A few weeks ago, I was home visiting my parents and found myself reading the Canadian Geographic magazine article on the Canadian railways. What impressed me was the changes that have been made in the ability to move freight throughout the massive country. Currently,...
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Used soda bottles creating light sources…
A friend of mine sent me an amazing youtube link on Facebook to this video. It is pure genius and innovation at its purest. A man in a slum, picks up a discarded 2 litre Pepsi bottle, cleans it, fills it with water, cuts a hole in his roof and inserts the bottle - now...
Ikea donating $62 million to Dadaab Refugee Camp
If you are like me, when you read a headline like this, your mind begins to picture flat-packed furniture arriving in a refugee camp and people running around looking for the correct allen keys (or Hex keys) to assemble the bits and pieces. Just picture that for a...
Hotspot for Innovative Mobile Phone Usage?
Bangladesh. Probably not your first guess; it certainly wasn't mine, but when I read all the various innovations that are going on there - I was impressed. Beyond Profit Magazine had a great article about a number of innovative ideas that help make Bangladesh a...
Social Impact Bonds
This past Friday, the UK government launched more social impact bonds, building on the first official social impact bond working in the Peterborough prison. It's a huge step in changing how society, not just government, tackles social issues within the UK. I say...
$42 million to reinvent the Toilet
So Bill Gates has some issues withe the almighty porcelain throne! He wants us to reinvent the toilet and is giving $42 million to the effort. It's not about trying to reduce the time men retreat to throne to read the newspaper seeking some peace and quiet nor is it...
Blind Photography – Learning to see
Ever met a blind person on the street armed with a camera? Ever thought photographic competitions could be won by someone who can't see? Absurd thinking I thought, but then I came across an Ashoka fellow who when asked what she did told me she taught photography to...
Connecting dots when others don’t see them
There is constant chatter these days about innovation - almost every business magazine you pick up, bookstore you walk through, and most articles about the economy are splattered with the i word. Innovation. Everyone is talking about it, most are looking for the magic...
Social Impact vs. Profit – or are we measuring the wrong thing?
A few nights ago, I sat on the edge of West Lake in Hanoi, sipping delightful Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk with two friends from Bloom Microventures. It is wonderful to hear their stories of how they are combining tourism with microfinance to impact the...