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Earthquake Recovery in Japan: Entrepreneurs to the Rescue
“Disaster relief” usually brings to mind images of tents, food and water convoys, and emergency medicine. But since 2011's earthquake, tsunami, and reactor meltdown in the Tohoku region of Japan, a Tokyo-based social entrepreneurship group called ETIC has added a whole new dimension: an entrepreneurial recovery effort.
- Categories
- Transportation
- Tags
- transportation
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A Market for Preservation: Tropical-forest friendly products, entrepreneurship and consumer choice
CleanStar Energy, is social enterprise that focuses on bringing sustainable bioenergy solutions into developing markets while preserving delicate tropical forest communities. It’s the type of business being sought by the Tropical Forest Challenge, which aims to identify the best for-profit solution – an idea, start up, or company with a positive impact on tropical forest biodiversity.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Transportation
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MobiPrize: Moving Minds, Moving the Urban Poor
If you are a social entrepreneur who has an innovative and replicable solution to local and global transportation challenges, you are eligible to win the MobiPrize: US $5,000 and a trip to Rio+20 (the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, June 20-22, in Rio de Janeiro) and top-notch mentorship sessions with global experts in sectors relevant to transportation, livable and sustainable communities, business and social enterprise.
- Categories
- Technology, Transportation
- Tags
- transportation
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A Maintenance-Free Bike to Give Africans Some Mobility
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left thousands of people stranded, with ruined infrastructure putting basic needs-health care, school, building materials--out of reach. So bicycle-components manufacturer SRAM Corporation founded World Bicycle Relief , and, through partnerships with aid organizations, brought more than 24,000 bicycles to people in Sri Lanka. The organization has since expanded its bike-givin...
- Categories
- Transportation
- Tags
- transportation
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NextThought Monday: New Modes of Mobility for the Poor
Disabilities perpetuate a poverty trap and push the poor further from access to education, employment and healthcare. Most policies, programs and entrepreneurial initiatives in India have focused on providing employment. Little attention has been paid to helping the disabled - in particular, the poor - become more mobile themselves.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Transportation
- Tags
- transportation
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Mozambikes Pedals to Promote Development Via Low-Cost Bicycles
Lauren Thomas is working hard to get more Mozambicans on two wheels. Thomas, a former investment banker who traded New York for Maputo, is the co-founder of Mozambikes, a fledgling business that aims to provide high-quality bicycles at affordable prices through an innovative business model.
- Categories
- Education, Transportation
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Sustainable, Equitable Transportation Policy and the Rickshaw
In cities across South Asia, the ubiquitous rickshaw dominates traffic tangled streets. Yet, solutions to the problem are not as simple as just eliminating the toxic three-wheelers. Integrating new innovations in rickshaw design, manufacturing or upgrading are essential to a pro-poor and environmentally friendly transportation policy.
- Categories
- Health Care, Transportation
- Tags
- transportation
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Re-thinking Accessibility: Designing a Car for Africa
Mobius Motors, an African car company in its infancy, is developing the first car targeting African buyers. But how exactly does one build a car company from scratch in one of the most notoriously difficult markets? For Mobius Founder Joel Jackson, it starts by re-imagining the car as a more "relevant," device - built around the needs of its users.
- Categories
- Transportation
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