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Lok Capital Sells its Stake and Leaves RuralShores Business Services
mpact investment firm Lok Capital has exited its portfolio company RuralShores Business Services by selling its stake in the rural business process outsourcing (BPO) company to an unnamed strategic investor.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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The Great Equalizer: How advances in “big data” allow tech-savvy start-ups to compete with the major players in East Africa
Thanks to the availability of fast, inexpensive data, start-ups with technology-enabled models can create scaled products and innovate much faster, smarter, and more cheaply than incumbent institutions. Accion Venture Lab’s Nate Gonzalez discusses why this is particularly relevant to the SME lending space in East Africa.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Putting Microbusiness on the Map: U.S. students survey local businesses to compete for social enterprise seed funding
In the U.S., 3.7 million people remain long-term unemployed. Without job opportunities, many Americans are becoming entrepreneurial out of necessity - but they often lack capital. That’s why Lend for America is working with local students in the Philadelphia area to provide microfinance for social entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Press Release: Citi Issues 2013 Global Citizenship Report
Citi today released its 14th Global Citizenship Report, an annual overview addressing the company’s social, environmental and governance achievements and challenges. The 2013 Citi Global Citizenship Report underscores Citi’s goal of enabling progress for clients and communities around the world.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Microfinance Faces Uncertainty in Bangladesh
The Bangladesh government should reevaluate its pursuit to regulate and nationalize the operations of the Grameen Bank.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Insights from Everyday Entrepreneurs: In Accion’s inaugural Orange Book, very small businesses share their stories
Very small businesses—those with five employees or less—represent over 90 percent of all small businesses in the U.S. As economic drivers in their communities, these businesses have valuable perspectives on entrepreneurship and the economy. Accion has released the Orange Book, a compilation of quantitative and anecdotal data sourced from these everyday entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance
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‘Maybe It’s Time We Start Behaving Like a Business’: The struggle of one microfinance institution to balance its social impact with its bottom line
La Ceiba designed its microfinance programs and policies around the needs and capabilities of its clients - even when this conflicted with the best interest of the institution. But now, its interest income isn’t covering its loan loss, putting its survival in doubt. La Ceiba’s loan program leader offers a frank assessment of its struggle to balance social impact with business needs.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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“Correlation is not causation”: Roodman takes issue with World Bank study
The issue is standard. Correlation is not causation. The Economist makes a strikingly confident statement about how one thing affects another. The problem is that in families and villages, everything affects everything. Taking more microloans can make people wealthier or poorer. Being wealthier or poorer can make people take more microloans. The arrows go in circles. Statistics can measure correlations. How do we make the leap to causation?
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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