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Africa’s COVID-19 Moment: How Youth Startups Are Addressing the Pandemic – And What They Need to Reach the Next Level
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a young and increasingly entrepreneurial population. As Ahunna Eziakonwa at UNDP and Eleni Gabre-Madhin at blueMoon explain, many youth-led African startups are repurposing their businesses or launching new operations to address COVID-19. They profile some of these young innovators, and lay out four ways the global development community can support them.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Investing
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Supporting Women-led Businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa During COVID-19: Strategies to Survive and Thrive
Women-led businesses in Africa face many obstacles, from limited access to finance and networks, to social and legal constraints – and COVID-19 has only added to that burden. In response, Nathalie Gogue Ebo and Angela Kerubo at Open Capital argue that governments, financiers and other players need to apply a gender lens approach when designing COVID-19 support for these enterprises.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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Press Release: DFC Announces New “IQ” Development Impact Measurement Tool
“IQ is a state-of-the-art tool that allows DFC to measure our progress in fulfilling our development mandate,” said DFC Chief Executive Officer Adam Boehler. "I am extremely proud of the DFC team for its hard work in developing IQ. I also want to thank the many stakeholders that provided input along the way. I look forward to working with our stakeholders to continue refining and improving IQ.”
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Street Snacks to Sanitiser: The Afghan Women Fighting Coronavirus in Kabul
When lockdown closed their businesses, food sellers adapted their carts into mini disinfection units to tackle the outbreak
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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Designing for Women: How COVID-19 Could Allow Government Payment Programs to Boost Women’s Economic Empowerment
Governments around the world are deploying government-to-person programs to address the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. But as Amanda Schwartz at IDEO.org points out, unless these programs are designed around women’s unique needs, they could exacerbate gender inequality and financial exclusion. She explores how a gender inclusive approach could "make the single biggest push for women’s economic empowerment that the world has ever seen."
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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How Kerala’s eWe Is Enabling Women To Drive Digital Commerce In Tough Times
The near-global lockdown has affected almost all sectors of the Indian economy and amongst the worst-hit is the textile and apparel (T&A) industry due to the reset in the retail market as well as the bar on manufacturing and ecommerce orders. Not only was the sector expected to suffer massive layoffs but it also saw many factories and shops shut operations as the spread of Covid-19 plagued the nation.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
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Ladies First: Investing in women-owned SMEs
It pays to invest in women, in more ways than one. Increasing women’s incomes improves countries’ human development indicators and raises their per capita income. Research also indicates that women-owned SMEs have higher repayment rates. Tara Sabre Collier explores ways to better synergize impact investing and women’s economic empowerment.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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The Power of Investing in Women: Lessons learned from WIN-WIN
Calvert Foundation and Citi Foundation launched the Women Investing in Women Initiative, or WIN-WIN, on March 8, 2012, International Women’s Day. The initiative aimed to raise and deploy $20 million in capital to empower women and girls around the world. WIN-WIN surpassed this goal in December, and Calvert CEO Jennifer Pryce discusses four lessons learned along the way.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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