, microgrid sector
If you’re a you are a solar technology manufacturer, service provider, or an equipment provider of components like batteries - access to low-cost financing has never been better. Offering industry an insight into the future road map, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy released draft guidelines for its Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission – an ambitious plan for quick commercialization and adoption of solar technologies.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- infrastructure, solar
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Bi-Weekly Checkup (4/11/13): A Tale of Two Students – or, what I wish I would’ve done in college
When Jennifer Staple-Clark was a sophomore in college, she spent her free time establishing an innovative non-profit called Unite for Sight. The organization has become a world-renowned NGO, facilitating over 63,000 sight-restoring surgeries. It also organizes the annual Global Health & Innovation Conference, which takes place this weekend - and which NextBillion Health Care will cover as a media partner.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
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Reaching The Final 20: Investing in infrastructure to improve health care delivery
One of the harsh realities of global health today is that the quality and supply of life-saving innovations exceeds the capacity of many health systems to deliver them. For many low-income countries, gaps in the underlying infrastructure prevent new innovations from reaching those who need them most. VillageReach is a non-profit that helps private enterprise develop health care-related infrastructure, so that innovations can reach the "Final 20" - the 20 percent who live in the most remote, rural areas.
- Categories
- Health Care
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World Water Day: Cooperation is key
The theme of this year’s world water day is "cooperation." At first glance, cooperation might appear a somewhat passive sentiment; but, in the context of the global water challenge, meaningful change, and progress will only happen through cooperation, collaboration, and partnerships.
- Categories
- Agriculture