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Creating Jobs While Fighting Poverty: An Innovative Social Micro-Franchise Model Gains Traction in Haiti
All too many global development efforts fail to appreciate the value of a steady paycheck – or the role of small businesses as job creators in poor communities, says Marc Blumenthal at Social Ventures Foundation (SVF). This has stagnated poverty reduction campaigns, leaving vulnerable populations in need after government and NGO funds dry up. He shares SVF's efforts to reverse this dynamic, through social micro-franchise business models that address poverty-related issues, while also creating sustainable jobs in low-income communities.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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A New Battleground: Why Health Care Companies in Low and Middle-Income Countries Will Challenge Today’s Market Leaders
There's no question that today’s low- and middle-income countries will be a major part of health care businesses' portfolios. The only question, writes Paul Clyde, president of the William Davidson Institute, is which businesses will succeed at serving these customers. With local firms in these growing markets already competing for low-income customers, Clyde argues that multinationals will need to invest, sometimes weathering losses, to stay competitive.
- Categories
- Health Care
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How To Design A Female-Friendly Toilet
Interviewing 312 girls in three provinces in Pakistan, the researchers found toilets showed "gender-insensitive design," lacked disposal options for menstrual products and were unsafely located.
- Categories
- WASH
- Region
- South Asia
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The Rise (and Rise) of the Gig Economy in Kenya – And How to Take It to the Next Level
The gig economy is growing fast in East Africa, fueled by a young population and burgeoning mobile and smartphone penetration. Countries like Kenya now have gig platforms offering everything from taxi rides to cleaners and handymen, and analysts say this is only the beginning. Gituku Ngene at Google.org Youth Impact Labs explores the gig economy's growing impact, the barriers it faces – and solutions that could unlock its full potential.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
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Unlocking the Medical Equipment Donation Ecosystem: Is a Blockchain Marketplace the Solution?
Every year hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical equipment is donated to hospitals in emerging markets, only to remain unused due to lack of knowledge, parts or maintenance. According to Vikas Meka, a blockchain-based donation platform could help – but it would be difficult to entice stakeholders to use it. He explores a solution: A token-driven marketplace that could unlock new social and economic value in the medical equipment donation ecosystem.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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‘Biotech R&D Makes India Hub of Quality Drugs, Vaccines’: Trevor Mundel of Gates Foundation
Trevor Mundel says India is not just making vaccines but making them within a quality system, has not been accomplished, broadly, and that is the unique aspect India has brought to the game.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Drug Prices Can Take A Surprising Turn When A Poor Country Gets Richer
A new report, published by the Center for Global Development in June, finds that as countries move up the ladder of economic development, it becomes harder for government agencies, hospitals and health care companies to buy drugs at reasonable prices.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Blockchain Blossoms in Haiti
As a developing economy, Haiti faces unique challenges — the country is more traditionally associated with earthquakes than with tech innovation. Haiti today is a hotbed of applied blockchain projects, projects that are expanding our understanding of the technology’s potential.
- Categories
- Technology
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