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FabricAID is a compelling example of a social enterprise that addresses both environmental waste and economic marginalization in West Asia. By transforming the second-hand clothing market, its model balances profit with deep social purpose. Landfill in Lebanon What is the problem? FabricAID solves two problems. First, the fashion industry contributes millions of tons of textiles to West Asian landfills, where the clothing emits methane gas and leaches toxins into the soil. At the same time, refugees and low-income families rely on charity for proper clothing. Often, donated clothing is of poor quality, not seasonally appropriate, or does not provide dignity in choice. What is the solution? FabricAID operates a network of intelligent collection systems with IoT-enabled bins to optimize pick-up logistics. The collected clothes are sorted into more than 50 distinct classifications at a central facility. After sorting, the clothes are cleaned, mended, and redistributed through retail partners. This ensures that every scrap of fabric is put to its highest and best use rather than becoming waste. FabricAID team sorting clothes What is the business model and capital raised? The business model relies on multi-tiered retailing and cross-subsidization to achieve financial sustainability. Souk l Khalanj: FabricAID relies on permanent and pop-up stores located in disadvantaged communities, selling clothes at "micro-prices" (typically $0.30 to $2.00). Second Base: An upscale vintage brand operating in affluent neighborhoods that targets eco-conscious, middle-to-high-income shoppers. The profits from these high-margin sales directly subsidize the low-cost operations of the Souk l Khalanj stores. Capital Raised: FabricAID has raised $2.1 million in funding. This includes a landmark $1.6 million seed round in 2022 led by Wamda and Alfanar, the Arab world’s first venture philanthropy organization. Why is it innovative? The unique proposition that FabricAID offers is changing from “charity” to “retail.” Giving buyers the freedom to purchase clothing at nominal prices that they need through a retail system rather than a charity system puts more power in their hands as customers. In terms of technology, FabricAID’s use of IoT for collection logistics and a data-driven inventory system allows it to scale a fragmented "second-hand" supply chain with the efficiency of a modern fast-fashion retailer. FabricAID retail store What is the impact? FabricAID tracks impact across environmental, social, and economic dimensions: Beneficiaries:  Over 70,000 individuals  have purchased high-quality, affordable clothing through FabricAID stores. Environmental:  More than 500,000 items  have been collected, diverting hundreds of tons of textile waste from landfills. Employment:  The enterprise has created over 100 full-time jobs , many of which are held by marginalized individuals and refugees who work in the sorting and upcycling centers. FabricAID team What are the areas to improve? Despite its success, FabricAID faces significant hurdles in scaling. Geopolitical Resilience:  Expanding into markets like Egypt and Jordan requires navigating different regulatory frameworks and economic instabilities. Advanced Recycling:  While they excel at reuse, the company still needs to develop more robust mechanical or chemical recycling  capabilities for textiles that are too damaged to be worn. Operational Costs:  Maintaining a network of physical smart bins in regions with unreliable electricity or internet connectivity requires constant infrastructure investment. Sources: Lebanese social entrepreneur Omar Itani recognized by Schwab Foundation | Arab News Omar Itani - 30 Under 30 2024- Forbes Lists The Editor’s Post: Why we're featuring Middle East social entrepreneurs this week FabricAID - 2026 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors - Tracxn FabricAID Closes Its Seed Round at 1.6 Million US | Berytech FabricAid | World Economic Forum About Us | Love Nature

What is the problem? Many low-income families in South America are forced to buy small sachets of soap or food because they cannot afford large bottles. These small packages are much more expensive per gram than bulk items. This is often called a poverty tax because being poor actually makes products more expensive. These small plastic packages also create a huge amount of trash that ends up in the ocean or landfills. Algramo Vending Machine What is the solution? Algramo created smart vending machines that sell basic staples such as detergent, soap, and rice by the gram. Customers use reusable containers that have a special smart chip inside. They can go to a machine or a mobile tricycle and buy exactly the amount they need. Because there is no expensive plastic packaging, the products are much cheaper than those in a regular store. Algramo Petfood Dispensary What is the impact? The company has prevented millions of single-use plastic bottles from being thrown away. By using Algramo, families can save up to 40 percent on their daily essentials. The system is now used in thousands of small neighborhood shops across Chile. Algramo has also expanded to work with global brands like Unilever and Nestle, offering their products in reusable containers.  Algramo is available in 2,000 to 2,500 stores, many of them family-owned convenience stores, serving an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 end customers. Since 2020, Algramo customers have reused more than 900,000 pieces of packaging. This reuse prevents more than 100,000 kilograms (approx. 220,000 lbs) of plastic from becoming waste. In a single year, the company reported selling 1.7 million liters of product through its refill systems. Cleaning product dispenser Why is it innovative? The innovation is the use of radio frequency technology inside the reusable bottles. Each bottle acts like a digital wallet that remembers the user and their balance. When the bottle is placed under the vending machine, it automatically recognizes the container and fills it up. This makes a sustainable circular economy easy for both the store owner and the customer. Vending machin e for cleaning supplies What is the business model? Algramo was founded in 2013 and has raised 9 million USD to reduce plastic waste and help families save money. Algramo makes money by selling its smart vending machines to small shop owners. They also earn revenue by partnering with large consumer companies that want to sell their products without plastic waste. The shop owners benefit because they can offer better prices to their customers and attract more people to their stores. What needs to improve? The company needs to ensure its machines are always operational and stocked with products in remote areas. It can be difficult to manage a large network of vending machines across a whole country. They also need to convince more people to change their habits and remember to bring their reusable bottles every time they go to the store. Sources   https://algramo.com/en/   https://www.weforum.org/videos/this-chilean-start-up-sells-household-products-in-reusable-packaging/ https://www.ikeasocialentrepreneurship.org/en/social-enterprises/algramo-jose-manuel-moller https://www.core77.com/posts/133637/From-Mobile-Refill-Station-to-Walmart-Partner

