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TechnoServe Launches Program to Boost Development of Central American and African Businesses
Some 560 SMEs will be able to develop their businesses through a new entrepreneurship development program, “Impulsa Tu Empresa (Boost Your Business), that TechnoServe plans to implement in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Burkina Faso in Africa. The program, supported by the Argidius Foundation, is designed to give mentoring and business training for entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
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Social enterprise should be made central to higher education strategy
When I went to university in the late 1970s, fewer than 20% of school leavers when on to higher education. Some degrees were clearly vocational (medicine perhaps the most obvious example), but most were not. My module on the Comparative Government of Indonesia and Nigeria has not, I'm afraid to say, been of direct relevance to me in the world of work.
- Categories
- Education
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A Jobs Tale: Recruiting Workers for Husk Power
We were there to recruit electricians and linemen for our operations team. These men would be trained via Husk Power University and then sent to the field to assist especially in preparation for the upcoming monsoon months. Husk invests a lot in its employees, so it is important that we not only attract, but more importantly, retain talent once they are trained.
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Gender Roles in Green and Inclusive Business – Replicating Old Patterns or Breaking New Ground?
The green economy has the potential to empower women – but risks replicating old gender patterns of the ‘brown’ economy, says a new DCED / GIZ study. How does the case look for social entrepreneurship and impact investing?
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- Agriculture, Education, Environment, Social Enterprise
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When Dairy is ‘Woman’s Work,’ But a Man’s Market: Improving Livelihoods, Female Empowerment in Tanzania
Four months and more than 100 stakeholder interviews later, what was once a side note on a scope of work now has great impact on how TechnoServe looks at dairy interventions. In traditional Tanzanian culture, masculinity takes a front seat. are still flashes of female empowerment.
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- Agriculture, Education
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Cut Off From Infrastructure, Not From Support: SKS NGO Builds Self-Reliance in Isolated Communities
The purpose of SKS’s ultra poor programme is to create sustainable livelihoods so that those living in extreme poverty can graduate into one of two paths: Axisting microfinance programme in the area (for the few that wish to expand their business or diversify into other activities), or to continue saving in groups and use their savings to strengthen and diversify their asset base (a viable transition for most).
- Categories
- Education
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Charting the Change from BPO to BoP: Training the Next Generation of Skilled Labor in India
I’m typical of many of the entrepreneurs and professionals to benefit from the BPO boom who are thankful for the opportunities it has provided, but who also hope to drive India’s nascent Base of the Pyramid sector. The Indian government is spending a huge amount of money in training BoP candidates to skill them in their chosen field and set an aggressive goal to train more than 500 million people by 2022. Dealing with that challenge will require a scalable training solution to bridge the skills gap.
- Categories
- Education
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A Day at Husk Power University
Acumen Fund invested in Husk Power Systems (HPS) in 2010 to help scale their innovative business model of using discarded rice husks as a source for rural off-grid electricity generation. HPS has since expanded to over 90 plants all over Bihar, India, and has launched Husk Power University (HPU), a technical training institute for future mechanics and operators for HPS. I spent a day there.
- Categories
- Education, Energy, Environment