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Efficiency vs. Effectiveness: What Low- and Middle-Income Countries Can Learn from a Key Business Mistake in the Developed World
Over the centuries, free enterprise has excelled at driving efficiencies and innovations, from the cotton gin to the sewing machine, that have powered societal development. But author and entrepreneur Ed Chambliss argues that, as societies grow more prosperous, an overemphasis on business efficiency – as embodied by the concept of shareholder primacy – is no longer enough. He urges businesses in developed countries to broaden their focus to include all their stakeholders' diverse needs – and encourages businesses in developing countries to adopt this broader definition of sustainable success.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Pushing the Water Boundaries: How Social Impact Incentives Can Make WASH Enterprises More Innovative, Impactful and Catalytic
The water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector is ripe for change, as it is far from being on track to achieve universal access to safe drinking water (SDG 6). According to Shabana Abbas at Aqua for All, and Bjoern Struewer and Patrizia Baffioni at Roots of Impact, impact entrepreneurs can drive the sector forward, but their funders will need to move away from the usual grant models to explore more innovative and sustainable financing approaches. They discuss one such model – Social Impact Incentives – and how it's being applied successfully to support WASH enterprises.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance, WASH
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Sustainable Solutions for the World’s Failing Food Systems: Acceso’s CEO Discusses its Innovative Approach
The war in Ukraine has weakened global food systems that were already reeling from the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic – not to mention the escalating climate crisis. In this interview, Acceso CEO James Jenkin discusses how his organization is responding to that urgent need by taking an innovative, market-driven, farmer-focused approach to what’s becoming one of the most critical challenges of our time.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
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Press Release: TaroWorks Offers $20,000 Grant to Help Last Mile Distributors Scale with Mobile Tech
TaroWorks, the offline mobile field service app, is awarding a $20,000 grant to subsidize the digitization of a nonprofit's last mile distribution operations in vulnerable communities.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Interview: Sustainable Investing Expert Alison Taylor on ESG Misconceptions and Why Ethics Are Part of the Equation
The market demands ESG discipline, period. Whether you view ESG as the alpha and the omega, an opportunity for capitalism to atone and course correct, or as a Trojan horse for a woke agenda, this fact is a stubborn one.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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How Behavioral Science Can Improve Digital Services: Exploring the Impact of an Innovative Accelerator Program on Social Enterprises in Latin America
Though behavioral science is a relatively new field of study in Latin America, it is increasingly being leveraged to address financial inclusion and other needs in the region – and it has particular relevance to social enterprises working in the digital space. Juan Pablo Marichi at New Ventures and Santiago Mesa at Acceso explore how New Ventures' SUMA accelerator program has applied the study of behavioral science to the issues of financial health and inclusion, and share some lessons that participants – including Acceso – have learned in the process.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Technology
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Analysis: A Swedish Nonprofit Is Creating the Largest Startup Hub in East Africa
In one of its newest enterprises, the nonprofit is building the largest startup hub in east Africa, in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Environment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Remedial Health Raises $1 Million Pre-Seed Funding to Digitise Africa’s Neighbourhood Pharmacies
Remedial Health, a healthtech startup that develops solutions to make Africa’s pharmaceutical sector more efficient, says it has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa