accessing markets

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Social Enterprise

Move over, angel investors, crowdfunding is changing the rules of the game

As banks rein in lending options for entrepreneurs, crowdfunding’s popularity is off the charts and continuing to rise.

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Sustainable Energy

Doing good with green: How d.light is making solar work

An American solar company is showing the world how to get electricity to poor families cleanly and efficiently, and how to make money at the same time.

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Value Chains

Brother or bully: Leaders squabble over role of big business in alleviating global hunger

The G8’s goal to increase private sector investment in Africa could offer new solutions to global hunger or it could be the new face of a failed solution.

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Financial Inclusion

A penny saved is two pennies earned for women in savings groups

In May, Oxfam America and Freedom from Hunger published the largest study to date on the impact of community-based savings groups. And the findings are promising.

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Financial Inclusion

Teachers in Afghanistan to receive salaries to their mobile wallets

Afghani public school teachers--mostly women--will start receiving their salaries directly to their mobile wallets, bypassing the decades old problem of corruption and inefficiency.

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Value Chains

Free trade between the U.S. and EU could change the dynamic of value chains in Africa

A free trade agreement between the U.S. and EU could provide a much needed economic boost, but not for banana farmers in Ghana.

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Social Enterprise

The SunWater project: advanced solar technology for poor farmers

Paul Polak, the author of Out of Poverty, is creating the world's most inexpensive solar water pump. Here's how.

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Social Enterprise

Tech startup finds the ticket to growth with old ideas

A brand-new Mexican tech startup is making its products affordable using a centuries-old financing trick that lets startups and their customers shift their risk toward third-party investors.

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Value Chains

Why don't more NGOs use the ‘making markets work for the poor’ approach? 5 questions for Emma Proud

"Direct delivery" development is simple. Livestock are sick; let’s distribute vaccinations. People need more food; let's train farmers.

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Value Chains

Interview: Helping coffee farmers turns competitors into colleagues

We talk with Green Mountain Coffee about their new hunger-busting coalition with Starbucks, Counter Culture, Farmer Brothers, S&D Coffee, and Sustainable Harvest.

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Mobile Technology

Free life insurance with your phone bill? Ghana's Tigo tries it

With so many African mobile users switching out SIM cards on a daily basis, how do mobile companies keep their customers loyal? By offering free microinsurance products.