Sustainable BusinessRecent posts
Guatemala Advances in Diversifying Energy Sources for the Transport Sector
IDB Invest supported technical studies that provided evidence for the introduction of a 10% ethanol blend in gasoline in Guatemala.
Making Every Dollar Count: Capital Management for Greater Development Impact
How IDB Invest optimizes its balance sheet to expand investment capacity through its Originate-to-Share model.
The Untapped Opportunity in SME Banking
IDB Invest is helping financial institutions across Latin America and the Caribbean strengthen their SME banking capabilities for long-term growth.
Impact Investing: Does intent matter?
Impact investing in Latin America and the Caribbean was highlighted at the the IDB’s annual meeting in Bahía, Brazil. One of the first sessions of the day began with the story of a loan officer evaluating the credit profile of “Helena” – an intelligent, ambitious student seeking a university loan and representing many others like her in the region. Thanks to a bank loan, "Helena" would have a chance to further her education and strengthen her economic opportunities. But is this impact investing?
Game Changer #1: Renewable energy for a more sustainable future
Seguir a @BIDSecPriv The intersection of energy and sustainability is an issue important to me both professionally and personally. Prior to the IDB’s Annual Meeting, I wrote about the climate change challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Then at the Annual Meeting, I focused on private sector solutions and proposed three game changers.
Bring your own WHAT to class???
Seguir a @BIDSecPriv BYOD, not to be confused with BYOB, stands for Bring Your Own Device and is an emerging trend in education. With the penetration rate of mobile and other devices skyrocketing both globally and in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), many youngsters are simply inseparable from their devices. The number of mobile subscriptions was estimated to reach the seven billion mark in 2013, higher than the human population (Faille & Morrison, 2013).
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Smart Energy for a Sustainable Future
Seguir a @BIDSecPriv My life began in a small town and has taken me to many fascinating places – Dusseldorf, Caracas, Santiago and Washington, DC, among them. My journey has taught me a lot about sustainability as it relates to both individual lifestyle decisions and business decisions. There are several trends that piqued my interest in energy and sustainability.
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Three lessons from the German "Mittelstand"
Can Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) be inspired by the the German “Mittelstand”? In Germany, the “Mittelstand,” or small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, is thriving. A conference last week in Stuggart, Germany, hosted by the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e. V.), an umbrella association that represents sector associations, firms and millions of workers, highlighted investment opportunities for SMEs. What I uncovered while participating on the Mittelstand panel were several salient linkages to LAC’s SME and green growth sectors.
MOOCs: The region's next big thing?
What do massive open online courses (MOOCs) have to do with private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean? The concept is to create fee and open content for students to reach scale and allow access, impacting not just the students in a physical classroom but thousands of students who participate via the internet. MOOCs enable people interested in learning to take a course online on their own time to learn about an interesting topic, develop a new skill for work or learn how to deal with a new problem. Students can also take courses from accredited schools around the world.
