entrepreneurship

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Social Enterprise

Krochet Kids International reimagines empowerment with hook and stitch

A team of friends from Spokane is turning a love of crocheting into real jobs for women in Uganda and Peru.

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Financial Inclusion

Why financial inclusion matters

“Financial inclusion” might sound like a ploy by banks and credit card companies to get more clients. But it's actually a vital effort to improve the lives of poor people.

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Social Enterprise

How three common pitfalls of social enterprises can be avoided

Many businesses face challenges trying to balance for-profit endeavors with social objectives, and end up trapped by three familiar pitfalls.

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Social Enterprise

Farm business advisors deliver products and profits to Cambodia’s rural farmers

Lors Thmey, which means ‘new growth’ in Khmer, sells a bundled package to Cambodian farmers that provides farming necessities and technical know-how through a business model designed to boost incomes, share knowledge and create value at each step of the supply chain.

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Social Enterprise

Five tips from Nike on growing into a multinational corporation

Tips and tricks from Nike on becoming a global, multibillion dollar corporation.

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Social Enterprise

West meets East: Bridging local artisans with Western markets

Three businesses are finding success by blending fashion with social enterprise, providing artisans with the security of a safe job, dependable income, health care and education.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Coke and Climate Change

Coke looks into the effect climate change on its balance sheet, growing social entrepreneurship in the Philippines and Zimbabwe looks to take a step towards a cashless economy. Staff picks: what we're reading this week.

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Value Chains

Pomegranates vs Poppies: Building food markets to fight the drug trade

The crops used to produce most of the world's illegal drugs come from a small number of weak states. Can providing impoverished farmers there with alternative crops -- and the markets to sell them in -- undermine the drug trade?

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Global Ideas News Brief: Big names weigh in on global inequality

Bill Gates on global poverty, the case for global aid and rising to the challenge of youth unemployment. Staff Picks: what we're reading this week.

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Social Enterprise

How to build a market for eyeglasses

Nearly 700 million poor people in the world need eyeglasses. Why don't we just give them away? Turn's out that's not a scheme that can be scaled up to reach more than a tiny fraction of the people who need them. Here's a model that can.

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Social Enterprise

Quotable: Designing low-cost products that save lives isn't easy

“We thought if you design a good product, it will scale on its own,” Ms. Donaldson said. “That works in efficient markets, but most developing communities don’t have efficient markets.”

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Global Ideas News Brief: Improving microinsurance + Building peace online

Improving microinsurance, building peace online, and why solar lamps are like cash transfers. Staff Picks: What we're reading this week.

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Value Chains

Woodblock Chocolate: From bean to bar, putting farmers first

An Oregon chocolate maker's story: how the company builds value from bean to bar.

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Social Enterprise

Girl power: Accelerating women in social enterprise

"Accelerate Women Now" supports women social entrepreneurs in Latin America with consulting support, mentorships and connections with investors.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Doha deal + Banking on the world's poorest

Banking on the world's poorest, the first Doha deal, and how the promise of prosperity may be the key to foreign policy. Staff picks: what we're reading this week.