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FEATURED EVENT: ‘Cracking the Nut’ on Public/Private Agricultural Investment
In its second year, the Cracking the Nut 2012 Conference, set for June 25-26 at the Enrique V. Iglesias Conference Center in Washington, D.C. has a narrow focus with broad implications: Leveraging public private partnerships to develop rural and agricultural markets.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
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Via London and Seattle, Microfinance and Carbon Credits Intersect in Ulaanbaatar
In the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar, more than a quarter of the population lives in “gers,” the traditional and ubiquitous tent-like structures, which are often insulated and heated by inefficient coal-burning stoves that contribute to stifling air pollution. A new multi-player partnership to finance carbon credits and energy efficiency aims to change that.
- Categories
- Environment
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An Entrepreneur’s View: WorldHaus, A Prototype for Progress in Global Housing
After months of planning and securing the prototype location in the outskirts of Chennai, India, we were ready to build in late summer of 2011. We begin our first housing development next month and aim to build over 500 houses by the end of the year.
- Categories
- Finance, Uncategorized
- Tags
- housing, rural development
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(Bottom of the) pyramid selling
IS THERE anything more prestigious than business?” What would sound tin-eared from the mouth of Mitt Romney reads very differently when attributed to a woman of long-standing poverty, discussing her newly found self-respect. The quotation comes from a recent paper by a trio of female researchers from Oxford University's Saïd Business School—Catherine Dolan, who lectures in marketing and corporate social responsibility; Mary Johnstone-Louis, a doctoral candidate; and Linda Scott, of the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The researchers studied a sales programme that employs Bangladeshi women at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid, run by the Bangladesh arm of CARE, an NGO. Its Rural Sales Programme (RSP) focuses on women who are destitute due to abandonment by their family or the deaths of their husbands. CARE calls the women aparajitas (a Sanskrit term meaning “she who cannot be defeated”) and offers them jobs selling household goods, such as soap, household goods, even saris. Begun in 2005, RSP now employs more than 2,400 women across Bangladesh and has partnerships with companies such as Unilever, Danone and Bic.
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Environmental Index Could Save Rural Communities
By creating the world's first long-term record of ecosystem health, Chinese and UK researchers have identified where specific social and economic policies have damaged the environment in eastern China.The work shows that wealth generation over recent decades is damaging essential ecosystem services on which the poorest rely - things like food, fuel, and clean water.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Villgro Innovation Marketing Raises Seed Capital
Chennai based Villgro Innovation Marketing Private (VIM), an innovative rural distribution company, has raised a significant seed series investment from US-based investment firm Unitus Seed Fund and a group of angel investors to further expand its operations in South India.
- Source
- Press Release
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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Cisco Invests in Rural Venture Capital Firm
Cisco today announced an investment in Aavishkaar, a venture fund founded to promote development in rural and semi-urban India.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Is Microfinance an Engine of Development? Finca Says Yes
The jury is still out on whether microcredit makes a difference to the lives of the poor, but stories of its success are compelling
- Categories
- Agriculture
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