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A New Water Filter, An Old Debate
The BBC reported last week about a new device being marketed to purify water in developing countries. The LifeStraw looks like a large plastic flute, and contains internal filters that remove bacteria from the water as it is drunk. The device is priced at around $3.50, and is designed to purify...
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Yakking It Up at the BOP in China
Yaks for development? Withhold judgment and read on ? this BOP project has legs (4, in fact). NextBillion ally Carol Chyau doesn?t think yak jokes are funny ? with a partner, she?s behind the newly-formed Yashmere and Cheese for Change for-profit social enterprises. The Harvard Crimson...
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The Business Case for Clean Cooking
Every year, smoke from traditional stoves fueled by wood is responsible for 1.5 million deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia are particularly affected. Now a new report from the World Health Organization makes the business case for investing in cleaner household fuels. The report...
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- clean cooking
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This Week: Your Dream Vacation….. and your great-grandchildrens’
Efforts to preserve the?Amazonian rainforest?have always been rife with plenty of controversy.? This is?either?attributed to the fact that environmental protectionism is often seen as a blow to economic growth or because well-intentioned businesses end up exploiting local residents to green...
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- Education
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- academia
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Gardening at the Base of the Pyramid
It?s easy to overlook food when thinking about BOP business and strategy. Food and agriculture often lack the ?wow? factor that comes with microfinance, technology, or even innovative health models. We brush by it at our own peril, however ? according to available data, food accounts...
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Microfinance and IT: Glass Half Full or Glass Half Empty?
Optimists often cite microfinance as a “development success story,” but realists know the truth - it suffers from high interest, misrepresentation of repayment rates, poor risk management, and insufficient scale. (More on the “dirty little secrets” of microfinance at the...
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IDB Launches Dedicated BOP Web Site
The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) has just launched a web site dedicated to base of the pyramid strategies. Curious? Check out the site: This is not about providing the same, existing products and services that have been developed for the top of...
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India’s IT Ecosystem – A BOP Success Story?
Eric Cantor blogs over at Acumen Fund about the emerging ecosystem of businesses, NGOs, development folks, and government agencies working in the Indian BOP tech sector to close the digital divide and empower low-income communities. First, an excerpt - then my take: This ecosystem is made...
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