Finding a way to sustainably feed the world will require government initiatives, funding, and most importantly, technology solutions for farmers. The articles below highlight recent developments in initiatives to solve the global food problem. In poor countries, companies step in to fill gaps left by agriculture nonprofits by Sarah Shemkus on The Guardian Across developing countries, 2.5 billion farmers live on less than $4 a day according a recent report released by Acumen and Bain … read more
Our survey results: Understanding the challenges energy enterprises face in emerging economies
Invested Development and GVEP International recently conducted a survey in collaboration with Power Africa and UN Foundation’s Energy Access Practitioner Network to investigate the challenges that energy enterprises experience in emerging markets. Of course, company financing is a big issue, but we wanted to dig deeper into manufacturing, human resources, consumer financing, and sales. The goal was to identify the types of support products and services that the industry can provide to move the needle … read more
Mobile for Development
Mobile money and mobile banking have created a revolution in financial services for the unbanked population, but the potential for mobile technology doesn’t end there. Below are recent articles highlighting how mobile technology can be leveraged to create innovative solutions aimed towards the development of emerging markets.
Mobile for Smart Solutions: How Mobile can Improve Energy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa by Helene Smertnik on GSMA
A new report released by GSMA explores the opportunity for … read more
Clean energy developments
1.3 billion individuals across the globe, almost 20% of the world’s population, lack access to basic electricity mostly in emerging markets. If all of the energy currently generated in Africa were equally distributed, it would be enough to turn on one standard light bulb per person for a mere three hours per day. The following articles detail some new initiatives that are aiming to combat this pressing worldwide issue.
SOLAR ENERGY ON A ROLL
Solar energy has been on a roll in recent years, helped by a drastic 64% decrease in the price of photovoltaic cells since 2008. Thanks to falling costs, over 2 million solar lanterns were sold in 2012, expected to increase 75% a year in Africa alone. Lowering costs and increasing affordability will be the biggest drivers for the continued growth of solar, so investments at both the project and product level are important to watch.… read more
Insights for Tech Startups in Emerging Markets
One of the ways the technology startups can maximize their social impact and achieve success is by learning from the mistakes and successes of other organizations. Below are a few pieces of advice, opportunities, and lessons learned that startups should keep in mind.
“An Inside Look At Running a Cleantech Startup in India” by Rupesh Shah on GreenBiz
In order to ensure that a startup is moving in the correct direction, it is … read more
Impact Investing in Alternative Energy Enterprises
With our vested interest in alternative energy and emerging markets, we are always excited to see startups in and out of the portfolio recognized for their efforts, whether that’s through finding an investor match of simply receiving credit on well-respected publications. Below are some of the exciting developments in the alternative energy startup space over the past few weeks.
Ghana-Based Renewable Energy Startup Acquired in an Estimated 7-Figure Deal by Shea Gunther on Mother Nature … read more
Mobile Money Services
Developing countries received over $400 billion in remittances in 2012 according to a World Bank (see our infographic on remittances here). This is a great example of how mobile money has changed the way people send money by making it easier and safer. This week, we read many stories detailing both progress and challenges in the sector. We are always looking for innovative entrepreneurs that piggyback on the success of mobile money to provide … read more
Impact Investing
At ID, we invest in for-profit social enterprises because we believe in their potential to create impact at scale. However, there are some misconceptions and barriers have prevented social ventures from receiving capital. In this week’s reading we hope to provide a better understanding of impact investing and the work that investors, NGOs, and policy makers are doing to remove the barriers.
Impact Investing Goes Mainstream in Ontario, Canada on Triple Pundit
Today the worlds … read more
Remittances and Mobile Technology
The increase in remittances and money transfers poses an interesting challenge to mobile and banking technologies. We are always looking for the newest innovations in mobile tech for the BSP Fund. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention in remittances and mobile technology this week.
Remittances to Africa carry a high price tag by Tosin Sulaiman on Reuters
As the official remittance flow to Africa has increased to a record $60.4 … read more
Agriculture and technology around the world
It’s no secret that the agriculture space is a hot sector. At ID, we’re finding many opportunities that leverage mobile and information technology to improve efficiency for the small farmer. This Weekly Review features stories on the collaboration of technology and agriculture around the world.
