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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, Entrepreneurship, Technology
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Taking Control of the Value for Money Narrative: How Innovative Metrics Are Making Impact Part of the Financial Equation
The nonprofit VisionSpring—which provides affordable, high-quality eyeglasses to base of the pyramid customers—realized it needed a metric that could balance cost and impact, while keeping its target customers at the center of decision-making. Analysts at CASE and SoJo discuss the value of the “programmatic value for money metric” VisionSpring implemented, and explore how this type of metric can help organizations consider trade-offs between cost and impact.
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- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Press Release: Aspire Impact & Aspire Circle Launch ‘Impact Future Project’ for India To Persuade India INC. To Embrace Impact Capitalism
Aspire Impact, a social enterprise and Aspire Circle, a non-profit trust, twin initiatives focused on leadership and ecosystem development in the social and environmental impact space, have announced the launch of a thought leadership platform, Impact Future Project (IFP) at the Sankalp Forum on 2 November 2020.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Environment, Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Researching Outside the Box: The Benefits and Challenges of Systems Practice for Engaged Ecosystem Research
In its research on the tech innovation ecosystems in Cape Town, Nairobi and Lagos, Cenfri applied a Systems Practice approach, collaborating with key players to reveal a comprehensive picture of these dynamic systems. Analysts at Cenfri and Lagos Business School explore the model, and the challenges and considerable advantages it presents for researchers and business ecosystems.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Technology
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Tackling the Creative Economy Financing Gap: How Short-Term Capital Can Unlock Long-Term Impact Among Artisan Businesses
An estimated 3% of global GDP comes from creative industries – and the sector is growing quickly in the developing world. Laura Callanan at Upstart Co-Lab and Christopher van Bergen at Nest Inc. argue that now is the time to shape the creative economy to be more inclusive and sustainable. But for that to happen, the industry must first address its funding gap.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship, Investing
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The COVID-19 Pivot: How Five Nonprofits and Community-Based Enterprises Have Adapted in Response to the Pandemic
As COVID-19 has upended entire industries, businesses and non-profits everywhere have had to adapt to survive – sometimes shifting completely from their traditional services. June Sugiyama at the Vodafone Americas Foundation explores how five participants in the OpenIDEO COVID Business Pivot Challenge have quickly adjusted to provide innovative solutions to the crisis.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship, Health Care, Technology
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Press Release: Kiva Receives USAID Design Funding to Structure Innovative $100M Fund to Support 1 Million Women Globally
Financial inclusion non-profit Kiva is announcing a partnership under the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative with USAID to advance women’s economic empowerment by increasing access to financing for women entrepreneurs and business owners
- Categories
- Investing
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Leading a Social Impact Organization During COVID-19: Eight Ways to Navigate the Current Crisis
Leading a social impact-focused organization during a crisis like COVID-19 isn't easy. Alex Counts, the founder of Grameen Foundation and author of two recent books on mission-driven leadership, shares some of the top lessons he has learned from his decades in the sector, to help leaders guide their non-profits and social enterprises through this time of national and global crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship
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