article thumbnail

How to Create Youth Jobs After Conflicts

Harvard Business Review

Upon graduation, the governments, nonprofits, or (more recently) microfinance companies give them loans to buy tools and opens shops. We developed a very cheap rechargeable lighting system and a model where a youth can operate a charging station using solar, grid, or human energy. Dropout rates are high; repayment rates are low.

article thumbnail

Scaling Up Without Losing Your Edge

Harvard Business Review

Schumacher, one of the fathers of the Green movement, declared that "small is beautiful" and called for "a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful." Size inevitability leads to hierarchy, to rigidities in the system, and bureaucracy.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Making Sense of the Many Kinds of Impact Investing

Harvard Business Review

Currently, impact can mean anything from venture investments in new health technologies to microfinance loans in Peru; from affordable housing in the US to renewable energy in India; from social impact bonds to private equity funds that create jobs. Paradigms : Investments that attempt to change an entire system for the better.

Class 8
article thumbnail

The 3 Preconditions for an Entrepreneurial Society

Harvard Business Review

There has been a boom in startups, the number of freelancers is growing rapidly, and technology-enabled platforms such as Upwork and Amazon’s MTurk are helping people find work that suits their skills and schedules. Internet technology has essentially democratized entrepreneurialism. To be a taxi driver, you need a car and a GPS.