SOCIAL ENTERPRISE NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Social entrepreneurs often deal with intertwining issues.  For example, they want to provide financial services for rural communities, but many of these communities do not even have birth documents let alone addresses or well-defined streets.  In the case of Indego Africa, a social enterprise that pay women artisans in Rwanda for their products to sell [...]

“There are lots of reasons kids miss school.  Being a girl shouldn’t be one of them.”  In a 2007 ad campaign, Procter & Gamble put a light on the issue with girls missing school or work in some countries.  They have no means to manage their menstruation and it helped reduce anxiety and ridicule among [...]

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Five leading innovators were named the Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2012 Africa by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum on Africa from May 9-11. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, presented the awards to the winners on the opening day of the meeting in the presence of President Ali [...]

When Apple announced the name of its tablet – the iPad – it quickly became a widespread menstrual pun of social networks.  Questions arose as to whether women’s opinions were included in naming the product, suggesting it was insensitively-named.  After all, a woman’s period is no small matter.  Poor menstrual health and hygiene is linked to [...]

The building has cement floors, bathrooms, and clean water.  Inside, female students are dressed in pale yellow blouses and brown skirts.  Male students are dressed in button-down, short-sleeve shirts and brown trousers.  Nutritious lunches are served hot.  Together with tuition, books, and exam, everything can be had at the cost of 75 cents per day, [...]

Impact investment pioneer Acumen Fund announced today that it is supporting low-income communities in Ghana with new investments in land rights and agriculture.  The new Acumen Fund West Africa office will be based in Accra, Ghana. The first investments in West Africa include a US$1 million loan to Medeem Ghana, Ltd (Medeem), which aims to strengthen property [...]

It seems soccer balls are a common way to solve societal problems.  Alive & Kicking is a UK based charitable social enterprise that manufactures soccer balls in Africa to create fair employment and educate young people about HIV/AIDS.  In the most literal sense, it is keeping Africans alive and kicking. The organization has been stitching [...]

Since outlining some criticisms of microfinance, there has been work done in different parts of the globe to better protect customers of microlending. SKS Microfinance announced on February 1 that it has appointed Verghese Jacob as ombudsman, making it the only Indian microfinance institution to have such a system in place for customer protection and [...]

On January 17, TABLE FOR TWO (TFT) launched the “100 Campuses in 100 Days” challenge to bring TFT into 100 university and colleges across the United States by April 26. TFT is a unique social enterprise that tackles two problems at the same time: obesity and hunger.  On one side of the coin, developed countries are [...]

January 25, 2012 marks the one year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution.  Coincidentally it is also the birthday of Heba Hosny, creator of a new daily deal social venture called 7ala Wa7da. 7ala Wa7da is a crowdfunding platform for NGOs.  It won Hosny third prize in the Ideathon this past October at ArabNet in Cairo, Egypt. Hosny [...]