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Built to Scale? Growing Pains Hit Cambodia’s Businesses for Good
With the ‘Markle Sparkle’, the little-known business - which employs survivors of human trafficking and other vulnerable women to make ethically sourced, environmentally friendly jeans - exploded. However, the spotlight also created a dilemma for the young social enterprise - or business using profits for good.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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A social enterprise in Kerala combines sustainability and women’s empowerment
Does it come as a surprise that the six yard wonder, the sari (a version of cloth) is one of the largest polluters of Vembanad lake, along with plastic? Social entrepreneur Sanju Soman, one of the people behind Bhava, a social enterprise that upcycles saris and cloth explains, “Cloth usually escapes attention as a pollutant due to the constant spotlight on plastic. It is as bad, and one of the largest pollutants taking years to disintegrate, ending up as landfill or in water bodies. A cotton bag is not very much better than a plastic bag, it also leaves a footprint in water, like here in the Vembanad lake. Plastic bags came as alternatives to paper bags, for which trees were cut. We started using more of it, less of paper bags and single use plastic became the problem it is today.”
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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My High-Profile Social Enterprise Shut Down, but It Wasn’t a Total Failure
Inspired by Broad Street Ministry‘s work on behalf of our fellow Philadelphians who are the most vulnerable, our local comfort food chain, Federal Donuts, set out to shine a light on the idea that hospitality is a fundamental human need.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- failure, social enterprise
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Press Release: Turn.io Launches Behaviour Change Chat Platform for Social Impact
Turn.io is a startup incubated by Praekelt.org, an early partner in the WhatsApp Business API pilot programme. Developed to connect social impact organisations with audiences using chat messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Google's Android Messages, Turn.io is underpinned by the crucial role of chat as the growing platform of choice for the majority world.
- Categories
- Technology
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Unite Behind the Science: When it Comes to Cooking, it’s Time for ‘Clean’ to Mean Something
Nearly 3 billion people still live in homes where someone burns sticks, charcoal or dung to cook, devastating their health, their local environments and the climate. Yet thousands of projects have failed to deliver truly clean cooking to the masses, doing a disservice to customers and damaging the sector's credibility with funders. Eric Reynolds, CEO of the cookstove company Inyenyeri, argues that there's only one way to turn this around: "deliver dramatically improved outcomes, and be able to prove it." He outlines a straightforward way the industry can make that happen.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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How India’s Farmers Are Using Technology to Feed More Than a Billion People
Piggybacking on India's mobile boom, these companies are using smartphones and the internet to help farmers grow, harvest and sell their crops more efficiently.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- agtech, social enterprise
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Viewpoint: Impact Investors Can Alleviate India’s Unemployment Crisis
India’s labour market is languishing, and a practical solution to the problem could come from impact investors.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Meet the Man Who Is on a Mission to Make India Open Defecation-Free With His IoT-Enabled Toilets
Founded in 2015, Faridabad-based social enterprise GARV Toilets has designed and installed over 700 public toilets across India. The design is integrated with solar panels, battery packs, auto flush, and floor cleaning technology.
- Categories
- WASH
- Region
- South Asia