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Investors warm up to start-ups with a cause
To outsiders, Vindhya e-Infomedia Pvt. Ltd appears to be just another business process outsourcing (BPO) company. What sets the Bangalore-based company apart is the fact that 80% of its 500 employees comprise women below the poverty line and those with physical disabilities; some are blind, hearing-impaired or autistic.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Social Entrepreneurs: Don’t Forget About Kickstarter
The fundraising platform wants to be a place where projects for good get off the ground.
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- Uncategorized
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Sankalp Social Enterprise Award Finalists and the Stories They Tell : Videos exemplify the spirt of social entrepreurs
It’s a long road to the coveted Sankalp Social Enterprise Awards trophy. India’s leading social enterprise awards run through a process that lasts close to six months, and sees a hard-fought battle.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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3 Factors That Show Social Enterprise Might Start Seeing Bigger Exits
Stewart Craine, cofounder of Barefoot Power and now Village Infrastructure Angels, walks into investor presentations with a pair of well-worn, highly scuffed shoes with the soles falling off. They are his "investor shoes," illustrating the ridiculous distance he has traveled in pursuit of investment for his businesses, which work with world’s poor.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Nine ways to make sure you make a difference with impact investing
Impact investors want more than a financial return, they want their money to do something good in the world at the same time. This means balancing financial risks and rewards with the complex measures of social and environmental impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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What Is Scale? Hint: Social Enterprises Don’t Have To Be Huge To Reach It
A couple of years ago, I was working on a strategic planning project for a start-up that got hung up on the idea of “scale.” The founders were thinking globally, but meeting locally – in a windowless conference room, with lousy coffee, a couple of laptops, and no employees. We made of lot of lists, blew through a lot of Powerpoint, did many meetings. The ideas were fantastic, the potential market of those who needed the proposed services were in the tens of millions, and the business plan was sleek. But they couldn’t start small enough to prove the model. It had to be national right away, because the idea was so strong.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- scale, social enterprise
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The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Food
Newly engineered foods. A TV show satirizing big AG. Farming practices that reduce greenhouse gases. Here are the companies that are cooking up new ideas and changing how we think about our food.
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- Agriculture, Environment, Health Care
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‘Learning together’ to grow a business in the plains of Tanzania
When Hailey Chalhoub and Eliza Madden, both 22, were sent to Tabora in northeastern Tanzania to help its residents with a nascent food processing business, they had their marching orders: make a profit.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
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