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From Hotel Uniforms To Life-Saving Water Filters: Evolving The Humanitarian Entrepreneurship Model
In recent years, investments in global public health have created opportunities for private innovators, technology developers, and business investors to join the fight against infectious diseases affecting people in developing countries. Such private entities are focusing their innovative platforms on developing technological breakthroughs for the most vulnerable people, often in the most extreme situations. As a result, a new business model, "humanitarian entrepreneurship," is being shaped by innovators at all levels. Here, doing good is good for business.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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CEOs urge Rio+20 leaders to make water security top priority
AFP - Some 45 corporate chiefs attending the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development on Monday pledged to make water security a strategic priority and called for decisive action by governments.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
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Can This New Backpack Solve The World’s Water Woes?
You may not have heard of Greif, but you’re probably familiar with its products. One of the largest industrial packaging companies in the world, Greif makes plastic drums, fiber drums, water bottles for water coolers, steel containers, and more. The companies that buy certain Greif products--like the drums that hold hazardous chemicals--are the same ones that may inadvertently poison people in the developing world who use those containers to transport water after they’ve been thrown out. And so it makes a certain kind of sense that Greif would step up to create a solution, dubbed WaterWear, that allows people to safely and easily carry gallons of clean water.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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New Farmer Alliance to Improve Incomes and Food Security in Africa
WASHINGTON, DC, June 12, 2012 – Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Vodafone, and TechnoServe launched a new partnership to increase the productivity, incomes and resilience of smallholder farmers in Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The Connected Farmer Alliance will leverage mobile phone-enabled solutions to improve supply chain efficiency and increase farmers’ ability to access secure, timely payments and other financial services.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Acumen Fund Invests in Virtual City to Automate Agricultural Supply Chains in East Africa and….
Nairobi, Kenya, June 5, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty across Africa and in South Asia, today announced a $1.5 million convertible debt investment in Virtual City, a mobile technology services provider based in Nairobi.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- supply chains
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Virtual City gets Sh135m loan from US social fund
Virtual City, a local software development firm, has received a Sh135 million ($1.5 million) convertible loan from Acumen Fund for the development of a mobile-based agricultural application to help small-scale farmers market their produce.The investment represents the latest capital inflows from international investors in the local information technology sector, which is emerging as a key target for venture capitalist firms.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Board Approves Equity Investment of U.S. $100 Million in Agvance Africa
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved on 16 May in Tunis, an equity investment of USD 100 million to Agvance Africa, the first agribusiness-focused Fund of Funds on the African continent. The strategic objective of Agvance Africa is to increase private investment flows into the agribusiness sector on the continent to address growing food security concerns and unleash the largely unexploited potential of African agriculture and agribusiness sectors.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- impact investing
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‘Explore cocoa potential,’ ICCO urges manufacturers
The International Cocoa Coordination Organisation (ICCO), on Wednesday, urged Nigerian manufacturers to explore the potential of cocoa, so as to produce more cocoa-based goods.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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