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In Africa, the best ‘charity’ is aid for business
The traditional approach to solving Africa’s problems has been to rely on charity and aid – free money, more or less. And while charity has done much good for millions across the continent in terms of food security, health care, emergency response, and education, its chief weakness is that its results have not proven sustainable. Africa finds itself continually going back to donors simply to maintain the status quo. What the continent really needs is to create the environment – political, economic, and social – to achieve self-sufficiency.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A STRYDE Forward for Youth: Creating opportunities in rural East Africa
Africa will add 122 million people to its labor force between 2010 and 2020. The Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE) program, a partnership between TechnoServe and The MasterCard Foundation, provides training, mentoring and building self esteem for young workers entering a difficult economy.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
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Creating Employment Opportunities At the BoP: An Interview with Ajaya Mohapatra
A Q&A with Ajaya Mohapatra, Managing Director of Justrojgar India Private Limited – a for-profit venture bridging the demand-supply gap in informal sector jobs by sourcing, training and placing people living at the base of the pyramid.
- Categories
- Education
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Special Series (Part 5): BPO for the BoP – The Path Towards Sustainability and Scale: Lessons on Expansion from a Mature Impact Sourcing Provider
In part five of our six-part series on Impact Sourcing, we highlight Digital Divide Data (DDD), an internationally acclaimed social enterprise that employs more than 1,100 people and operates in several countries, including Cambodia, Laos and Kenya. It recruits, trains and employs youth to perform BPO work, while also providing them financial support for higher education.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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From Subsistence to Entrepreneurship: Attracting a younger generation to the pasture over the city, with respect and improved income
Historically, farming has been considered a peasant occupation. It was about subsistence, not profit. However, everything from effective pruning to water management to additional cash-yielding activities such as bee-keeping, are making the agricultural sector much more attractive to younger workers.
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- Agriculture, Education
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Identifying Digital Opportunities for African Youth
For the past two and a half years, The Rockefeller Foundation has been supporting work to foster the development of Impact Sourcing – outsourcing jobs for poor or vulnerable people without the opportunity for alternative employment. With a $512 billion, and growing, global outsourcing market, this work seeks to enable more equitable growth by allowing youth in Africa to tap into potential job opportunities.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Special Series (Part 4): BPO for the BoP – Work+Study=Job: Understanding of employment impact of a mid-stage Impact Sourcing Service Provider in Africa
As we continue to profile innovative Impact Sourcing Service Providers (ISSPs), this post focuses on Daproim Africa, a mid-stage firm based in Nairobi, Kenya. Daproim, which was has been in operation since 2006, is on a mission is to provide high- quality business process outsourcing services that are geared to providing jobs and ensuring a transformational impact.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Rebecca van Bergen Gives Wings to Struggling Artisans
The talents of countless small-scale craftspeople around the world are abundant, but many have trouble growing their businesses because they lack resources and connections to large-scale, and perhaps more importantly, consistent buyers in higher-income countries. But what if those connections could be made, with some financial resources and business consulting made available? Enter Rebecca van Bergen, part social entrepreneur, part fashionista. Van Bergen is founder and executive director of Nest, a nonprofit dedicated to helping artisans in developing countries grow their businesses.
- Categories
- Education