What is the problem? Agriculture is the backbone of Vietnam's economy, but millions of smallholder farmers face three big obstacles: Capital Scarcity: Farmers often lack the upfront capital for high-quality seeds and fertilizers, forcing them to borrow at high interest rates. Market Inefficiency: Fragmented supply chains leave farmers disconnected from global buyers. They often resort to selling to middlemen at lower prices. Traceability Gaps: Without digital records, Vietnamese producers often struggle to meet the strict "Green Standards" required for export to the US, EU, and Japan. What is the solution? Techcoop operates a B2B marketplace that helps farmers overcome these barriers. First, Techcoop provides fertilizers, seedlings, and mechanical services with 3–6-month payment terms, allowing farmers to pay after harvest. Second, Techcoop provides a direct link to international buyers and manages logistics and quality control for high-value crops such as coffee, coconuts, and cashews. Third, Techcoop provides digital tools that help farmer clubs record data, ensuring every batch of produce is traceable and export-ready. Techcoop Team What is the impact? Techcoop has experienced rapid growth and shows several social benefits for farmers: As of 2026, Techcoop has partnered with over 2,000 agri-small/medium enterprises and 50,000 farmer clubs, reaching approximately 150,000 farmers across 30 provinces in Vietnam. The company expects to generate $400 million in revenue by the end of 2026. By providing better inputs and advisory services, they help smallholders increase yields and transition to sustainable, higher-margin farming practices. Why is it innovative? Techcoop’s innovation lies in its blended Fintech and Agritech model. Instead of just being a "lender" or a "buyer," they act as both. By using its proprietary risk-management AI to track crop growth and market prices, they can offer credit to farmers who would be considered "unbankable" by traditional Vietnamese banks. Techcoop is essentially replacing the informal "middleman" system with a transparent, data-driven digital ecosystem. Techcoop Training Center for Farmers What is the business model? In February 2025, Techcoop raised a $70 M in Series A financing. Techcoop generates its revenue through three streams: Trade Margins: They earn revenue by acting as a supply chain integrator and direct exporter to global markets. Financing Fees: They generate income through the flexible payment terms and credit facilities provided for agricultural inputs. SaaS (Software as a Service): They offer digital infrastructure tools to larger farmer cooperatives and SMEs to manage their own internal supply chains. Techcoop training is happening in the field What needs to improve? While the software scales easily, the physical collection of crops in rural Vietnam (Mekong Delta and Central Highlands) remains reliant on poor road infrastructure, leading to high logistics costs and post-harvest losses. Also, in terms of tracking productivity, Techcoop needs to deepen its integration with climate-risk data (such as soil salinity and flood warnings) to help farmers adapt to Vietnam's increasing climate vulnerability. Sources   https://www.techinasia.com/vn-startup-banks-on-co-ops-to-defy-agritech-skeptics https://agfundernews.com/how-techcoop-plans-to-build-an-export-oriented-supply-chain-for-southeast-asias-smallholder-farmers https://pulse2.com/techcoop-70-million-series-a-raised-for-transforming-vietnams-agriculture-industry/ https://www.backscoop.com/newsletter-posts/ice-breakers-with-hao-diep

The Problem Tarjama addresses the linguistic isolation of the Arabic-speaking world. Despite being the fifth most spoken language globally, Arabic is chronically underserved by high-quality digital content and artificial intelligence. Most global Large Language Models struggle with the twenty-two distinct regional dialects and the intricate cultural nuances of the Middle East, which creates a significant barrier to entry. Furthermore, the Middle East region has faced one of the world's lowest rates of female participation in the workforce. Many highly educated women have been excluded from the labor market due to rigid office structures or a lack of flexible, remote opportunities that align with their cultural and domestic realities. Nour Al Hassan, Founder & CEO of Tarjama The Solution Tarjama has built a proprietary AI ecosystem known as Arabic.ai which is powered by its own Large Language Model called Pronoia. Unlike general-purpose models developed in Silicon Valley, Pronoia is trained on over sixteen years of professional, human-verified linguistic data comprising billions of words. This allows it to handle complex legal, medical, and governmental tasks with a level of cultural fluency that generic AI cannot match. To ensure accuracy and maintain a social impact mission, Tarjama employs a humans-in-the-loop model. This utilizes a vast network of thousands of linguists, roughly ninety percent of whom are women, who work via a flexible gig-economy platform to verify and refine AI outputs. Business Model The company generates recurring revenue by selling subscriptions to its AI platform, which allows large organizations and governments to automate their translation and content workflows. To ensure total accuracy for sensitive legal or medical documents, they offer a managed service where a network of thousands of female linguists verifies the AI's output. By using their proprietary model to handle the bulk of the work, they significantly reduce operational costs and pass those savings to their clients while maintaining high profit margins Tarjama Management Team at Headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia The Impact Tarjama has demonstrated significant growth and social impact through its scale, technical performance, and workforce development. To date, the company has raised $20 million in total funding, including a recent $15 million Series A in 2025 to accelerate its Arabic-first AI infrastructure. While its "human-in-the-loop" model has automated 50% of business content with perfect accuracy. The company operates a network of over 200,000 vetted linguists, roughly 70% to 90% of whom are women, providing high-skilled employment in regions with historically low female labor participation. Over its 16-year history, Tarjama has processed more than 2 billion words