“Unleashing Ugandan Farmers’ Potential Through Mobile Phones” by Kyla Yeoman on Global Envision
MobiPay Kenya has developed a unique application designed with small African farmers in mind. AgriLife… read more
Technology and Impact
At ID, we invest in technology that benefits underserved populations. With so many innovative and affordable technologies hitting the market, there are lots of new opportunities to use them to empower previously excluded populations. This week’s selection of articles discusses different technologies and their applications in emerging markets.
“M2M Communications Could Leverage Clean Energy for Billions of People” by Justin Guay on GreenTech Media
M2M (machine-to-machine) technology and high levels of mobile subscriptions … read more
Impact investing
This weekly review covers the ever-growing and nascent impact investing sector.
“Impact Investing for the New Economy: People” by Atlee McFellin on Triple Pundit
Impact investing is different from the green movement of years past. The new mindset of investing for impact emphasizes a dual focus on sustainability and well being for both the environment and people. Emerging investment and lending models, such as our own Impact Factoring Fund, are more frequently … read more
Technology Innovation in Africa
This week’s articles cover news on technology innovation in Africa. There are many opportunities for organizations of all sizes, both public and private, to respond to the diverse needs on the African continent.
“2013 and the Emerging Market Potential” on IT News Africa
The potential for growth in emerging markets is going to be driven by “fast-paced technological advancement.” In Africa in particular, we’re seeing the development of technological hubs and centers such … read more
Weekly Review December 22-28: Technology Innovation and Advances for 2013
Here’s our final weekly round up for 2012. This week, we are covering the way technology innovation and advances are setting up the potential for significant social and economic gains in Africa in 2013.
“Charity:Water, Other Nonprofits Get Help from Tech Innovators to Inspire New Philanthropy” by Brett Zongker on The Huffington Post
Charity:Water, one of the most well-respected nonprofits out there, has funded 7,000 clean water projects to date. The organization … read more
Weekly Review November 10-16: Technology Innovation in Emerging Markets
Technology innovation is emerging from all corners of the world, aided by an increasingly connected and growing youthful demographic. Read on for highlights on the latest opinions and news on technology innovation for development.
“What will it take to unearth Africa’s next great innovator?” by Stuart Thomas on Memeburn
We know that Africa is full of eager entrepreneurs and innovators. To find them is often the hard part. We also know that the … read more
Weekly Review October 6-12: How Mobile is Changing the Economy, Media, and More
Telecoms and mobile phones have changed the way organizations interact with customers at the base of the economic pyramid. This week, we’re sharing stories on the impact they’ve had on common challenges across sectors in emerging markets.… read more
Weekly Review September 15-21
From mobile developers to telecoms to the hardware itself, the mobile technology sector continues to make exciting progress in India, Africa, and Latin America.… read more
Weekly Review August 25-31
African innovation is making headlines everywhere from The Economist to The Guardian. It’s nice to see that the grassroots feel of startup tech community is not lost in translation.
Energy in Kenya and the Potential for Renewables
Kenya’s National Energy Policy is designed “to facilitate provision of clean, sustainable, affordable, reliable and secure energy services at least cost while protecting the environment.” The efforts come alongside a critical time for Kenya – economic growth and energy demand are higher than ever. The current supply, although increasing slowly, cannot keep up with demand. In response, the Kenyan government is using three policy tools to facilitate the adoption of renewable energy. The aim is … read more
Weekly Review August 18-24
After the enormous grid failure in India, there is a new awareness of the need for alternative energy. Savvy entrepreneurs and established businesses are taking advantage and jumping on the opportunity to expand their market. Clearly a big hurdle is fully understanding the costs of renewables and working to minimize them. Luckily, there are plenty of smart folks working on that as well.… read more
Weekly Review August 11-17
Around the world, businesses both big (like Nokia) and small (like Wari and Mi-Fone) are working in emerging markets to deliver mobile phone products and services tailored directly to local demand. From long-lasting battery life to the continued expansion of mobile money services, mobile continues to present new opportunities for innovation.… read more
Weekly Review August 4-10
Weekly Review July 7-13
Every week, we read dozens of articles on our favorite industry trends that relate to our investment thesis. We pick the most popular trend from the week and share the top articles along with our comments.
Click “continue reading” to check out this week’s headlines on renewable energy and check out our weekly board on Pinterest.… read more
Weekly Review June 23-30
Continue reading to check out the news from the clean tech industry and its impact in emerging markets.… read more