Global Envision | The Confluence of Global Markets and Poverty Alleviation

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.

Neal Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps CEO, discusses ways technology can help the poor benefit from the formal financial sector. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/6777384419/">World Economic Forum (flickr)</a>

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Financial Inclusion

Three ways digital cash helps the poor

Traditional financial services aren't working for the poor. The problem? Paper.

The agricultural sector accounts for a significant portion of Nigeria's GDP, but youth don't find it an attractive job. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/5418217343/">The National Archives UK (Flickr)</a>

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Youth Skills

Waiting for a white-collar job: a sure way to extend unemployment in Nigeria

The Kwara state government in Nigeria is promoting traditional vocations in an effort
to change young minds uninterested in any position outside the glamorous white-collar
realm.

Kenyan dairy farmers using iCow saw an increase in profits and milk production. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/6775839248/">Gates Foundation (flickr)</a>

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In Kenya, a mobile dairy app drives profits skyward

A relatively new mobile app has helped dairy farmers in Kenya increase their profits by 42 percent.

Thanks to co-ops like COOPCAB, the coffee business is back and brewing in Haiti. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27632962@N04/3395940600/">Vilseskogen (flickr)</a>

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Social Enterprise

As aid to Haiti slows, a private co-op scores loans and turns heads

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor.

Renewable energy could increase by up to 50 times current production with the right support in Yemen. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034363486@N01/1462086624/">Mike Weston (Flickr)</a>

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Social Enterprise

Social startup hits barriers of capital and stability in Yemen

An exciting all-women startup in Yemen has great ideas to solve an energy crisis but needs more than a good business plan to be commercially successful.

Like everyone else, potential savers are drawn to games of chance. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94272988@N00/14794343/">MarkyBon</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a>

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Financial Inclusion

Can cash prizes get people to save money?

Here's an interesting way to get people to save money: instead of paying interest, enter everyone who deposited money in the bank last month in a drawing for a big cash prize.