across 55 languages and 22 Arabic dialects for over 700 enterprise clients. This operational efficiency has fueled a 20% compound annual growth rate in revenue over the last three years, proving the profitability of localized impact. The Innovation The true innovation lies in Tarjama’s "agentic" approach and its specialized dataset. While global tech giants rely on scraping the public internet, Tarjama uses its massive repository of professional translations to train models that are significantly more precise for enterprise use. Its proprietary Large Language Model, Pronoia, has achieved a 19% performance lead over global models like GPT-4o on specific Arabic linguistic benchmarks. Additionally, they have launched the Arabic.ai Academy, which focuses on upskilling hundreds of enterprise and government leaders in the region. This turns the enterprise from a service provider into an educational engine that prepares the local workforce for the AI era. What Needs to Improve To maintain its lead, Tarjama must continue to deepen its dialect support, particularly for the linguistically distinct Maghrebi dialects of North Africa which remain a challenge even for advanced models. As their proprietary AI becomes more efficient, the company faces the continuous challenge of upskilling its female workforce to transition from traditional translation into roles like AI prompt engineering and data auditing to prevent displacement. Finally, the enterprise must navigate the aggressive entry of global tech giants into the Middle Eastern market by proving that a "region-first" model offers security and accuracy advantages that generic global tools cannot replicate. Sources: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2631332/business-economy https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2025/08/how-arabic-translation-firm-jordan-became-gulf-ai-player https://slator.com/tarjama-raises-usd-15m-in-push-for-native-arabic-ai-models/ https://waya.media/pronoia-powers-arabic-ai-translation-a-game-changer-or-industry-disruptor/

The Problem Four billion people, half the world, live in situations where their waste ends up in their environment, killing 2 million children every year and slowing down economies by 1 -3%. The challenge is especially severe in fast-growing cities where informal settlements expand faster than their infrastructure can keep pace. In Kenya, over 90% of the sludge from the 8 million slum residents is dumped untreated into waterways, killing 17,000 children from sanitation-related diseases, polluting the environment with toxins and contaminants, and costing $270 million in lost economic productivity each year. The few pay toilets that do exist charge prohibitive rates, leaving the poorest residents with no dignified or safe option for something as basic as going to the bathroom. waste removal at a Sanergy Fresh Life toilet The Solution The Sanergy model is based on a simple concept: building and maintaining high-quality, low-cost toilets in densely populated urban areas while also creating a business model to collect and process waste, converting it into organic fertilizer and animal feed sold to farmers, creating a closed-loop system that benefits both urban and rural communities. The toilet network operates through a franchise model in which local entrepreneurs own and operate individual Fresh Life Toilet units, paying Sanergy a fee for equipment, training, and ongoing operational support. Users pay a small fee to use the toilet, ensuring it's well-maintained and generating revenue. Sanergy then collects the waste daily and converts it into Evergrow organic fertilizer and insect-based animal feed sold to farmers, closing the entire value chain from human waste to agricultural input.  Fresh Life toilet The Impact Sanergy has installed over 3,500 Fresh Life Toilets, providing sanitation access to over 150,000 residents daily and removing 50,000 tonnes of waste per year. The fertilizer produced from the waste has boosted farming volumes by up to 30%, helping over 5,000 farmers meet the needs of expanding populations. Each company under the Sanergy Collaborative employs around 450 people, and together they create more than 2,000 indirect jobs across the sanitation and agriculture value chains. Why It's Innovative Sanergy was recognized for its innovative three-step circular economy model: empowering cities to build systems for safely managed sanitation in low-income areas, delivering professional waste management services, and upcycling waste to manufacture safe agricultural inputs and biofuels. Most sanitation interventions stop at the toilet itself, treating waste as a cost to dispose of rather than a resource to capture. Sanergy flips this entirely by making the waste the commercial engine of the business. The franchise model embeds local ownership into the structure, meaning communities are not passive recipients of a service but active economic participants. As co-founder David Auerbach explains, through their whole business process, they offset a significant amount of carbon, from removing the waste to creating a carbon-rich fertilizer that can be sequestered, with an estimated offset of about one million tonnes of carbon dioxide in a four-year period. Sanergy corporate office Funding and Financing Sanergy has raised approximately $36 million from a diverse mix of impact investors and development finance institutions, reflecting strong confidence in its circular economy model. Early funding was secured by winning entrepreneurship competitions, including MIT's $100K business plan competition. From there, Sanergy attracted institutional investors including Acumen, Novastar Ventures, and Eleos Foundation, and in 2022 completed its Series C funding round to fuel expansion in Kenya and beyond. British International Investment invested through Novastar Ventures, a Nairobi-based venture capital firm specializing in early-stage businesses in East Africa. Sanergy is now operational in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Eldoret, and is ready to expand to many more cities in Kenya and beyond.  Sanergy team members What Needs to Improve The core tension Sanergy has not fully resolved is whether the for-profit fertilizer business can generate enough revenue to fully cross-subsidize the nonprofit sanitation side without ongoing grant support. Geographic expansion is slower than anticipated, with deep operations still concentrated in Kenya despite early ambitions to scale across East Africa. The model depends on daily waste collection logistics across dense, often poorly mapped informal settlements, making operational reliability a constant pressure that is difficult and expensive to maintain at scale. Finally, ensuring that franchise operators consistently maintain toilets and collect waste remains a perennial challenge in low-income settings where operator turnover and resource constraints are high.  Sources: https://aquaforall.org/news/sanergys-sustainable-path-to-profitability/ https://www.devex.com/organizations/sanergy-53047 https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/sanergy/ https://www.bii.co.uk/en/story/the-sanitation-business-leaving-nothing-to-waste/ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/sanergy

