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Red Bull Announces Final Participants for First-Ever U.S. Social Entrepreneur Program
Sexual violence, food deserts, education equality, public transportation, and gender equality are just some of the issues being addressed by the social innovators selected for the Red Bull Amaphiko Academy, a global program for social entrepreneurs - taking place in Baltimore, MD on August 11-20.
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- Entrepreneurship
- Region
- North America
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Managing Trade-Offs Between Impact and Profit – Finding the Formula for BoP Business
Eugenia Rosca's study of small enterprises in BOP markets reveals that many of them have similar characteristics and are founded to respond to highly pressing local issues. The businesses usually identify a social need and develop a market to address it; then, in time, around one-third of them reported an increased orientation toward economic goals. To be successful, they should acquire skills, resources and capabilities for both social and economic activities.
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- Entrepreneurship, Environment, Financial Inclusion
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From Extremely Poor to Entrepreneur: A Starter Asset Combined with Mentorship Forges Pathway Out of Poverty
Today Arfa Bibi runs a successful vegetable farming business in India. Only a few years ago, however, Bibi and her husband struggled to feed their family and she even resorted to begging. Her transformation into entrepreneur came thanks to Kolkata-based nonprofit Bandhan-Konnagar's graduation model program Targeting the Hardcore-Poor, whose success was cited in a six-country MIT study of 21,000 of the world's poorest people.
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- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion
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Addressing Eye Care in Emerging Markets with Blended Finance
WHO estimates that 39 million people suffer from blindness, more than half of them due to cataracts, and more than 90 percent of blind people live in the developing world. Cataracts are often curable but the traditional surgery is expensive. Convergence is supporting GlobalVision's plan to build on the affordable eye model that Aravind pioneered in India and establish a network of 60 eye care hospitals in emerging markets over the next 10 years, borrowing techniques from the microfinance sector.
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- Entrepreneurship, Health Care, Investing, Technology
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Village women transform into clean energy entrepreneurs in Nepal initiative
Since it began operations in 2012, Empower Generation has created over 20 women-led businesses, employing 300 female distribution agents who go from village-to-village, selling, maintaining and collecting repayments for products.
- Categories
- Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment
- Region
- South Asia
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Subscribe to NextBillion Notes in July, Get Free Chapter of Jonathan Lewis’ New Book, ‘The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur’
If you're into social business, you're probably familiar with Jonathan Lewis. He has founded multiple social enterprises – and now he's sharing his insights in a new book, "The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur." It's a great read, and all the book's profits will be donated to social justice causes. To celebrate our Entrepreneurship Month, we're giving away a free chapter to all subscribers of NextBillion Notes, our e-newsletter. Sign up in July to take advantage of this free offer.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, NextBillion Originals
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Three Ways Entrepreneurs Can Tackle Climate Change (Hint: It’s Not Just About Scale)
There are ways entrepreneurs can make sizeable impacts on climate change without Facebook-like growth curves. Jean-Louis Racine says investors should follow the lead of the venture capital sector and support startups that won't grow or be profitable. Traditional impact metrics such as goods sold, customers served, revenues generated or jobs created no longer apply. The best way to catalyze a climate technology market is to help ensure that innovative high-risk, low-growth ventures don't fall through the cracks.
- Categories
- Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Financial Inclusion, Technology
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The Dirty Secret of Social Enterprise: Scale is Overrated
Author Jonathan C. Lewis writes that for some staggering societal problems – like deaths from child poverty and modern-day slavery – scaling solutions is an urgent necessity. However, for social entrepreneurs, he says the important thing is not organizational size, geographic coverage or budget, but progress toward social justice. He urges leaders to focus less on size and more on striving to maintain balance.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion, Health Care, Impact Assessment
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