Just another example of why it is impossible to predict what challenges a start-up will face. We hate to hear about entrepreneurs becoming the victim of uncontrollable circumstances and we also hate to hear that it puts our friends at Village Capital in jeopardy of not getting re-paid. Luckily, this story ends well…Victory! Change.org and Groupon Members Help Rescue Ethical Flip Flop Company Feelgoodz

This is from a couple of weeks ago, but we couldn’t miss the chance to promote our friends at Runa who where selected as Beyond Profit’s SE of the Day. We have known the guys at Runa since last summer and have been enjoying their Guayusa tea ever since.

For social entrepreneurs collaboration is always key, but even more so with those focused on rural markets. The sustenance farmers who inhabit the sparsely populated areas of emerging markets are amongst the worlds poorest and their dispersal makes reaching them expensive. ID portfolio company, FrogTek, is doing their part to help. By leveraging mobile technology, they are reducing costs and improving efficiency for small merchants in emerging markets and creating a platform for suppliers, financiers and customers to work with small, remote businesses.

Deborah Burand’s gap analysis of the fledgling microfranchise industry is a much-needed primer for those interested in leveraging the proven franchise model for entrepreneurship for economic development in emerging markets (and we are not just saying that because she is an ID ally.) With her new position as General Council for OPIC, she’ll be in a good position to influence the policy changes she is advocating.

Our good friend Deborah Burand made the rounds last week. This time in a lengthy interview with Next Billion blogger Josh Cleveland. The article provides nice insight into why Deborah believes microfranchising can pick-up where microfinance left off.

Nanako Kudo brings up discussion point for our industry. If capital is “patient”, what is it waiting for? Is it just a bridge to traditional capital? What then? It is something that we have been writing and thinking about a lot (see our blog post on patient capital here).