The Problem The WHO estimates that the arsenic water crisis affects over 200 million people across 70 countries and is the largest mass poisoning in human history. In Bangladesh alone, an estimated 20 to 45 million people are at risk of being exposed to arsenic in their drinking water. The crisis is painfully ironic: many of the wells in Bangladesh were drilled by the West as a solution to its water scarcity, but arsenic is a colorless, odorless, naturally occurring metal that, when ingested, can lead to illness, diarrhea, and a cancer-causing disease called arsenicosis. Boys drinking from an arsenic well in Southern Dhaka, Bangladesh In urban areas, the problem compounds, as customers often pay higher prices for water from informal middlemen who deliver it in unhygienic containers, and the collected water must be boiled before consumption, a task that falls disproportionately on women and girls. The Solution In 2017, Drinkwell partnered with Dhaka WASA to provide safe, affordable drinking water at 80 paisa per liter, 18x cheaper than packaged water alternatives. The model operates on a 50/50 cost-share: Dhaka WASA provides the land, shed, electricity, and water line, while Drinkwell provides filtration equipment, ATM dispensers, and smartphones at no cost to the utility. Once the Water ATM Booth is installed, end users collect safe water through prepaid smart cards, and this revenue helps offset operating costs. The underlying technology is proprietary: Drinkwell uses "HIX" (Hybrid Ion Exchange), a nanotechnology-based resin platform that consistently removes arsenic and fluoride from challenging water sources. Critically, the patented technology lasts 10 years, recovers 99% of water, is 16x more energy-efficient than conventional reverse osmosis solutions, and has been retrofitted onto existing water infrastructure. Drinkwell Water ATM The Impact Since 2015, Drinkwell has deployed 300 Water ATMs, creating more than 430 jobs for people in Bangladesh and bringing almost 200 million gallons of clean water to low-income communities in Dhaka, enough drinking water for more than 700,000 people a year. Growth has been dramatic: in 2018, with 59 ATM booths, Drinkwell sold 34 million liters of water, while in 2022, with 250 ATM booths, they sold nearly 350 million liters, roughly a 10x increase in volume. Third-party research has documented a reported 90% improvement in health outcomes for end users. The ambition is even larger: CEO Minhaj Chowdhury aims to provide safe water to 100 million people by 2030. People lining up to collect water from Drinkwell Pump Why It's Innovative Three things set Drinkwell apart. 1) The first is its partnership model: rather than competing with public utilities, Drinkwell works with them, providing filtration technology and Water ATM Booths at no cost to the utility, then operating and maintaining them as a service, with a revenue share based on end-user payments. This avoids duplicate infrastructure and earns government buy-in. 2) The second is the data layer: Drinkwell provides utilities with data on end-user activity at each dispensing point, including gender-disaggregated information on water consumption patterns and payments, which can directly improve public service delivery. 3) The third is the technology: a resource-efficient approach in a way that conventional approaches are not, since reverse osmosis wastes up to 50% of input water, whereas Drinkwell's resin-based system recovers 99%. Women collecting and carrying Drinkwell jugs What Needs to Improve The scale of reach is still limited relative to the problem. Serving hundreds of thousands is meaningful, but the arsenic crisis touches tens of millions in Bangladesh alone, and reaching truly remote or rural populations has proved harder than urban rollout. Drinkwell tried and struggled with community-based rural models early on, finding it difficult for women entrepreneurs to secure loans to run local water businesses, and that structural barrier still exists. The model also depends on utility partnerships, which means expansion speed is tied to government procurement timelines and bureaucratic processes, limiting how fast the company can move. Operationally, Drinkwell stated that gross margins could double once proper IT upgrades are implemented to enable unmanned ATM Booths, but they remain dependent on human caretakers at each site, adding cost and management complexity. Finally, last-mile delivery remains unsolved: customers still have to carry water home, and Drinkwell has acknowledged that people are willing to pay more for doorstep delivery, but offering that service would require regulatory certification and daily water testing, a significant operational leap the company has not yet taken. Sources: https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/groundwater-monitoring/111/international-environmental-technology/bangladesh-arsenic-groundwater-quality/65438 https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/01/18/half-of-bangladeshi-drinking-water-is-polluted-with-arsenic-and-climate-change-is-making-i https://www.thedailystar.net/news/drinkwell-ceo-minhaj-recognised-davos-safe-water-mission-4087136 https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/the-business-of-impact-in-a-changing-world/ https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/drinkwell-quenching-thirst-clean-water-592294

The Problem Frozen Arctic soil (permafrost) is thawing and releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This creates a dangerous loop: warming melts the permafrost, which releases more greenhouse gases, which in turn causes more warming. The Arctic is heating up three times faster than the rest of the planet. As the ground thaws, two crises emerge: Arctic communities are losing their homes as the land beneath them becomes unstable, and the released carbon is making climate change worse worldwide. The biggest issue? Climate scientists aren't tracking these emissions. There aren’t enough monitoring stations in the Arctic, so we can't measure how much carbon is escaping. That means our global climate models are missing a major piece of the puzzle. Runoff from melting permafrost in Alaska flows toward the sea. (Image Credit: NOAA) The Solution Woodwell Climate Research Center, based in Massachusetts, has launched the Permafrost Pathways initiative, which has three components: Scientific monitoring:  Collecting detailed data across the Arctic to predict how fast permafrost