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InVest in a Small Business, See Your Impact – In Real Time
InVenture, founded by former financial analyst Shivani Siroya, melds the P2P website model - one of the founding pillars of Kiva- with investing in SMEs in the developing world. You can go on the InVenture site and invest as little as $25 in an SME in the developing world and receive constant updates on your business’ progress and social impact.
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- Entrepreneurship
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Building a Network to Scale Up Technical Assistance
Newly budding networks where high impact businesses are coming together to develop tools, strategies, and best practices for a wide variety of contexts across the developing world. Last month, the Grassroots Business Fund hosted a two-day management training workshop in Nairobi, Kenya to help existing GBF clients gain tangible management skills.
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- Entrepreneurship
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After Two Years, ANDE Making an Impact for Small and Growing Businesses
ANDE’s 2010 Impact Report shows the increasing recognition of the importance of SGBs. In the first half of 2010, 22 investment funds launched with a primary focus on SGBs, while private equity funds doubled targets for SGB investments from 2009 to 2010, according to the report. The middle may no longer be "missing," but it is still hard to find.
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- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Unlocking Opportunity for SMEs Through Innovative Training
Have you ever found yourself dozing off in class or at a workshop? Most of us can relate to this and know the phrase ?death by PowerPoint.? So why continue to teach or train in this way? And entrepreneurs and farmers will struggle just as much, if not more, to learn via this method. Learn how one group is tackling this issue head-on.
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- Agriculture, Education, Entrepreneurship
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ANDE?s 2010 Impact Report Charts A Growth Course
Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) released its second annual impact report today, which highlighted the growth of the small and growing business (SGB) sector with the launch of new 31 funds looking to SGBs in emerging markets, in addition to the impact of their 110 members on the sector.
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- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Small Business Might Be Big Business for Mobile Money
Small business owners and entrepreneurs are getting in on the action of mobile money. This post summarizes conversations I had over the past few months, as well as two new research pieces that highlight some challenges ahead for the industry to cater this important segment.
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- Entrepreneurship
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Egypt’s 800-Billion Pound Gorilla
With an estimated 800 billion Egyptian Pounds ($136 billion) in domestic deposits, you’d think Egyptian banks should have plenty of loans and credit available for Egyptian small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). Not quite; considering the fact that Egyptian government debt held domestically is nearly the same amount.
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- Entrepreneurship
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The New Nomads and Cloud Computing in Africa
The Nomads of the Sahara are called the "children of the clouds" and in Africa, clouds announce the rain that brings hope. A new type of cloud is bringing hope for the next generation of African innovators and unleashing their creativity: Cloud computing.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology