accessing markets

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Social Enterprise

India Cries Tears of Joy for Groupon’s Onions

Onion prices have reached record highs in India. But an unlikely savior stepped into the crisis: Groupon, offering a kilogram of onions per person at a fraction of the market rate.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Pyramid schemes + Complex stories

Face to face contact works for Africa's poorest customers, the promise of small-scale Ag and why NGOs should tell complex stories. Staff picks: what we're reading this week

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Social Enterprise

EcoZoom: A Three Part Model For Doing Business in Africa

EcoZoom is bringing safer, cleaner cookstoves to relief, development, and commercial markets in Somalia, Rwanda, and Kenya.

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Value Chains

Quotable: Rwanda's president on government's relationship with the private sector

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, aims to raise the country to middle income status by 2020. Partnering with the private sector is a prime method.

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Financial Inclusion

Cash cows: Why making bank accounts function like livestock will help the poor

In an age of mobile banking and digital transactions, many poor people still shun basic banking services and put their extra money in livestock. Why?

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Global Ideas News Brief: Hope in Congo + Another Kiva

Cash transfers are working, a look at income inequality and hope in the Congo. Staff Picks: What we're reading this week

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Financial Inclusion

Quotable: Universal financial access by 2020 is possible

The World Bank president believes that innovations in approach and technology will boost progress on financial inclusion.

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Financial Inclusion

When rural clients can't get to the bank, mobile banking vans bring the bank to them

Mobile banking vans in Uganda, Rwanda and the Philippines now offer bank accounts, financial education and microinsurance to rural customers who previously had little access to financial services.

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Mobile Technology

Infographic: Which countries have more mobile money accounts than bank accounts?

Africa is showing the world how mobile money can help build economies.

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Social Enterprise

New initiative announced at Clinton Global helps small businesses in Indonesia grow online

Choky fears his small handbag store will soon be eclipsed by others he sees online. Soon he'll access web-based business services to grow his business and compete through a for-profit social enterprise created by Mercy Corps, eBay Foundation and ThoughtWorks.

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Sustainable Energy

Free trials and payment plans: Innovative ways to market clean energy products in rural Uganda

Families in rural northern Uganda who cook over open fires and use kerosene as their primary light source face numerous health and safety issues - they should be rushing to buy fuel efficient cookstoves and solar units. Why aren't they?

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Social Enterprise

Growing economies by planting startup culture seeds

Startup cultures are beginning to bloom in unstable markets, where business innovation--instead of charity--is rebuilding the economy.

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Financial Inclusion

Microfinance in the crosshairs: Will Kyrgyzstan's usury bill backfire?

Microfinance has become a subject of controversy, as predatory lenders and unfair interest rates have tarnished its image and led to government interventions. But in Kyrgyzstan, a country with little financial regulation and no sovereign credit rating, increasing regulations may soon have negative consequences for the very clients they're intended to protect.

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Financial Inclusion

Infographic: Why it’s Africa’s turn for an economic boom

Africa now has a $2 trillion economy, and it’s poised to keep growing--fast.

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Financial Inclusion

Econ 101: Three different ways to lift girls out of poverty

New projects that teach young women how to start a business, hold a bank account, and apply for financial aid can help to give them better futures out of the hallmarks of poverty -- poor health care, forced marriage, and early childbirth.