is thawing and how much carbon it is releasing. Policy integration:  Turning their research into actual climate policies that governments can use. Community adaptation:  Working directly with Alaska Native communities to create fair climate solutions that protect their homes and give them a voice in decisions. Why It's Innovative? Indigenous Knowledge Integration:  Woodwell combines scientific data with knowledge from Indigenous communities who have lived on this land for generations. For example, it is building a flood prediction model that uses both satellite sensors and on-the-ground observations from Native partners who observe land changes firsthand. Strategic Data Gaps:  Instead of trying to monitor everywhere, they use satellite images to identify the most important places to install monitoring equipment—focusing on areas in Siberia and northern Canada where data is most needed. AI and Deep Learning:  In 2023, Google.org awarded Woodwell $5 million to develop a free tool that uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to track permafrost thaw in real time. Woodwell Climate Headquarters, Falmouth, MA The Impact Scientific Breakthrough:  In 2024, Woodwell scientist Dr. Anna Virkkala made a major discovery: the Arctic tundra is now releasing more carbon than it absorbs. For decades, the Arctic absorbed carbon from the atmosphere. Now it's doing the opposite—a finding that changes everything we thought we knew about future climate change. Infrastructure Growth:  In 2024, Woodwell installed four new monitoring towers in Canada and Alaska to measure carbon emissions. They also helped upgrade existing towers in Canada and Russia. Policy Legacy:  Woodwell has been influential in climate policy for decades. The organization helped draft the UN's climate change framework in the late 1980s and was named the world's top climate think tank for 4 years in a row (2013-2016). Dr. Virkkala is doing chamber measurements to quantify the rate of carbon cycling in the ecosystem. What Needs to Improve? Funding Sustainability:  Woodwell runs on a relatively small budget. When MacKenzie Scott donated $10 million in 2025, it highlighted how underfunded climate research institutions are—even the leading ones. Scale of the Monitoring Network: The Arctic is enormous, and Woodwell's monitoring stations cover only a tiny fraction of it. Even with new towers, there are huge gaps in the data they can collect. Policy Translation Gap:  Woodwell's research is solid, but it's not translating into action. Permafrost emissions are still left out of most countries' climate plans, meaning the science isn't influencing policy as it should. Community Adaptation Resources:  Arctic communities don't just need help studying the problem—they need money and resources to actually protect their homes and adapt to the changes happening now. Right now, most funding goes to research and planning, not implementation. Fieldwork in the Arctic tundra Woodwell's work shows what's possible when scientists partner with Arctic communities to tackle a major climate problem. But good science isn't enough. To actually address permafrost thaw, we need more funding, more monitoring stations, and most importantly, governments must start counting permafrost emissions in their climate plans. Right now, Arctic communities are watching their land sink beneath them. The carbon locked in permafrost is already escaping into the atmosphere. The only question left is whether we'll act fast enough to make a difference. Sources:  https://www.capeandislands.org/local-news/2026-01-27/woodwell-climate-research-center-to-expand-soil-carbon-testing-capacity https://time.com/7344810/trump-withdraw-unfccc-climate-impact/ https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22112025/tropical-forest-fund-protects-trees/ https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/woodwell-climate-center-celebrates-10m-gift/article_dca837ee-004a-4081-b6cb-bec32f8b336a.html https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13092025/boreal-forest-shielding-permafrost/ https://transitionleads.substack.com/p/a-leading-scientists-career-path?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The problem  Technology jobs are growing rapidly across Latin America, but opportunities to access these jobs are not. Women from disadvantaged socio-economic groups are still not getting tech jobs, not because of a lack of potential, but simply because of a system that favors those with credentials and access. Providing more job training has not proven effective. Skills training is not enough without employer buy-in and a direct pathway to obtaining actual jobs. Laboratoria classroom The solution Laboratoria is a workforce initiative founded in Lima, Peru, in 2014. It has taken a different approach to workforce development. It has designed a workforce model based on employment outcomes, including skills application, employer confidence, and actual placement into tech jobs. Success is not defined by how many students are enrolled in their programs, but by how many students are hired and retained into tech jobs.  Laboratoria offers an immersive, full-time, six-month training experience for women from disadvantaged backgrounds, steering them towards careers in software development, UX design, data analysis, and digital product teams. The training program emphasizes skills, teamwork, and real-world problem-solving. Right from the beginning, companies are brought in and engaged to help set the bar and reduce hiring risk. The approach encompasses placement services with a clear goal: sustained entry into the formal tech industry, not rapid certifications or shallow resume enhancements.  Why is this innovative?  What is particularly notable about Laboratoria is the nature of the incentives it creates. While most education providers are rewarded regardless of labor market outcomes, Laboratoria's primary measure of success is students' ability to find jobs and increase their earnings. What is more significant is that the organization has avoided the venture growth model, which often relies on tuition and significant income-sharing agreements. Laboratoria opted to use patient capital, focusing more on trust, quality, and long-run career outcomes.  Business Model Laboratoria is a social enterprise with a mixed funding model. While there is no upfront tuition, participants agree to an Income Share Agreement (ISA), where they repay approximately half of the program cost after securing employment. This ensures there is no financial barrier to entry while aligning Laboratoria's incentives with successful job placement. The source of funds to run the business is: 1) partnerships with employers, in which employers pay to hire trained graduates. 2) Venture philanthropy, where the funds are provided to support the program. 