25 years as an impact entrepreneur: closer to getting it right

We wanted to improve people's lives. Sometimes, we made them worse.

In a four-part series on LinkedIn, in24 co-founder Willem Nolens shares the painful but important lessons from 25 years of building and supporting businesses that work “at the last mile”, trying to improve the lives of rural customers in low-income countries.

The first article, “PAYGo: impact or harm?”, introduces Pay-As-You-Go solar and shows how good intentions can backfire. The series then looks at what microcredit taught the sector, why sales and credit may work better apart, and how to stay true to the mission.

Part 1 is also available as a PDF download.

• Part 1. PAYGo: impact or harm?
• Part 2. From microcredit to PAYGo: good intentions need guardrails
• Part 3. Sales and credit: better apart?
• Part 4. Staying true to the mission