Global Envision | The Confluence of Global Markets and Poverty Alleviation

FOR NGOS, SELF-MEASUREMENT IS RARE BUT PRECIOUS

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Social Enterprise

For NGOs, self-measurement is rare but precious

Each year, promising new approaches to global problems fail. Better evaluations could tell us why.

Microsoft's new, low phone prices mean small businesses in Africa are getting online

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Social Enterprise

Renewable energy gone wrong: a cautionary tale for impact investors

Acción Energía’s controversial wind farm on Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec shows the dark side of “positive social investments” that ignore their impact on the local community.

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Mobile Technology

Mobile money soars across borders, but not between banks

Over 12 billion dollars in remittances are sent each year via mobile phones. But mobile providers must embrace the next big innovation: interoperability.

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Youth Skills

Quotable: Tom Friedman on defusing a demographic bomb

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times gives a simultaneously ominous and intriguing description of a competition in economic development: India vs. China vs. Egypt.

A co-op in Haiti is creating a skilled class of agriculture leaders

A new impact fund will wed cash investments with training

African communities are becoming increasingly mobile-centric. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70292973@N07/7192931934/">The Reboot (flickr)</a>

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Youth Skills

Windows to the world: Why Microsoft's $75 million mobile drop matters

Microsoft will spend $75 million to put tens of millions of smart devices into the hands of African youth by 2016, the company announced Monday.

Silulo has educated over 10,000 students in computer and business skills. Photo: <a href="http://www.silulo.co.za/wp-content/gallery/graduation2011/8.jpg">Silulo</a>

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Social Enterprise

'Social franchising' is hot, but it's easier said than done

Luvuyo Rani, a teacher-turned-entrepreneur, hopes to lead a computing revolution with his low-cost internet cafes.

Encouraging youth to pursue farming may be the answer to both unemployment issues and fading crop yields. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/5075935331/in/photostream/">Gates Foundation (Flickr)</a>

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Youth Skills

Rural youth seek greener pastures in the city, but farming could get hot

Even on the farm, it pays to be young, but every year, young people are "escaping" their hometown rural communities to seek the "greener pastures" of city life. Meanwhile, global buyers of commodities such as coffee and cocoa beans worry about the aging farming workforce.

GBF directly assists companies in its portfolio with setting up their businesses. Photo: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151242669923058&set=pb.38287283057.-2207520000.1359077029&type=3&theater">Grassroots Business Fund (Facebook)</a>

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Social Enterprise

New impact fund will wed cash investments with training

A U.S.-based hybrid impact investment fund is moving to invest $47 million, which it secured in a deal announced in early December.

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Youth Skills

Hilton's new hospitality: A jobs plan for global youth

Hilton Worldwide and the International Youth Foundation are combining forces to outline a strategy for creating 73 million youth jobs in the next 10 years.

Coca-Cola is the most widely distributed American product on the planet

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Quotable: Coca Cola CEO on cracking the code for growth

The key to solving the employment issues and, better still, the key to cracking the code for growth—because growth will bring employment to the world—will be generating new models, new models about business opportunities.