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Weekly Roundup: Zika’s Super Challenge, LeapFrog’s Play, American Express’ Retreat
Our editors discuss three recent developments in the global development/social business space, including a disheartening new global health crisis, some major impact investing news, and a setback in the mainstreaming of the financial inclusion agenda.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
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A Solution to Urban Blight? Crowdfunding’s Potential to Transform Cities
Lending through peer-to-peer platforms, or "real estate marketplace lending," involves connecting borrowers seeking alternative sources of financing for their real estate investment needs with investors seeking passive income opportunities. As more Americans embrace crowdfunding sort of solutions, we believe cities that were once forsaken can be revitalized and brought back to life.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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The Hybrid Investor
For once, Head Office starts with a wager with myself. I’m on my way to meet Roopa Kudva, managing director of Omidyar Network India Advisors, the Indian arm of the Silicon Valley-headquartered impact investors.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- impact investing
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Prudential Financial and LeapFrog Investments Launch a Partnership in Africa
Prudential Financial and LeapFrog Investments announced the launch of a $350 million investment partnership to access high-growth markets in Africa. Managed by LeapFrog, the new investment vehicle will target investments in life insurance companies in leading economies on the continent, including Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, to be made over a three- to five-year period.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Novo Aims to Be Ahead of Pharma Pack With Iran Investment
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, the world's top insulin supplier, expects to be ahead of the pack now nuclear sanctions are lifted in Iran, thanks to a continuous presence and a pre-emptive investment plan.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
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Filling the Funding Gap in ‘Pay for Success’
Pay for Success is a promising tool to measurably improve the lives of people in need and address the gap in funding for social programs, says Eileen Neely of Living Cities. It leverages private and philanthropic investors to fund preventative social programs, and the government only repays them for successful outcomes. But according to Neely, there are some concerns about upfront costs that could limit the scalability of the model. She discusses a possible solution in this post.
- Categories
- Investing
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Convergence Looks to Convert Risk into Reward for Global Development Financing
For the last few months, Andrew Stern has been serving as interim CEO of Convergence, a brand new platform designed to connect and support private, public and philanthropic investors for "blended finance" deals in emerging and frontier markets. The big idea is to bring these disparate players together to back deals that, on their own, would be deemed too risky or complex to chase.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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‘Sustainable Investing’ Goes Mainstream
The year 2015 might well have been when sustainable investing became sustainable.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing