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AXA IM Alts Leads New Investment Round in Sanergy’s Africa and Asia Expansion
With AXA IM Alts’s support, Sanergy would be well-positioned to scale its operations in Kenya and across the region.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, WASH
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- innovation, recycling
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Christensen Institute, MIT Legatum Center Launch Bootcamp for African Innovators
The Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank based in Boston and Silicon Valley in the United States, has announced a collaboration with the MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship aimed at empowering early-stage entrepreneurs in seven African countries to create new economic growth engines. The new collaboration, called Market-creating Innovation (MCI) Bootcamp, aims to bridge the gap between emerging market entrepreneurs and market-creating innovation opportunities.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MercadoLibre to Expand Electric Fleet After $1.1 Billion Bond Sale
Latin American eCommerce giant MercadoLibre has sold $1.1 billion in bonds to expand its fleet of electric-powered delivery vehicles.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Surveying the Landscape for Social Investments in Africa: A Major New Study Assesses the Current State of Play on the Continent
The social investment sector in Africa is dynamic and growing – but it’s struggling to close the enormous Sustainable Development Goals financing gap. The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) explored the opportunities and obstacles facing social investors on the continent in an ambitious new study, “The Landscape for Social Investments in Africa.” NextBillion interviewed AVPA’s CEO, Frank Aswani, to discuss the study’s findings, and what they say about the current state of social investment in Africa.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Innovation for Adaptation: How a New Fund Is Helping Service Providers Navigate the Challenges of COVID-19
The impact of COVID-19 has been amplified at the local level in Kenya and Rwanda, where non-profit service providers working with vulnerable populations are finding it more difficult to support their beneficiaries. Michael Kiema and Linda Ndungu Wambua at Instiglio explore learnings from the COVID-19 Adaptation Fund, which is providing funding to nine qualifying service providers to help them implement innovations that will support their efforts to serve beneficiaries during the pandemic.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
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Doing Good by Doing Business: How B1G1’s Innovative Giving Model Is Mobilizing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to Make a Social Impact
B1G1 (Buy1Give1) is a global business giving initiative that makes it easy for enterprises – particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to support charitable causes around the world. NextBillion spoke with founder and CEO Masami Sato to discuss how B1G1 developed its innovative model, how its approach differs from the model popularized by companies like TOMS Shoes, and why it’s important to mobilize the power of SMEs to build upon the impact of traditional charitable giving.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Bayer Steps up Its Commitments to Support Smallholder Farmers in Asia
The Better Life Farming Alliance (BLFA), Bayer’s global, multi-stakeholder partnership model that provides holistic and innovative solutions for smallholder farmers in developing economies, has launched in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Post-Harvest Food Loss Is a Key Driver of Malnutrition: These Innovations Are Tackling the Problem in Indonesia’s Fish Value Chain
Food loss is a major challenge in Indonesia, and loss of fresh fish is a particular problem. An estimated 20 – 29% of fish is lost annually in the domestic supply chain, contributing to high rates of malnutrition and harming livelihoods in the country. As Rahmi Kasri at I-PLAN, GAIN Indonesia explains, inadequate cold chain infrastructure and poor handling practices lie at the heart of this issue. She discusses some promising cold chain, processing and product innovations that are addressing the challenge.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Transportation