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What Was the Top NextBillion Post of 2018? Vote for Your Favorite
As 2018 comes to a close and we look back at the year's top posts, it's clear that the social sector is developing an increasingly willingness to challenge long-held assumptions – even when this leads to uncomfortable discussions and difficult course corrections. As NextBillion launches our seventh annual "Top Post of the Year" contest, we encourage you to vote for the post that influenced you most in 2018. You can vote up to once every six hours until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (U.S.) on Jan. 3, and the winners will be announced on Jan. 4. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!
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- Agriculture, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing, NextBillion Originals, Technology
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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.
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- Energy
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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.
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- Energy
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The Trouble with ‘Free’: Why Treating the Poor as Customers Works Better than Charity
Lack of access to safe water is a leading cause of illness in developing countries. Yet for years, Guatemalan entrepreneur Philip Wilson's family foundation worked to distribute free water filters across the countryside, only to see recipients repurpose them as flower pots and garbage cans. After going into the field to meet real families that were living with unsafe water, he came up with a better approach: a business model that treats the rural poor as consumers of products rather than objects of charity. He explores the reasons this model is working, and the challenges it has faced.
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- Entrepreneurship, WASH
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Ease Off on the Accelerators: Why GALI’s Latest Study on Accelerator Programs May Be Overstating Their Impact
Early-stage social venture accelerators are growing at a rapid pace in emerging markets, and they receive widespread acclaim – driven in part by positive results from research conducted by the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI). But South Africa-based investor Nicky Khaki cautions that, while accelerators can certainly have value, their benefits to participating companies may not be as clear cut as GALI's data suggests. He explores why the studies may be exaggerating accelerators' impact – and how they could do better.
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- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment
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How Western Definitions Perpetuate Ethnocentric Bias – Even Among the Social Impact Crowd
You'd think that ethnocentrism – judging another culture by the standards or values of one's own – would be relatively rare in the global, cosmopolitan social impact sector. In fact, says KadAfrica founder Rebecca Kaduru, it's alive and well, as social entrepreneurs must often adapt to ethnocentric definitions to secure the funding necessary to grow their enterprises. She explores why this dynamic has to change.
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- Agriculture, Education, Entrepreneurship
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Young, African, Employed – How A Ugandan Startup Aims to Mobilize the Continent’s Youth
Almost 80 percent of Ugandans are below the age of 30 – and many of them are struggling to generate a reliable livelihood. Hire the Youth is addressing this issue through online and in-person programs advancing youth employment and education, using a hybrid non-profit and for-profit model. Its founder, Ssenkubuge Kenneth, discusses the challenges the startup has faced – and how it has overcome them – as it aims to expand its services into other African countries.
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- Entrepreneurship
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12 social enterprises share $2m Google Impact Challenge prize
Google has announced winners of the maiden edition of its Google Impact Challenge in Nigeria, where 12 non-profits and social enterprises shared $2m in grant funding.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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