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Press Release: Kuaishou Technology, Following $2.8 Billion USD Generated for Rural Entrepreneurs, Launches ‘Social Impact Institute’
Following the success of Kuaishou Technology's pilot programs to alleviate poverty, the 'Social Impact Institute' furthers research that will support the development of sustainable businesses for entrepreneurs hailing from low-income households
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Press release: Aruna Wins Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge for Using Digital Technology to Raise Incomes of Fishermen
Aruna was chosen based on its use of digital technology to help fishermen in Indonesia improve their livelihoods through better market access and fairer trading opportunities.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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A Closer Look at The World’s Largest Unaddressed Disability: Leveraging Inclusive Business to Eradicate Poor Vision
Uncorrected poor vision affects some 2.5 billion people, costing the global economy $227 billion a year in lost productivity. Yet though 90% of these people live in developing countries, the problem ranks low on the global development agenda – even though it can often be fixed by a simple pair of glasses. Jayanth Bhuvaraghan at Essilor explores the issue, and discusses an innovative solution: the Eye Mitra program, which trains youth in emerging countries to become micro-entrepreneurs, providing primary vision care and selling low-cost eyeglasses in their communities.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
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Good News for Microfinance: Grameen America Discusses Promising New Research on its Anti-Poverty Impact
In an atmosphere of considerable skepticism about microfinance's anti-poverty impact, Grameen America recently released some positive findings: Early results from an RCT on its group lending model show solid impacts on areas ranging from members' credit scores to their business operations. NextBillion spoke with Marcus Berkowitz, VP of Technology & Innovation at Grameen America, to discuss these results and their implications for microfinance in the U.S. and globally.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, NextBillion Originals
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Viewpoint: Nipsey Hussle’s Lessons For Investors
It’s incredibly tempting to claim Hussle as an impact investor, given the way he spoke so clearly about the critical importance of recycling money into communities for systemic change.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
- Region
- North America
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Putting Energy to Work: Community and Business Partnerships for Sustainable Local Futures
Most attempts to create energy access without considering its social impact will simply end up as a checked box on a list, without moving the needle on any of the SDGs, writes Saurabh Biswas, a PhD candidate at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability. He explores a new study where researchers were embedded with companies and non-profits in Nepal, the Philippines, Uganda and Bolivia. The research points to the value of “multi-dimensional partnerships” that bring together not only energy companies and consumers, but other diverse stakeholders.
- Categories
- Energy
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The Social Innovation Paradox: Why it’s Hard to be Both Innovative and Scalable
Feeling good about using an organic cotton tote bag for groceries, instead of disposable plastic bags? Research suggests that you'll need to use it 20,000 times to offset the high water costs of growing the cotton. That's just one example of the unseen web of impacts behind seemingly positive interventions, says Bright Simons, president of mPedigree. Interventions with more concrete impacts are more often penalized for their negative side effects, he says – but they're also more likely to scale. Simons explores the resulting paradox: The most scalable interventions become risk-averse, sacrificing innovation for growth.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment
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Paycheck, Please: Why Jobs Are Better Than Charity
Those of us who “won the zip code lottery” by being born in a prosperous country often take for granted something that’s out of reach for many people around the world: a stable and satisfying job. Suzanne Skees explores how the Skees Family Foundation leverages the power of dignified, secure jobs to fight poverty – and highlights what they've learned from partner organizations about how to maximize the impact of job creation efforts.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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