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Healthy Foods and New Jobs, Part 2: Infrastructure matters
On the way to introducing a food cart vendor business in Benin, West Africa, MamaCarts has encountered all sorts of problems with sanitation, incorporation and the government. But there’s a positive spin on these infrastructure gaps: Alternative solutions do exist and people circumnavigate these difficulties on a daily basis.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Social Lending for Smallholders: Opportunities to support social lenders in closing the smallholder agricultural finance gap
The global demand for food is increasing, but the smallholder farmers who could help meet that demand lack the funds to invest in productivity and connect to markets. And many of the businesses that aggregate smallholders lack access to credit. Social lenders are one solution, says Laura Goldman, in discussing the Initiative for Smallholder Finance’s new guide to investing in or funding the sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Healthy Foods and New Jobs, Part 1: MamaCarts learns valuable lessons while launching food cart delivery service from scratch
MamaCarts began by pitching an idea at a business plan competition and culminated with receiving a 2013 Rockefeller Foundation Centennial Innovation Challenge Award. That’s all there is to starting a food cart delivery service in Benin, West Africa, right? Wrong.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Six Foods You Thought You Knew: The complicated past of our newly favorite foods
The latest fad foods - luscious pomegranates, nutrient-packed quinoa, and refreshing coconut water - have complicated pasts. Farmers and communities that depend on western appetites must contend with global consumption trends, international conflict and climate change. Here’s the farm-to-fork backstory for six of our favorite foods.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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William Warshauer to Join TechnoServe as President and CEO
TechnoServe is pleased to announce that William Warshauer, an experienced nonprofit leader, has been named president and CEO. Will currently serves as chief operating officer of Pact, a $180 million development organization operating in more than 25 countries,
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Why U.S. Food Safety Overhaul Threatens Global Farmers
In the USFDA’s first major overhaul since 1938, new food safety requirements will demand higher standards of accountability than most smallholder farmers can provide. One solution: Low cost, cell-phone enabled software that helps smallholder farmers track produce.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Introducing the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance: The group’s seven social lenders collectively lent $360M in 2013
Root Capital and six other social lenders recently announced the launch of the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF), an industry alliance committed to promoting the development of the smallholder agricultural financial market. The $360 million collectively disbursed by the seven CSAF members in 2013 is just a drop in the bucket relative to the vast unmet need, but we’re optimistic that it’s the start of something much larger.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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PRESS RELEASE: Social Lenders Join Forces to Develop Industry Standards, Best Practices for Smallholder Agricultural Finance
The alliance of social lending institutions, also referred to as impact-first agricultural lenders, was formally launched today at the 11th Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Agriculture