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Dealing with culture shock
As in the business world, philanthropic activities have become increasingly international, with project teams spanning Africa, Asia, the United States or Europe becoming the norm. However, research from the business world suggests that many such …
Philanthropy out of the family office
The family office is a well-established niche sector in financial management in advanced economies, but outside Western Europe and the USA it is a rather novel concept that has yet to take root. In future, …
Beyond the pioneer: transcending competition
The recently released Monitor Deloitte report Beyond the Pioneer examines why so few market-based solutions to poverty are getting to scale and what can be done so that they can deliver meaningful benefits to the …
New industry or disruptive innovation?
Monitor Deloitte’s Beyond the Pioneer report raises interesting issues about businesses that work with the poor. It suggests that real scale can be achieved only by developing the industries arising from these pioneer businesses and …
Scaling up social justice: reflections of a grantmaker
Oak Foundation’s mission is to address issues of global social and environmental concern, particularly those that have an impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. As a social justice grantmaker, we work with and through …
Impact – not organizations – first
Monitor Deloitte’s recent Beyond the Pioneer report highlights some of the critical challenges investees face when delivering on the promise of scale. Placing the firm at the centre of its analysis, Beyond the Pioneer presents …
Scaling new industries to benefit the planet
The recently published Monitor Deloitte report Beyond the Pioneer: Scaling new industries to benefit the poor[1] offers great insight into the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from an impact investing perspective. Although it focuses on …
Starting to think and act like businesspeople
I would like to congratulate the authors of Beyond the Pioneer on their courage in addressing the toughest issue in building businesses that serve the base of the pyramid – scale. They mention that most …
Beyond the Pioneer on tour
Since the launch of Beyond the Pioneer at the Skoll World Forum and Sankalp Forum in early April, we’ve been discussing the report in cities across the US and UK with others – practitioners, funders, …
Greasing the wheels
As the term ‘impact investing’ has gained prominence over the last five years, many have assumed that it describes a new approach to investing. In fact, some investors have long sought to generate positive social …