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Viewpoint: Investors Need More and Better Data on Sustainability
Measurable results are central to advance sustainable finance – the kind that rewards companies being environmentally or socially responsible.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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How the African diaspora can help the continent achieve the SDGs
With a progressive awareness of the need for a sustainable African development agenda driven by Africans, the African diaspora could provide the other half of the equation needed to turn the SDGs from aspiration to concrete reality.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Task force on digital financing of UN SDGs launched
“We have already seen how technology has helped expand financial inclusion — itself an important goal — by 1.2 billion people in just six years,” said Guterres.
- Categories
- Finance
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Power Problem in a Changing Climate: The Renewable Energy Movement is Shortchanging Women and the Poor
What happens when a movement that aims to correct a global power imbalance develops an imbalance of its own? That’s the question facing renewable energy, says Solar Sister co-founder Neha Misra – a sector dominated by “largely white, often male, founder companies with Western expatriate leadership,” in which organizations with a social focus are sidelined by investors seeking quick profits. Misra discusses these and other uncomfortable truths – and why the movement must address them.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
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Homegrown, African-Owned: A New Approach to Building Africa’s Off-Grid Energy Industry
How can Africa achieve universal access to electricity – and what role should social business and investing play? These questions remain controversial, as investors flood the off-grid solar space, while a small number of enterprises struggle to use that capital to expand beyond their core markets. According to Dan Murphy at Catalyst Off-Grid Advisors and Andreas Zeller at Open Capital Advisors, there’s a critical “missing link” where the industry should focus to reach the region’s 120 million underserved households. And there are thousands of African entrepreneurs who can lead the way – with the right kind of support from investors.
- Categories
- Energy
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Mobile Industry Reports Increasing Impact Across all SDGs
The ‘2018 Mobile Industry Impact Report: Sustainable Development Goals’ from GSMA Intelligence finds that more than two-thirds of the global population are now connected to mobile technology.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- fintech, global development, SDGs
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A Roadmap to Food Security: Linking Geodata with Financial Inclusion to Support Smallholders
Smallholder farmers produce a staggering 70 percent of the world’s food, making them essential to food security. Geodata applications have been shown to improve these farmers’ yields and even boost their financial access – one of the main obstacles to increasing production. To help tap into these benefits, NpM’s Innovator’s Challenge brought together 17 tech companies with geodata-based solutions for smallholder financial inclusion. NpM director Josien Sluijs discusses the winning companies, and the broader potential of geodata-based innovation.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Social Enterprise, Technology
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First GSMA Mobile Money Certification Achieved in Latin America
"We are honoured to receive this certification, after 10 years working to promote financial inclusion, transforming lives and deploying digital highways for millions of Paraguayans, who already are beginning to enjoy the new digital economy,” said Ramiro Pascual, CEO of Tigo Paraguay.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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