3) targeted pilot programs with companies where students are placed in internship roles. This model provides protection against the hiring market while staying focused on the mission.  Funding  The organization has raised $5 million in known funding. The majority of this has come from philanthropic donors. However, a key milestone was when Laboratoria received $4 million in unrestricted funds from MacKenzie Scott. This was a rare opportunity that gave Laboratoria greater operational flexibility. With no strings attached from their venture capitalists, Laboratoria did not seek rapid growth that was "flashy." Instead, it focused on strengthening relationships with employers, their curricula, and learner support – all areas that have enabled Laboratoria to survive for the last 10 years.  Student at Laboratoria What is the impact?  Laboratoria has already placed thousands of women in Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Brazil, as well as Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay. To date, over 4,000 women have been trained through the program, with an impressive 77.5% job placement rate in the tech sector. Their graduates report significant increases in earnings, with many able to earn $800 to $1,000 per month, representing three to five times their previous earnings, as well as steady entry into formal tech roles. At a broader level, the work has shifted how employers think about talent, providing evidence that "top technical talent can be developed outside of elite institutions" and that women from non-traditional backgrounds can succeed in demanding roles.  What still needs to improve?  The reliance on philanthropic funding also raises concerns about sustainability. Expanding into new markets requires cultivating relationships with employers in a trusting manner. And, as with any outcome-based workforce solution, there is the challenge of aligning with existing hiring needs while keeping the skills taught relevant amid technological advancement. Laboratoria proves that one does not have to rely on exploitative funding models or aim for massive scale to provide high-skill opportunities. The only question is whether or not this model can achieve scale without sacrificing the very qualities that make it successful. Sources: https://laboratoria.la/en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laboratoria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Costa_Checa https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/new-resource-women-who-want-make-money-tech https://latamlist.com/edtech-laboratoria-gets-4m-grant/ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/video/2016/02/08/how-coding-changes-the-lives-of-peruvian-women https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/news/mariana-costa-checa-mpadp13-0

The problem In India, millions of college students graduate every year, but its labor market continues to face a shortage of job-ready digital talent. Many software engineering, data analytics, and emerging AI roles are unfilled, while graduates remain underemployed. Traditional higher education is still heavily weighted toward textbook learning, rather than teaching industry-relevant skills. For non-elite students, particularly those in smaller towns, this gap has serious consequences. Without access to practical training, networks, or employers willing to take risks on inexperienced candidates, many capable college graduates are locked out of the fast-growing digital economy and its income potential. Masai student classroom The solution To address this mismatch, Masai School was built around a single premise: your education should directly lead to employment. Masai provides intensive, full-time training in software development, data analytics, and AI, designed to mirror real engineering environments through hands-on projects, collaborative projects, and continuous assessment. The company initially scaled through a pay-after-placement model using income share agreements (ISAs), allowing students to enroll with little or no upfront money down and repay only after getting a job. Alongside training, Masai worked directly with employers to place graduates into junior technical roles, tightly connecting learning outcomes with market demand. Why is this innovative? Masai’s core innovation lies in how it structures incentives and risk. Unlike conventional education providers, which are paid regardless of students getting a job. Masai’s revenue has historically depended on whether students actually secure and keep employment. If placements fail, Masai bears the cost. This approach reframes education as a human capital investment rather than a retail education product. For Masai, the quality of education is not a marketing promise but a financial necessity. However, this model was tested during a hiring freeze and layoffs in India's tech industry.   Classroom setting at Masai School Business Model The collapse of startup hiring between 2022 and 2024 revealed the limits of a single-revenue approach. Masai restructured its model to improve cash flow and scalability. Today, it operates as a for-profit education company with three revenue sources: Income share agreements and tiered pay-after-placement fees, recalibrated so repayments scale with a graduate’s actual salary, preserving fairness while protecting Masai’s unit economics. Upfront tuition through prepaid programs, including courses delivered in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), is designed for working professionals, college students, and learners outside the placement funnel. Employer-linked offerings, including AI-focused upskilling programs and an AI-powered job-matching platform that connects vetted talent, including non-Masai candidates, to hiring companies. Adding additional revenue streams reduces Masai’s exposure to hiring cycles while retaining its outcome-driven DNA. Funding and credibility Masai has raised approximately $14.7 million (USD) across multiple funding rounds, backing its transition from a pure ISA model to a more balanced, multi-product education platform. While revenue declined during the peak of the hiring slowdown, the restructuring paid off. By FY25, Masai reported revenue close to $12 million USD, cut losses by nearly 70% year-on-year, and claimed EBITDA profitability beginning January 2025. The company now projects $25 million USD in revenue for FY26, with an expected net profit of around $4.2 million USD, signalling a shift from survival to sustainability. Introdutory Class at Masai School What is the impact? Masai has trained over 40,000 learners and placed more than 10,000 students into full-time roles, with an average salary of about $7,300 USD during its peak placement years. The bulk of its learners come from non-elite backgrounds, and the company positions its work as lifting families into stable, middle-income careers rather than providing charitable education. Beyond placements, Masai now educates tens of thousands of learners through prepaid and AI-focused programmes, with strong uptake from smaller towns. Its expansion into AI-driven personalization and skill-based job matching reflects a broader shift in how technical education and hiring intersect. What still needs to improve? Outcome-linked education is complex. Income share agreements require clear regulation and transparency. Placement-driven models risk over-optimizing for short-term hiring needs rather than long-term skills, particularly as AI reshapes software roles. As Masai scales, it must defend its edge on placement quality, manage rising costs from marketing and institutional partnerships, and prove that profitability can co-exist with accessibility. The next test is whether it can scale without diluting the very outcomes that defined its purpose. Sources: https://www.deccanherald.