Center for Development & Entrepreneurship
Center for Development and Entrepreneurship Blogs
MIT Foundry Fellows Egypt Ecosystem Tour
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, January 2025 — The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is excited to announce the second ecosystem tour of the 2024-25 Foundry Fellowship program, set to take place in Egypt from January 17-24, 2025. Over th...
Exploring Currency Hedging in Zambia
In this blog, Micheil Banoub, Director of Programs at Kuo Sharper Initiative (KSI), shares his firsthand experiences navigating the complexities of currency risk management in Zambia. Drawing insights from over 23 meetings with financial leaders and SMEs in Lusaka, Micheil explores the challenges of...
Milk Without the Cow
This thought-provoking blog post by Shamil Ibragimov explores the intricate relationship between freedom, innovation, and economic growth. Using MIT Professor Loren Graham’s vivid metaphor, it examines why true innovation flourishes only in environments that foster openness and freedom. The post del...
PRESS RELEASE: The Legatum Center at MIT 2024-25 Cohort of Foundry Fellows Tour Kenya’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystem
The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) leads its 2024-2025 Foundry Fellows on an ecosystem tour of Nairobi, Kenya. Over a three-day tour of Nairobi and a week-long experience in Kenya, Africa’s top innovation-driven entrepreneurs wi...
Responsibly Financing Africa’s Missing Middle
Responsibly Financing Africa’s Missing Middle Africa’s SMEs are crucial drivers of economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction, especially in underserved rural areas. Yet, a $331 billion financing gap leaves them in the “missing middle”—too large for microfinance but too small for traditio...
The Legatum Center’s New Podcast - – “A Legacy of Purpose"
The Legatum Center at MIT has launched a new podcast, “A Legacy of Purpose: Conversations with Dina H. Sherif,” which highlights transformative leaders and innovators shaping growth markets. In the inaugural episode, President Dr. Mokgweetsi E. K. Masisi of Botswana shares his vision for leveraging ...
Currency Conundrums: Volatile African Exchange Rates and What Can Be Done
The blog, written by Isha Doshi , explores the challenges posed by currency volatility in sub-Saharan Africa, where erratic exchange rates impact both international investors and local economies. TLG Capital, with over a decade of experience investing in African SMEs, highlights how factors like rel...
What Keeps African Ecosystem Builders Awake at Night? The Challenge of Foreign Dependency
This blog, written by Salma Baghdadi, explores the critical challenges faced by African ecosystem builders, particularly the issue of foreign dependency. While international funding and support play a pivotal role in nurturing African ecosystems—fueling innovation, entrepreneurship, and capacity-b...
PRESS RELEASE: The Legatum Center Announces the 2024 - 2025 Foundry Fellows
The Legatum Center at MIT proudly announces its largest Foundry Fellowship cohort yet, featuring 15 entrepreneurs from Africa's rapidly growing economies, committed to innovation-led entrepreneurship.
Innovate or Evaporate: Decentralized Power Generation as the Key to Kyrgyzstan’s Green Economy
written by Shamil Ibragimov, discusses how Kyrgyzstan, facing significant challenges from climate change, can leverage decentralized power generation—particularly solar energy—to secure its energy future. It highlights the country's vulnerability due to its reliance on hydropower, which is threatene...
Other Sources on Entrepreneurship
How Botswana will benefit from MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship
President Dr. Mokgweetsi EK Masisi of Botswana delivered a keynote speech at the conference, emphasizing the pivotal role entrepreneurship can play in driving prosperity for emerging economies.
Nigerian entrepreneur lauded for digital healthcare initiative
A digital healthcare initiative that has enabled some 260,000 patients in Nigerian villages to access healthcare is among innovations celebrated by a top American university.
Meet the Founders in This Year's MIT delta v Startup Accelerator
A machine that turns sewage into fuel. Clothing that tracks your movements during workouts. These were the products pitched by the teams graduating from this year's MIT delta v accelerator.
(Webinar Recap) 3 Ways Digital Health Is Expanding Access to Care
With global expansion in connectivity, digital health is playing a growing role in improving the efficiency and efficacy of health systems and delivery models in emerging markets.
Does the acceleration of digital transformation represent an opportunity for emerging economies?
For decades, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have variably impacted people, enterprises, and societies and have demonstrated the potential to become a game changer.
On the dangerous return of the mercantilism
The developing countries must act with all the means at their disposal against protectionist restrictions on international trade and investment, writes Mahmoud Mohieldin.
12 Insights From A Decade Of Investing In Female Entrepreneurs
The data has shown what many of us have known and experienced for years- the journey for female entrepreneurs to get to the same point of success as their male counterparts is longer.
A startup in Kenya is launching “Uber for ambulances”
In Nairobi, most things can be ordered from your phone—an Uber, or taxi from one of several other taxi hailing app companies and soon, Nairobians will also be able order an ambulance from their phones