Education has long been recognized as a key driver of development and empowerment in Africa. However, the impact of religion on educational mobility has remained a topic of concern and debate. In a landmark study published in Nature, called Religion and educational mobility in Africa, Elias Papaioannou, Alberto Alesina, Sebastian Hohmann, and Stelios Michalopoulos, supported…
During this spring I had the opportunity to work as a team leader for Project Aasha, an impact consulting project in collaboration with Head Held High, an incubator for social changemakers that develops transformational programmes to help households in rural India move out of poverty. Our challenge: how do we measure and assess poverty in…
We are Aman Desai, Madeline Goodman (MAM2021), Lorenzo Bacheca (MiM2021), and Marion Denis (MiM2021). With an interest in social impact and the knowledge obtained through our Early Careers programs, we stepped into Project Aasha to support OnPeri – an Indian social enterprise that redesigns and promotes the use of menstrual cups. During our first call,…
We are Zoé and Jules from Belgium, Anna from China and Christopher from the Netherlands and through project Aasha we used the business and analytical skillset we developed at LBS to help create a positive impact on society. With the skills acquired from our Masters in Financial Analysis and our Masters in Management, along with…
Rafael Piedade (MiM2021), Vincenz Mautner-Markhof (MFA2021), Khyati Narula (MiM2021), Yixun Sun (MiM2021) During this year we had the opportunity to work in team for Project Aasha, an impact consulting project in collaboration with Labhya Foundation, an NGO, which aims to enable children to cope with the ill-effects of poverty and to become lifelong learners through…
Project Aasha is an annual recurrence for London Business School’s early career students. Originally founded four years ago, Aasha provides students with the opportunity to work as pro-bono consultants for Indian organizations (known internally as changemakers) that work to positively affect local communities in India. For students, it is a strong opportunity to try out…
Scale Series Expert Q&A with Katherine Owens, Head of Labs (R&D) at M-KOPA. Read our previous Q&A with with Ruby Nimkar, Principal at Greenhouse Capital. As part of a series of expert interviews, the Wheeler Institute’s Science of Scale research team interviewed experts including practitioners, policymakers and investors to understand practicalities and perspectives on scaling digital…
Read our next Scale Series Expert Q&A with Katherine Owens, Head of Labs (R&D) at M-KOPA. As part of an on-going series, the Wheeler Institute’s DigitalxScale research team interviewed experts including practitioners, policymakers and investors to understand practicalities and perspectives on scaling digital technologies across Africa. In this interview with Ruby Nimkar, Principal at Greenhouse Capital, WIBD…
Nearly 15 years ago, M-PESA launched as one of the world’s first mobile money payment systems – catalysing business growth and banking those otherwise excluded from formal financial institutions. Today more than 700 fintech companies operate across the African continent. Collectively, these fintech companies have created digital payment infrastructures that help businesses and individuals overcome…
Do we know how many African fintech companies have reached scale? Scale is often deemed a yardstick of success by investors, policy makers and practitioners. So it follows that we should be able to answer this question, right? However, this is not as simple as it may seem. There is established knowledge in academia on…
