William Davidson Institute

🚨 Insights alert! Next week, the The Brookings Institution will host an in-depth discussion of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), negotiated during the first Trump administration as a replacement for NAFTA. Brookings will issue its flagship ”USMCA Forward” report, which outlines the importance of the agreement in supporting the trade and investment needed to realize multilateral goals. Diana E. Paez, WDI Senior Director of Energy and Mobility, will discuss the electric vehicle transition in the context of the new administration’s approach to international trade, and prospects for updates to the agreement to expand opportunities for trade across new and emerging sectors. 📅 March 5 ⏰ 1:30-4:00 pm ET 📍Register: bit.ly/3EYzYul #EV #EVtransition #USMCA #NAFTA #Energy #EnergyTransition #emobility #Mobility

🇹🇭 E-mobility #innovation in #Thailand - with a healthy dose of #practicality 💅🏽I always say that there are many #emobility stories - and entry points... "In Thailand, we don’t need to look at global #climate #data to see the effects of #pollution — we live it. Every year, [pollution] levels skyrocket, turning our air #toxic." 👿 The culprit? #vehicleemissions Enter Sleek EV, a leading #electric #motorcycles #startup in Thailand. Their credo: 🏆 Make their #product simply the #best option: more #efficient, #easier to handle and more #intuitive. ❎ Don't lead with #green: "People don’t consider #carbon #footprints when racing to work, picking up their kids, or trying to make ends meet. They think about #reliability, #cost, and convenience — what fits into their lives." 🧮 #Numbers won't cut it: "If an EV doesn’t #improve their lives, it won’t matter how many statistics I throw at them. Change isn’t won through education alone — it’s won through #experience." #micdrop 👂🏽 Really listen to your #customer - and cut through the noise: #Gigeconomy riders, for instance, don’t just need a bike; they need a #businesspartner. Their income depends on efficiency, reliability, and #affordability. If a vehicle doesn’t support that, it’s a liability. 📢 For more great #insights from @Zhang Quan Ong check out this #article by Zat Astha that describes their approach: https://lnkd.in/gEX6u5YG

Our team has launched new research focused on healthcare accelerators and incubators with Villgro Africa. In tomorrow’s “unconference session” at #Sankalp2025, Dr. Rajat Chabba and Yaquta Fatehi will discuss priority questions with a range of key stakeholders. Conference goers: Please feel free to join them at 11AM on Day 2 in the green zone (lawns across the board rooms). The big question, presented at both the forum and at the heart of the research itself is: how can ecosystem service organizations (ESOs) remain relevant in the healthcare space and serve the needs of entrepreneurs? Could these organizations play a larger role as systems catalysts? If you’d like to have a say, please fill out this two minute survey, which will help our team narrow down the key topic areas for the research: https://bit.ly/3XmPGFN

Just in time for #SankalpAfrica2025 in Kenya, Yaquta Fatehi of our Impact team, explains how taking a systems-lens approach not only helps businesses, it also lifts local economies and communities - as seen in Kenya's waste management sector.

💥10 YEARS OF OUR NGO LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP - INSIGHTS FROM ERIC FRETZ ➡️ With today’s post, we continue celebrating 10 years of our NGO Leadership Workshop! ✨Getting ready for the next workshop, we look forward to exploring key topics like leadership, self-care, and team dynamics. One of our expert facilitators from the last workshop, Eric Fretz, has shared with us valuable insights—like the importance of taking breaks and finding balance to be an effective leader. 💫These are just some of the meaningful conversations you can expect at our upcoming events! 🙏🏽We are honored to host the NGO Leadership Workshop, made possible through the generous support of the University of Michigan Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia, in collaboration with the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan .

Disrupting Waste Management in Emerging Markets: Four Lessons for Strengthening Businesses While Empowering Women and Communities Early-stage companies in emerging markets whose workforces and value chains are dependent on women face several common challenges. According to Yaquta Fatehi at the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan and John F Akwetey, these issues are especially relevant in the waste management sector. They share insights from a study of waste management businesses and practices in Kenya, which show the impacts of treating women’s empowerment and community engagement as integral elements of business strategies rather than peripheral concerns: https://lnkd.in/e-uqg8eH #WasteManagement #Kenya #SocialImpact #business #WomensEmpowerment #WomenLed #business #ImpactMeasurement #healthcare #CleanCooking #GenderLens #recycling #SkillDevelopment #skilling #WomenEntrepreneurs #EmergingMarkets #BusinessDevelopment #data

Our team is gearing up for this week’s #SankalpAfrica2025! Our contingent includes Dr. Rajat Chabba, Senior Director of Innovation and Partnerships, and Yaquta Fatehi, Program Manager for Performance Measurement & Impact. They’re eager to collaborate and share about new and innovative ways to accelerate enterprises, grow ecosystems and build knowledge that propels enterprises forward.

🌱 Energy fuels economies—but not everyone has equal access. Low-income and marginalized communities often face higher energy costs, more pollution, and fewer clean energy solutions. This is an urgent issue for business leaders of tomorrow. How can businesses help close the energy gap while remaining profitable? Professors, spark meaningful discussions with WDI Publishing’s Note on Energy Justice. 🌍💡 Learn more 👉 https://bit.ly/3EV2Vae Erin Kirton, Dan Vermeer, Sandra Draheim #WorldDayofSocialJustice #WDI_Publishing #CaseStudy #Energy #energytransition #Sustainability #HigherEd

The WDI team is connected with many exceptional instructors. And one star on our roster is Julie Felker, who has been a WDI faculty affiliate for more than two decades. Formerly on the faculty of the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s College of Business, Felker has traveled the world on behalf of WDI and has made a difference everywhere she goes. Whether she’s leading women’s entrepreneurship training in Indonesia, inspiring entrepreneurs in the 10,000 Women initiative in Rwanda, or most recently with the NGO Leadership Workshop in Poland, her ability to connect with students makes her an outstanding educator. “Julie is a fantastic listener and always takes time to understand our participants and their needs and challenges,” said Amy Gillett, WDI Vice President for Education. “That really makes a difference!”

We're excited to support #SankalpAfrica25 as a sponsor and as attendees later this month. (More details to come). Learn more about this exciting summit and we hope to see you there!