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Just Useful… Or Truly Catalytic? How Entrepreneurs Really View Catalytic Capital — And What Impact Investors Can Do About It
Much of the attention in the impact finance sector tends to go to the stewards of capital — investors, foundations and other funders — most of whom firmly believe that catalytic capital is the type of finance that entrepreneurs value most. But as Bjoern Struewer at Roots of Impact and Jed Emerson at Tiedemann point out, it's unclear if investors' assumptions about the value of catalytic capital align with entrepreneurs’ actual opinions about it. They discuss new research that explores what entrepreneurs really value in this type of financing — and how these structures might be improved.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Mastercard’s Farmpass Reaches One Million Smallholders in India
Mastercard today announced that it has reached the milestone of benefiting over one million smallholder farmers in India through Farm Pass.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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LSE Launches £50 Million Accelerator for “Social Unicorns”
100x Impact Accelerator, a new £50m global initiative dedicated to shaping a new generation of “social unicorns”, launches its first call for applications.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Region
- Global
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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2022: Vote for Your Favorite!
It's time for NextBillion's “Most Influential Article of the Year” contest, in which we select our 12 most-read articles from the past year and invite readers to choose their favorites. We welcome you to read the articles and to vote by scrolling down to the voting app at the bottom of this announcement — or at the individual articles in the contest, which are linked in this announcement and posted on our homepage. You can vote up to one time per hour during the voting period, which will run from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3. We wish you a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year!
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Energy, Environment, Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Press Release: The ESG Power 50 Announces the Middle East’s 50 Most Influential ESG Leaders of 2022
The ESG Power 50 is an initiative launched to recognise the trailblazers in the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) function.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing, Social Enterprise
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Fewer ‘Heropreneurs,’ More Heroic Women: Grameen Foundation’s New CEO Discusses Her Vision for the Organization – And the Broader Financial Inclusion Sector
When Zubaida Bai was announced as the new CEO of Grameen Foundation last month, she says the news was often met with two reactions: “Wow, is Muhammed Yunus your hero, too?” and “Oh, Grameen Foundation — they do microfinance, right?” As Bai writes, these reactions highlighted some common misunderstandings about Yunus and Grameen Foundation — and about the real heroes behind anti-poverty work. She explores these misconceptions, and shares her vision for Grameen Foundation and the financial inclusion sector.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise
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Taking a Virtual Trip to the Last Mile: How an Innovative Program is Harnessing Virtual Reality to Advance Progress Toward the SDGs
Boosted by growing internet access and fueled by the pandemic, the virtual reality (VR) market has become the fastest-growing media segment, projected to reach US $185 billion by 2026. According to Julia Winterflood at Kopernik, the immersive nature of VR makes it uniquely suited to raising awareness of social challenges, and the technology is finding applications in the global development sector. She explores how Kopernik is leveraging virtual reality videos to document challenges faced by underserved communities and accelerate progress toward the SDGs.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology, Telecommunications
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A $500 Billion+ Market Opportunity for Real Impact: Three Ways Corporations Can Engage in Social Procurement
Social procurement – the practice of corporations buying products or services from social businesses – has gained substantial momentum in recent years. According to a report released earlier this year, the overall market volume of social procurement currently exceeds $2.5 billion, and it could reach $506 billion over the next decade. Jo Bautista at Yunus Social Business explores how corporations can get involved in social procurement, sharing three ways they can integrate social businesses into their value chains.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise