Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

My Path to Investing in Vital Neighborhoods

I have been developing a recipe for a vital neighbourhood that is intersectional. The foundation is impact investing, and it includes venture building, as well as a business model for the commons.

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

Stop Ranking Startups

It's time to rethink and redesign grant systems to unleash the true potential of social entrepreneurship. My thoughts on the challenges and complexities of the current grant landscape, and how that’s hurting social entrepreneurs.

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

Serving Rural Africa

We need to reframe four mental models in relation to how we think about serving rural Africa: expand the definition of healthcare investing beyond facilities, invest in how people move around the health system, support asynchronous and non-smartphone based telemedicine models, and embrace blended finance.

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

A Social Spearhead

Founders are customer obsessed. They are experts in their markets. The successful ones have big networks of other entrepreneurs.

What if we let founders pick which impact investments to make into companies in their markets?

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

The Stranger in Me

The Stranger in Me references a feeling of disconnect between external perceptions and descriptions about the artist’s work and internal motivations and desires. Reflecting on writing and identity.

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

Building a Personal Board of Directors

When I learned about the idea of a Personal Board of Directors it gave me a framework to collect people that could help me figure out what I wanted to do next, and figure out how to do it. Here’s why you should do the same– and a few steps to get started.

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How should we support entrepreneurs?

Countless conversations and surveys reveal the same types of things. The “what” that entrepreneurs need. I’m interested in the “how.”

Here are my top five tips on building your support approach and communicating with entrepreneurs.

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featured Melissa Menke featured Melissa Menke

The M-Pesa of Healthcare

M-Pesa is simply a platform that facilitates a distributed network, which is exactly what is needed for healthcare.

I’ve got a clear picture in my mind of a distributed, connected healthcare system – one that ensures access for everyone. I think this future of health could look a bit like our adjacent fintech scene.

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

Digital Transitions

How do we build up social capital in remote-first or fully distributed organizations? What is the online equivalent of stopping by someone’s desk?

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

Building Blocks

Why did you found Access Afya? I’ve answered this question over 1,000 times between 2012 - 2020. Here is a more personal take on that question than I usually give.

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Melissa Menke Melissa Menke

Digital Health Creation

My approach to building Access Afya, a digital health primary care company I founded in Kenya.

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