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From Beneficiary to Customer: 40K Transitions from School-building Charity to Edtech Social Enterprise
It took five years for 40K to build its first school in India. Over that time, the organization learned a lot about the key barriers that were preventing quality education from proliferating in rural areas. Over the next two years, 40K transformed from a school-building charity to an edtech social enterprise. Clary Castrission, founder and CEO, explains why, and how the transition is progressing.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Social Business Roundup: A $1 Smartphone, the Upshot of Disparity and the Quizzing of Presidents
If you manufacture a phone that comes with apps advertising to low-income consumers, can you sell it for as little as $1? The folks at SocialEco think so. Other items NextBillion's editors came across for this week's Roundup included a concentration on wealth concentration, an unhappy birthday for M-Pesa, plus a presidential Q that will hopefully result in an A.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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The Secondary School Abyss: Can Public Private Partnerships Help?
Demand for secondary schools outstrips supply in parts of Africa. PEAS, which builds and runs not-for-profit secondary schools in Uganda and Zambia, has decided to focus on working alongside an informal coalition of partners, including governments, to create a PPP school movement across sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Education
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Nestle India finds a sweet spot in elderly Indians
In the next two quarters, Nestle India will introduce healthcare products suitable for nutritional needs of the ageing population.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Client Outcomes Data in Microfinance: Few Have It But Everybody Needs It
Many recent studies have found that microfinance has no impact, or minimal positive impact, on clients’ lives. To find out why and to fix the problem, financial service providers need client outcomes data, but few FSPs collect it because they think it would be too expensive and time-consuming. Turns out, according to the SPTF Outcomes Working Group, it's not.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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He devised a business plan that’s improved livelihoods in his native Senegal
Bagoré Bathily opened Senegal’s only fresh milk production company in 2007, capitalizing on the fact that 30 percent of the population lives off cattle rearing. Hundreds of cowherds have earned more income.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Using Evidence to Optimize Savings and Loan Payment Channel Choices
The OPTIX team at BFA, along with partner Banco WWB in Colombia, set out to learn more about various client interactions with financial service providers; for instance, why do clients choose a certain transaction location? The work is designed to help Banco WWB strengthen their business while creating a more compelling portfolio of services for their customers’ needs.
- Categories
- Finance
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Find Good Partners and Don’t Quit: Lessons from a Water-Ag Innovator
Bart A.J. de Jonge and Si Technologies came up with a way to protect farmers around the world and their crops against increasingly common droughts that devastate local communities. He wanted to get the product in the hands of hands of millions of subsistence farmers quickly, but it took years, for a variety of reasons. Here, he offers advice to other social entrepreneurs, including this: "Change is a long haul, but don’t give up."
- Categories
- Agriculture
