Publication database

This article describes and ranks 10 lessons that Acumen has learned while working to tackle global poverty. The lessons learned include: 'dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth'; and that 'neither grants nor markets alone will solve the problems of poverty'.

This report discusses the contribution of business to realising the Post-2015 agenda to eradicate extreme poverty. Through case examples, it illustrates the potential of cross-sector partnerships to advance both business impact and development outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides five recommendations on how the Post-2015 process can help to promote and establish the architecture for a greater number, scale, and effectiveness of cross-sector partnerships.

This report provides an overview of the affordable housing market in Kenya; it is aimed at practitioners and investors who are looking to enter the affordable housing sector in the country or elsewhere. It describes the challenges that practitioners encounter and provides strategies to address them.

This article provides a collection of essays on the topic of 'accelerating entrepreneurship'. It includes lead essays 'Incubators Are Popping Up Like Wildflowers...' from Randall Kempner; 'A Systemic Approach to Accelerating Entrepreneurship' by Mary Walshok; and 'What Do Accelerators Do?' by Susan Cohen.

Este libro presenta el impacto y las características principales de las agroindustrias en los países en vias de desarrollo, así como una serie de recomendaciones sobre la labor del sector público y privado para impulsar el crecimiento de las agroindustrias.

This report outlines the challenges and opportunities for achieving commercial success and social impact through mobile for development 'M4D' services. It describes the mobile sector, the impact of mobile on development, platforms?, multiplicity and the drive for scale, and user-centric innovation.

The present study takes stock of the situation of voluntary standards in Mozambique and provides recommendations for potential areas of intervention. The analysis covers the areas of a global market overview, including regional and international market opportunities and challenges in the area of voluntary standards, key players, key markets, pricing and price differentials. It examines the presence of voluntary standards in Mozambique, including results of standards, perceptions, major opportunities and obstacles , current roles and responsibilities, as well as gaps and overlaps.

As the microinsurance industry grows there is an increasing need to scale up insurance education efforts and educate a wider audience. Audio-visual media is an attractive dissemination channel to achieve this because it is strongly anchored in the lifestyle of low-income people in developing countries. Briefing Note #18 explores the stages of such campaigns and presents lessons learnt.

As the microinsurance industry grows there is an increasing need to scale up insurance education efforts and educate a wider audience. Audio-visual media is an attractive dissemination channel to achieve this because it is strongly anchored in the lifestyle of low-income people in developing countries. Microinsurance Paper #21 explores the stages of such campaigns and presents lessons learnt.

This short briefing, part of a series that demonstrates how specific products and services can expand the reach of financing for smallholder farmers, presents what is required for a healthy, competitive smallholder banking sector. It breaks banks into four archetypes, including an assessment of how effectively each archetype serves smallholders and its attractiveness to public or commercial investors.