The beauty of social business, in my humble opinion, is that it aims to create sustainable solutions to social issues. I think, that this is the most important part of it. For me, the no-dividend principle is a possible blocking point for that.

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OpenIDEO has partnered with the Holistic Social Business Movement (HSBM) of Caldas – a joint venture between the Grameen Creative Lab and the Government of Caldas, Colombia – to consider how social businesses can improve the health of low-income communities in Colombia and around the world. Together, with your help, we hope to develop a set of implementable and high impact solutions to support and promote social business development and improve health in low-income areas like Caldas, where 26% of the population lives in extreme poverty.

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The Bambulance Project is dedicated to improving health transport in rural Kenya by providing safe, affordable medical transportation in the form of a bicycle-pulled stretcher made primarily from strong bamboo.

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Provide sustainable income for farmers by encouraging internet users from all over the world to adopt coffee trees.

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I came across this video where Vera Sacchetti takes a critical look at the social design movement and asks some tough but necessary questions around social business and social design.

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Krochet Kids International is a great model for a social business that has helped over 80 women in Uganda raise themselves out of poverty!

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In this interview Paul Polak shares his approach to poverty alleviation and exactly how he's achieved tremendous impact in countries like India and with simple solutions.

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Insights on the local agenda for pursuing of social business from the Caldas Governor – including their partnership with Grameen Creative Lab.

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Social issues are complex, multi-faceted, & interconnected, so 1 actor, or a single-dimension intervention, is unlikely to easily solve a problem. Thus, coordinated efforts between different organizations are important to broaden & deepen impact.

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Arogya Parivar: a social business model to improve health in rural India

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A locally produced newspaper which celebrates, promotes & inspires social business.

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Just came across these while browsing the Holistic Social Business Movement of Caldas section on the Grameen Creative Lab website. Thought it might be helpful for our inspiring & concepting to highlight what's currently being done and considered.

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Ideas behind this business are precisely related to the question. The company "Thankyou water" is able to provide a month of clean water to someone in poverty, for every bottle of water sold in Aus. Utilising facebook & the crowd to get 7-11 to help!

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When seeking investments for Social Businesses, it’s important to remember that the wealthy are not the only ones who can help. In fact, while a wealthy individual can donate a higher absolute amount, studies have shown that those with average means are often donating a higher % of their own incomes. And of course, there are many more people of average means vs. those with significant wealth. The power of raising funds through small contributions from many individuals has been demonstrated everywhere from politics (Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign setting numerous new record amounts raised by small donations, enabling him to be the 1st major-party presidential candidate to turn down general election public financing) to microfinance (Kiva has raised ~$225 million for almost 600K working poor individuals, though individual no-interest loans that are as small as $25 and average ~$240).

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"Let they food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food" Hippocrates. Everything,absolutely everything starts with food. How its grown, where its grown, who its grown for, and how it is consumed. If we sort out our food, planet will be just fine

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Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) is helping women in Rwanda set up their own businesses manufacturing sanitary pads from banana-tree fibers. Caldas produces bananas, and the various kinds of bananas are part almost of every meal.

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Micro-forestry social business in Africa uses decentralised model aiming for scale.

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Social Business is 1) "social", driven by social good, rather than profit maximization, & 2) a "business", aims for financial sustainability (& perhaps growth) based on income generation, rather than being reliant on continuous donations/taxation.

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A group of individuals who get together to socialise and cook. After cooking, the participants eat together the meal or divide it to take it home. Cooking in community helps people to reduce costs, socialize and have a nutritious meal.

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A project that aims to improve the life quality of the people of Popayán, mostly the chidlren health trough a healthy diet.

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As bad nutrition is one of the main causes of vulnerability to disease, here is a case of a Social Business which aimed at improving children's nutrition by selling healthy meals in the streets.

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The bicycle applied to a social business to help create a community center in Bwindi National Park.

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Ok, let's be honnest. Unless BIG retailers (i.e. Wal Mart, Pepsico) don't include more sustainable practices within their value chains, it'll be really difficult to actually change the consumption paradigm nowadays. Why? Because the majority of consumers are lazy, uninformed and most probably will prioritize price over footprint. So it's ok to do awareness campaigns (but they'll take a while to create a critical mindshiftt). I vote for big companies to start investing in developing small producers as formal providers.

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IDEO + Acumen Fund teamed up to seed innovation amongst water providers in India.

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Bring goods and services to the city, let people prosper in their own scenic rural environment.

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Grameen report on a great recent example of social business in Caldas at the hands of a local entrepreneur countering malnutrition using a fortified sugar cane product.

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