Mobile phones have rocketed through the developing world, extending access to ICT, financial, health, and social services never before imagined. The rapid rise of mobile money for payment, lending, and remittances and increasing use of cell phones for market information and supply chain management points to a …
This session will help you think through your business model by asking yourself, “How am I currently operating? What are my strengths/weaknesses?” We will dissect concepts and transform them into digestible steps geared toward action-oriented processes. We will discuss the importance of human nuances such as communication …
Providing entrepreneurs with management expertise and social capital through business mentoring is recognized as a valuable component of entrepreneurial success, yet these services are typically costly to provide and difficult to standardize and scale. Accelerators and Incubators across the globe are working towards providing the critical mix …
For decades, those of us fighting poverty have circled around the private sector with a mixture of awe and revulsion. Engagement with the private sector has devolved into two opposing camps. In one corner are the rock-throwing corporate campaigners. In the other are those smitten with the …
Money, money, money. Donors are faced with a never-ending parade of worthy causes. We want to provide clean water! We are training leaders! On and on. While working to combat poverty, modern non-profits must also navigate the game-changing social and technological innovations affecting (and sometimes overwhelming) their …
In late 2011, Kiva.org launched the Kiva Zip pilot program to more closely connect Kiva’s community of a million lenders with the entrepreneurs they crowdfinance. We’ve been overwhelmed by the engagement and connections we’ve witnessed as a result. Lenders are no longer just lenders. They are now …
First Access is a data analytics company that sells an instant risk assessment tool to financial institutions worldwide. First Access can reliably predict risk for the world’s 2.5 billion indivduals who have never had a bank account or credit score, using their prepaid mobile data. A private, …