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/how-masai-school-is-securing-learning-in-the-ai-era-3776222 https://www.telegraphindia.com/edugraph/campus/masai-and-iim-trichy-launch-ai-driven-courses-in-digital-marketing-and-product-management/cid/2125268 https://www.vccircle.com/omidyarbacked-masai-school-turns-profitable-eyes-over-two-fold-growth-in-fy26-revenue https://inc42.com/startups/masai-school-tactical-shift-trebles-topline-100-crore-revenue/

I usually profile companies that are creating social impact. This time, I am focusing on a venture fund that invests in social impact enterprises. The Refugee Venture Fund is working to close a major gap in early-stage startup funding by backing refugee entrepreneurs who are often excluded from accessing mainstream capital. What is the problem? Headquartered in England and operating across the UK, the Refugee Venture Fund (RVF) will invest in startups founded or led by refugees. The fund will address a serious funding gap, as more than 100 million people are displaced worldwide, the highest number ever recorded. Yet refugee founders receive almost no early-stage venture capital. Many have strong business ideas but lack access to investor networks, legal support, and financial services. Without these connections, even talented founders struggle to raise capital and grow their companies. These barriers are structural. Refugees are often excluded from the informal networks that drive venture funding and face additional scrutiny due to a lack of credentials or limited credit history. As a result, promising startups fail to get the investment they need to scale. Investing in Refugee Founders What is the solution? RVF will invest directly in founders with refugee backgrounds. Its goal is to build a pipeline of scalable refugee-led businesses in the UK by 2027. It is the UK’s first venture fund dedicated specifically to refugee entrepreneurs. The pre-seed fund is the brainchild of well-known venture funds, TERN, Village Capital, and Atomico. RVF will source founders, provide mentorship, and offer pre-seed equity investment. This approach combines capital with practical business support, helping founders move from idea to viable company. Most importantly, it treats refugee founders as serious entrepreneurs, not as recipients of short-term aid. Why is it innovative? The fund introduces a new category in venture investing: the refugee founder. Instead of relying solely on grants or accelerators, it uses a standard venture capital model. It invests in startups with high growth potential and expects commercial returns alongside social impact. This matters because it shifts how refugee entrepreneurship might be perceived. By placing refugee-led startups within mainstream venture frameworks, the fund challenges the idea that refugee businesses are only small-scale or charity-driven. Backing from established venture partners also signals to the wider market that these companies are investable and can be competitive. What is the impact? The fund aims to create jobs, increase economic participation, and support long-term integration through business ownership. Its £10 million pre-seed fund plans to back 27 scalable refugee-led startups by 2027. These companies can contribute to local economies, hire employees, and serve broad customer bases. Over time, the fund also hopes to change the investor mindset by showing that refugee founders can build strong, growth-oriented businesses when given fair access to capital. If successful, this could help unlock more private investment into refugee-led ventures beyond this single fund. What needs to improve? Access to capital alone is not enough. Many refugee founders still face legal and administrative barriers that slow company formation and growth. These include challenges with documentation, work authorization, banking access, and contracting. Public agencies and financial institutions need clearer, faster, and more consistent processes for refugee entrepreneurs. Without these reforms, even well-funded startups can struggle to hire, open accounts, or enter new markets. In addition, more follow-on investors must be willing to fund refugee-led startups after the pre-seed stage. Without later-stage capital, promising companies may stall before reaching scale. RVF is an important first step, but the lasting impact will depend on whether the broader financial and regulatory systems evolve to support refugee entrepreneurs over the long term. Sources: https://www.unicef.org/innovation/stories/supporting-palestine-refugee-childrens-well-being-jordan https://www.refugeeventure.fund/

What is the problem? Across Central America, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) face a lot of obstacles from participating in the digital economy. Many MSMEs rely on cash because they lack access to affordable, easy-to-use digital payment tools. This limits sales, excludes customers who prefer cards or digital payments, and prevents businesses from building transaction histories that are often required to access credit, scale operations, or integrate into broader financial systems. In countries like Guatemala, where MSMEs make up a large share of economic activity, this digital exclusion disproportionately affects women-led businesses, reinforcing inequality and slowing regional economic growth. Founder of Cubo, Gabriel Gutiérrez How is Cubo solving the problem? Cubo addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive, low-friction digital payment platform designed specifically for MSMEs in Central America. Its application allows businesses to accept payments through multiple channels, including point-of-sale devices, payment links, and QR codes, without complex onboarding or infrastructure requirements. Registration and activation are immediate: businesses simply download the app, register, and begin accepting card payments. For in-person transactions, Cubo offers a portable, rechargeable POS device