The Best Kept Secret: The Role of Corporate Foundations in Building Sustainable Brands
For too long, companies have overlooked and undervalued the role of corporate foundations as partner for sustainability. Corporate foundations have been perceived as a nice social appendix to a company’s CSR report, or as a means to fulfilling the moral responsibility and stakeholder pressure of being a good corporate citizen. Lately, however, front-running companies are […]
Becoming a Bit More Social
One of the most recent exposés on life along the supply chain came from The Daily Mail. The article revealed that some factory workers in India suffer from horrendous burns when shelling cashew nuts. The burns come from caustic acids that naturally exist between the cashew nut and its outer shell. As is often the […]
Building Back Better in the Caribbean: The Clinton Foundation and Partnerships for Change
How do we empower communities – especially those furthest behind – to have a chance to succeed, improve their lives, and build a better future? There are several answers to the question – create economic opportunity, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service. These are the core elements that drive the work we […]
Most Brands’ Support Of Causes Is Not Breaking Through To Gen Z
Despite an influx of consumer brands more publicly supporting social cause platforms, most efforts are not resonating with Gen Z, according to a new study released Wednesday from DoSomething Strategic, the social impact consulting arm of DoSomething.org that helps brands engage young people around their purpose. Cause is Working, Your Marketing Isn’t: A Report on Brands Taking Stands 2019 found […]
Why Large and Small Businesses Need to Collaborate to Compete in Complex Markets
The expression ‘no man is an island’ could be re-phrased ‘no business is an island’ with just as much validity, as it is self-evident that individual businesses, wherever they are located, are just one small part of a complex ecosystem, which normally extends far beyond the immediate locality of their geographical base. But as in […]
In Benin, Young Entrepreneurs are Tackling the Plastic Problem
The room is unassuming, with pale blue walls and sunlight that filters in from the open door. Inside, Babatundé Oguidi meticulously arranges biodegradable bags and boxes on a large wooden table. A massive chalkboard covers one wall, filled with a seemingly endless list of new and completed orders. On the opposite wall, the company’s mission […]
Making Supply Chains Safe for Women Workers: Where Compliance Programs End, Supplier Relationships Matter
The Guardian reported on a recent study of Vietnamese clothing, footwear, and outdoor wear manufacturers, which found that “workers in Vietnamese factories have been harassed, groped, and even raped”. This was both sadly shocking and sadly predictable. Though compliance programs are in place, they have not guaranteed harassment-free work environments. The prevalence of harassment is sadly shocking: […]
Smallholder Coffee Producer Organisations Can Thrive as International Businesses
Coffee is the world’s most popular drink – around 2 billion cups are consumed every day. In the UK alone, we are responsible for approximately 95 million of those. There’s no arguing that it’s big business. For brands whose business is dependent on selling a consistent, high-quality product, having a reliable supply chain is essential. […]
To Boldly Go Where We’ve Not Been Before Doesn’t Need to be a Leap of Faith
Sometimes the future is not hard to predict – it’s totally logical. Widely cited, Star Trek’s Chief of Logic (COL), Spock nailed it when he said that “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” If we are bold and if we act now to change our organisations and our systems we […]
Competing in the Digital Age – Building Job Opportunities in Uganda and Kenya
After her second-hand clothing business failed, Faith struggled to find reliable work in Nairobi, where limited opportunities and a largely informal work market make it difficult for young Kenyans to find employment. A friend suggested she try Lynk, an online job-placement platform that pairs day labourers with businesses and households. Through its digital platform, Lynk […]
Business as Usual – Or Business with Purpose?
While the debate on business’ social and environmental impacts (both positive and negative) is not new, when the CEO of Blackrock, one of the world’s largest investors, and the head of Oxfam International are both talking about the potential for business to help achieve inclusive and sustainable development, it feels like we’re at a tipping […]
VIDEO: Skoll World Forum Ecosystem Event – Cross-Sector Collaboration for Sustainable Supply Chains
On 9 April, we co-hosted a Skoll World Forum Ecosystem Event with Acumen focused on Cross-Sector Collaboration for Sustainable Supply Chains. The event was sponsored by Hershey, Bayer and Jacobs Foundation, and in delivered in partnership with the League of Intrapreneurs. The event brought together over 100 participants representing leading global corporations, innovative social enterprises, […]
Corporate / Impact Enterprise Partnerships: Still Hard, Still Worth It.
I’ve often worked at the intersection of multinational corporations (MNCs) and smaller, BOP-focused ‘impact enterprises’, some of them led by the most extraordinary entrepreneurs on the planet. Much of the help corporates offer them is time bound investment or technical support to strengthen their businesses. From time to time, though, the opportunity presents itself for […]
Gender Equality: Closing the Gap in the Private Sector Around the World
Let’s be honest, in the world of development, the private sector has not always been our partner of choice in the race to achieve gender equality. There has been a perception that business actions in this area are merely front-line measures or meagre efforts that simply impose quotas on boards of directors. These assumptions are […]
How We Got Our Toilet Business Moving Again
By May 2018, we knew something was missing in the business model for Sama Sama, a toilet business iDE had started in rural Ghana in 2016.1 After two years of knocking on doors, sales were lower than expected or desired. This is a sure sign that another round of design is needed. Prior to starting […]
New Ideas are Essential to Ward off Global Water Shortage Threat
Agriculture is a water intensive sector, accounting for 69% of the world’s water abstraction according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. As climate change drives global temperatures higher, the pressure on our water resources will grow. Given there are already over 800 million people who don’t have clean water close to […]
Business Fights Poverty At the Movies
Over the last twenty years, my research has focused on the ways in which business can foster peace. This work isn’t really about how trade and economic development can foster peace, but how the actions of the structures that implement trade and economic development – businesses – can do so. In addition to writing four […]
Giving Women Better Access to Finance Could Unlock $330 Billion in Annual Global Revenue
Lack of access to finance remains one of the major barriers facing women entrepreneurs in marginalised communities across the world. 80 per cent of women-owned businesses with credit needs are either unserved or underserved – a US$1.7 trillion financing gap. CARE International is responding to this injustice by launching our ‘Access Approved’ campaign. We are […]
People Power Fighting Malaria in Tanzania
Comic Relief and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) joined forces in 2015 for a five-year partnership to fight malaria and strengthen health systems in countries worst affected by the disease. The two organisations teamed up in support of global efforts to help improve health systems’ capabilities to fight malaria – a disease which still claims almost half a million […]
What Role Can Business Play To Tackle Gender-Based Violence? Experts Share Practical Learnings and Experiences
As part of our current Business Fights Poverty Challenge, What Role Can Business Play to Tackle Gender-Based Violence, we hosted an Online Discussion. This brought together a panel of experts from around the world to share their insights and experience. Whether you are from an organisation taking your first steps in trying to understand how […]