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From Operating Rooms to Dust Tracks, Part 1: How a doctor found the ‘invisible poor,’ then founded an organization to help them
Dr. Shelly Batra had it all, including a job at a plush corporate hospital with the best equipment. But when she gathered her courage one day and entered a New Delhi slum, her life changed forever. She ended up returning to the slum time after time to treat the sick, and eventually that led to her "dream job" at Operation ASHA.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
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d.light Announces $11 Million Series C Financing, Expands Board of Directors
The Series C round included participation from all major investors, including DFJ, Omidyar Network, Nexus India Capital, Gray Ghost Ventures, Acumen Fund and Garage Technology Ventures. With the closing of Series C, d.light has raised a total of $40 million in capital.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Investing
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How to Avoid Three Common Pitfalls of Social Enterprise
he social enterprise revolution of the last decade has been a success. Businesses have adopted the skills of entrepreneurship and found innovative, efficient, and effective solutions to social problems.
But many businesses face challenges trying to balance for-profit endeavors with social objectives, and end up trapped by these familiar pitfalls.- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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African Angel Investors: Creating an ecosystem
Angel investor circles are notably absent in most African capitals. And there are not many formal structures where one can gain this kind of support - especially for social and BoP-focused business ideas. Tara Sabre Collier discusses the challenges and opportunities in developing Africa’s angel investing ecosystem.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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How to Assess a Social Enterprise
How do we really know when an organization is doing quality work we should rally behind and having a real, positive impact, versus just using the right buzzwords?
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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A Busy Week in Nairobi: A week full of events on the African social enterprise scene
Nairobi was the place to be on the African social enterprise scene last week. A wide range of meetings, conferences and workshops covered topics ranging from the role of government, to the risk of “early celebration-itis" for good but unproven early-stage ideas. The Overseas Development Institute’s Emily Darko describes some highlights.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Scaling Mobile for Development: Strengthening the business case for social enterprises, including those delivering health care
The developing world is rapidly gaining access to mobile phones, but still lags in services key to development. This gap presents an opportunity for social entrepreneurs, impact investors, NGOs and mobile operators who would like to achieve positive social impact through commercially viable businesses.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise, Technology
- Tags
- research, scale, social enterprise
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Impact investing key to unlocking Kenya’s growth potential
Starting a business, conventionally, is largely driven by the need to make profits, and the higher the margins the better for the proprietor. Downcast often occurs when companies report slump in profit, as this is considered not good enough to create investor confidence and attract more shareholders.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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