compatible with Visa and MasterCard and connected via Bluetooth to mobile phones. By making digital payment acceptance intuitive and accessible, Cubo enables small businesses to increase sales, reach more customers, and begin formalizing their financial activity. Why is Cubo innovative? Cubo’s innovation lies not in inventing a new payment method, but in adapting digital payments to the realities of Central American MSMEs. Instead of a one-size-fits-all system, Cubo offers a flexible suite of tools, such as POS, QR codes, payment links, and even Bitcoin transactions, that meet businesses where they are, whether online, in-person, or mobile. Equally important is Cubo’s regional focus. Originating in El Salvador and expanding to Panama and Guatemala, the platform is built for markets with high informality, low banking penetration, and growing demand for digital payments. Its ability to scale quickly, averaging 45% monthly growth since its founding in 2021, demonstrates that the model responds to a real, unmet need. Cubo digital payment product What has been Cubo’s impact? Cubo currently connects with over 10,000 businesses across Central America, with approximately 40% led by women, an important metric for inclusive reach. The company raised $3.5 million USD from IDB Lab to expand into Guatemala and further develop digital payment solutions, signaling strong institutional confidence in its social and economic impact. By enabling MSMEs to accept digital payments, Cubo is helping businesses increase transaction volume, participate more fully in the formal economy, and move closer to long-term financial inclusion. Its entry into Guatemala, a market with significant potential for financial and technological inclusion, marks an important step toward regional scale. What needs to improve? Despite its growth, Cubo still faces challenges common to fintechs serving small and informal businesses. Adoption beyond early-stage users will require continued education, trust-building, and support, particularly in rural or underserved areas. Long-term impact will also depend on whether digital payment data can be translated into broader financial access, such as affordable credit or savings tools for MSMEs. Additionally, keeping costs low while scaling across multiple countries with different regulatory environments will test Cubo’s operational abilities. Addressing these challenges will be critical if Cubo is to move from enabling payments to fully transforming financial inclusion for Central America’s small businesses. Sources: https://contxto.com/en/deals/cubo-raises-usd3-5-million-round-and-arrives-in-guatemala/ https://www.iadb.org/en/news/idb-lab-invests-digital-payments-micro-and-small-businesses-central-america https://www.latamrepublic.com/cubo-salvadoran-startup-expands-to-guatemala-boosting-digital-payments-for-smes/ https://impactalpha.com/el-salvadors-cubo-raises-3-5-million-to-digitize-payments-for-small-businesses/

What is Measles? Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. It spreads quickly when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes. It can cause severe disease, complications, and even death. It infects about 90% of unvaccinated people who come into close contact with an infected person.   Measles can affect anyone, but it is most common in children. Vaccination is the best way to prevent getting sick with measles or spreading it to others. The vaccine is safe and helps your body fight off the virus. The COVID-19 pandemic led to setbacks in immunization efforts due to misinformation, causing parents to be skeptical about vaccines.  Europe experienced a 30-fold surge in cases last year. According to UNICEF, approximately 931,000 children in Europe and Central Asia did not receive full or partial routine immunization between 2019 and 2021. In these areas, the immunization rate for the initial measles dose decreased from 96 percent in 2019 to 93 percent in 2022. The situation is even more critical in Asia and Africa, with 9 million cases and 136,000 deaths globally reported in 2022. 1 out of 5 children worldwide have not received a measles vaccine. Prevent Measles from Spreading Measles would be gone if we wanted it to be. We’ve had a highly effective and safe vaccine for it for 60 years. But because of rising anti-vaccine sentiments, measles is back.  Measles can be prevented with a measles-containing vaccine, primarily administered as the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Community-wide vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles. All children should be vaccinated against measles.  Public health efforts need to ramp up to help stop the spread of misinformation about the MMR vaccine. In 1963, the measles vaccine was developed, and by the late 1960s, vaccines were also available to protect against mumps (1967) and rubella (1969). The vaccine works very well. Two doses are 96% effective against measles, around 86% against mumps, and 89% against rubella. Before the introduction of vaccines, all three diseases were widespread; most people had them at some point, usually as children. Because measles spreads so quickly, it is a good litmus test to see how well a nation is vaccinated. Unless we tackle the misinformation that is at the root of vaccine hesitancy, more children will get sick from this and other nasty, preventable diseases in 2024. Vaccine hesitancy is the biggest threat to human health. The United States is Not Immune The United States is not immune to measles. In January and February 2024, measles outbreaks in Florida and Philadelphia  are happening as parents are ignoring health officials’ advice to not only vaccinate or quarantine their children.  A significant divide in support for MMR vaccines has emerged between Republicans and Democrats, as two of the 2024 presidential candidates promoted false information about vaccines and received support from anti-vax groups. Studies have demonstrated that exposure to anti-vax messages from these political figures on social media can increase vaccine hesitancy among their followers. Diplomacy must effectively address and counter the increasing misinformation and politicization surrounding vaccines to stop this disease in its tracks. Sources: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles https://www.unicef.org/kazakhstan/en/press-releases/measles-cases-europe-and-central-asia-skyrocket-3000-cent-year-compared-last https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/measles-cases-are-rising-in-the-u-s-heres-why-misinformation-about-the-vaccine-persists-today https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/14-12-2023-a-30-fold-rise-of-measles-cases-in-2023-in-the-who-european-region-warrants-urgent-action https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2813426 https://time.com/6280666/conservatives-shifting-views-childhood-vaccines/