Achenyo Idachaba-Obaro harvested the reedy stems of the water hyacinth from a dam near Ibadan with a particular mission in mind. With deceptively beautiful blue flowers, water hyacinths are a blight in the water channels of the West African country. Fast-growing, choking, they keep fishers from their traditional livelihoods. But Idachaba-Obaro, an entrepreneur, was noodling […]
Innovation
Trends and emerging leaders from parts unknown, or not usually covered by big business media
Posted inInnovation
Entrepreneurs and Innovators of Color Face An ‘Existential’ Threat
A New $50M Fund in Baltimore Launches into a National Political Storm A leading Black venture capitalist, Luke Cooper of Baltimore-based Latimer Ventures, is busy raising a $50 million venture fund focused on investing in Black- and Hispanic-owned software-as-a-service startups. A few years ago, this would have been seen as an important venture, one of […]
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Brands Gone Berserk: Early Days of Threads Was a Small Brand Bonanza, But Traffic Faded
The first days of Threads, Meta’s new text-based social media platform designed to rival Twitter, were described as “unhinged,” “chaotic,” and “off the rails,” by some users. Specifically, those who own small businesses, namely independently-owned consumer brands. The quick and effortless sign-up process through an Instagram account, also owned by Meta, is a low barrier for entry, […]
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Two MIT Profs ID’d An Aging NY City As The Next Innovation Hub. Their Data Is Proving Right
Times of E’s series: Deep Dives into Secondary Cities was sponsored by Armory Square Ventures (ASV). ASV is a returns-oriented, mission-focused technology venture capital firm based primarily in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. It is an optimism engine for secondary cities and a community catalyst for regions outside Silicon Valley. _____________________________________________________________________________ ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Little […]
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Got Bloat? The Easier To Digest A2 Milk
Milk has been slowly losing market share for the past decade to plant-based competitors like oat, almond and soy. But the cows are mounting a comeback: There’s a newer milk on the market, A2, that promises ease of digestion and reasonable prices. If you scan the dairy sections in supermarkets like Whole Foods, Wegmans, or […]
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A New Economic Era Comes Into Focus
Coming out of the pandemic, against the backdrop of a war in Europe and the prospect of climate change, the world felt terribly confusing. Anxiety, depression and violence are up; we can see around us the traumatic effect of pandemic isolation. The chaotic presidency of Donald Trump shook America’s faith in itself, and many people’s […]
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Are Startups A Better Model For Humanitarian Work?
Starting in October of last year, Iranian drones loaded with explosives began bombarding Kyiv among other cities in Ukraine as part of Russia’s full scale invasion that started in late February 2022. Yaroslavna Mykhovych, an ESL teacher, sleeps in shelters with her husband and two dogs when the the bombardments come. “It got a little […]
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A Crop Intelligence Startup Backed by Salesforce’s Benioff Aims to Help Farmers Feed the World
Times of E’s series: Deep Dives into Secondary Cities was sponsored by Armory Square Ventures (ASV). ASV is a returns-oriented, mission-focused technology venture capital firm based primarily in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. It is an optimism engine for secondary cities and a community catalyst for regions outside Silicon Valley. You can read other articles […]
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Angel Investors Are the Engines Of The Women’s Economy
A survey of the data on the women-led economy shows that 33% of millionaires are women and 22% of people making a $200K+ income are women. Activation is key In 2022, global venture funding totaled $445 billion, per Crunchbase. That’s a 35% year-over-year decline from the $681 billion startups raised in 2021, but as an eyebrow raise […]
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How Saint Javelin Plans To Help Rebuild Ukraine
Anyone who has read about the war in Ukraine on social media, or donated to charities there has likely come across a striking illustration of Saint Javelin. Designed to reference the religious icons in Eastern European Christianity, she’s draped in green, staring serenely back at the viewer. But she’s holding an anti-tank guided missile, a […]
