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Mini-grids could be a boon to poor people in Africa and Asia
Vijay Bhaskar of Mlinda says a big mistake in development has been to assume that, once people are hooked up to electricity, businesses will automatically flourish. People have to be taught how to make the most of power, he says. “Bringing energy is the easy part. The hard part is finding productive ways to make use of it.”
- Categories
- Energy
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Adversary to Ally: Why My Social Enterprise Joined Forces with a Competitor
"Collaboration" is a popular buzzword in the social impact sector, but many energy access firms ventures invariably find themselves vying with one another for customers and resources. Anya Cherneff, founder of Empower Generation, chose a different direction to grow her business' mission of empowering rural female entrepreneurs: She joined forces with Pollinate Energy – a key competitor. Cherneff discusses the decision – and its ongoing impact on both companies – in this insightful post.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
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Press release: Village Enterprise Promotes Campaign to End Poverty in Times Square
"Village Enterprise provides rural Africans living in extreme poverty with the tools and resources they need to start sustainable businesses and savings groups," said Village Enterprise CEO Dianne Calvi. "With the profits and savings from their businesses, entrepreneurs can send their children to school, feed their families more nutritious food, and break cycles of poverty that can span generations."
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Tata Trust’s FISE develops low-cost portable MRI scanner to take health services to rural India
In a statement to the press, FISE said that the 1.5 Tesla whole body MRI scanner can make MRI scans four times faster, compared to other scanners that are currently available in the market while consuming less power and being light weight hence easy to carry.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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BBOXX secures a deal in DRC to deploy off-grid solar solutions
Next generation utility BBOXX has signed a pioneering deal with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which will bring renewable electricity to 2.5 million citizens in the DRC by 2020.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Meet The Nigerian Entrepreneur Depriving Boko Haram Of New Recruits
Kola Masha, a fellow social entrepreneur and recipient of a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, believes that there's a business solution to halting the spread of insecurity.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Using big data to link poor farmers to finance
The global growth of microfinance banks has created new opportunities for financial inclusion, with outstanding lending of $100 billion to around 200 million clients. Yet the majority of lending from microfinance institutions has been to urban populations and not to the rural poor or small farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Press release: Africa’s Biggest Farmer Collective to Help 100,000 in Niger Delta as Tata and John Deere Sign Alluvial Initiative
Tractor maker John Deere and India’s biggest conglomerate, Tata Group, have agreed a groundbreaking initiative to provide machinery to as many as 100,000 smallholder farmers in the troubled Niger Delta region.
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa