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Surveying the Landscape for Social Investments in Africa: A Major New Study Assesses the Current State of Play on the Continent
The social investment sector in Africa is dynamic and growing – but it’s struggling to close the enormous Sustainable Development Goals financing gap. The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) explored the opportunities and obstacles facing social investors on the continent in an ambitious new study, “The Landscape for Social Investments in Africa.” NextBillion interviewed AVPA’s CEO, Frank Aswani, to discuss the study’s findings, and what they say about the current state of social investment in Africa.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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CropIn Raises US $20 Million in Series C Funding Round to Advance the Reach of Its Farm Management and Predictive Analytics Solutions in Asia
CropIn, a leading global artificial intelligence and data-led agri-tech organisation empowering stakeholders to reimagine agriculture with data, has raised US$ 20 million in a Series C funding round led by ABC World Asia, an Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to evidence-based impact investing.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Analysis: What We Can Learn From Aveda’s Blockchain Vanilla Traceability Project
Improving traceability remains one of the thorniest challenges for many sustainability teams, even as consumers’ calls for more transparency into the makeup of products
- Categories
- Technology
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Doing Good by Doing Business: How B1G1’s Innovative Giving Model Is Mobilizing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to Make a Social Impact
B1G1 (Buy1Give1) is a global business giving initiative that makes it easy for enterprises – particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to support charitable causes around the world. NextBillion spoke with founder and CEO Masami Sato to discuss how B1G1 developed its innovative model, how its approach differs from the model popularized by companies like TOMS Shoes, and why it’s important to mobilize the power of SMEs to build upon the impact of traditional charitable giving.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, NextBillion Originals
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Bayer Steps up Its Commitments to Support Smallholder Farmers in Asia
The Better Life Farming Alliance (BLFA), Bayer’s global, multi-stakeholder partnership model that provides holistic and innovative solutions for smallholder farmers in developing economies, has launched in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Coders Behind Bars: The Prisoners Training for Future Tech Jobs
Unemployment among former inmates in the US is five times higher than for the general population, according to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company is involved in Justice Through Code, a project to bring coding qualifications to the convicted from Columbia University’s Center for Justice and The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Documenting a Historic Year in Emerging Markets Business: Vote for the Top NextBillion Article of 2020
Like many of you, we're not sorry to see the end of 2020. But as we look back on this historic, tragic year, NextBillion would like to take a moment to appreciate the extraordinary work done by enterprises, NGOs, researchers and others in the emerging markets business sector. They have risen to the occasion in ways that can best be described as heroic – while sharing their insights in nearly 100 COVID-19-focused articles on our platform. Several of these pieces are included in our "Most Influential Article of the Year" contest, which launches today. We invite you to read these articles and vote for your favorites – the contest runs from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2.
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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: Businesses Behaving Badly: The Troubling Parallels Between Microfinance and Facebook
Chuck Waterfield left microfinance five years ago, after working in the sector for three decades. He stopped using Facebook three years ago, after using the platform for about 10 years. As he explains, he left them both for a similar reason: Their business models have grown increasingly problematic over time – and without external intervention, things are likely to get worse.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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