Partnerships Cultivate Change in the Niger Delta
Economic development is inherently unstable, and the ebbs and flows of progress can be unsettling. This is true in the Niger Delta, which contains one of the world’s largest supplies of oil and an abundance of other commodities like catfish, cocoa and palm oil. Yet, 70 percent of its 30 million people live in poverty […]
The Global Sanitation Crisis Presents Lucrative Business Opportunities
This week sees Stockholm play host to World Water Week, an annual event bringing together leaders in the field to discuss how to address the world’s greatest water related challenges. At the top of the agenda is Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: ensuring universal access to water and sanitation. Poor access still affects over half […]
Animal Medicine on the Move: Delivering Agro-Vet Services to Pastoralists
Dr. Jackson Kinyua serves as the Director of Veterinary Services in Garissa County, a rural, semi-arid region of northern Kenya, near the border with Somalia. The public servant’s job is to look after the health of approximately 4.4 million cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys, which make up the backbone of the county’s economy. It’s […]
From the Ground Up: How Soil-testing Can Help Predict Return-on-investment for African Farmers
One of the principal challenges for Africa’s agricultural sector, and the smallholder farmers who make up the vast majority of its workforce, is low yields. According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization, for example, average maize yields in Kenya are about half those of India; one-third those of Mexico; and less than one-sixth […]
8 SSIR Articles on Businesses Pursuing a Social Mission
Consumers increasingly expect businesses to look out for not only their shareholders, but also society at large. They want to see their values reflected in the products and services they use, and prefer brands that invest in meaningful, long-term relationships with their customers. Companies that take time to listen and respond to these consumer demands […]
How to Set up Global Partnerships for Impact and Success
Katie Hyson, Director of Thought Leadership at Business Fights Poverty caught up with the team from Novo Nordisk to talk about their new partnership, which aims to help ensure access to diabetes medicines and healthcare, is accessible to all. Here, Anne Gadegaard, Associate Director Corporate Sustainability, Soraya Ramoul, Director Global Access to Care and Mia […]
Galvanizing Businesses to Generate Positive Social Impact Through Impact Sourcing
Three months on from the launch of the Global Impact Sourcing Challenge, we are delighted by the outpouring of support from GISC members, over half of which have already responded. The Global Impact Sourcing Coalition (GISC), a business network creating jobs for those most in need through Impact Sourcing, challenged its members to hire 100,000 […]
Business and the SDGs – WBCSD’s key takeaways from the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, the UN’s central platform for follow-up and review of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), took place at the UN headquarters in New York City from 9 to 18 July 2018. Gathering some 2,000 representatives from UN member states, business leaders, mayors, the scientific community, foundations, UN […]
How are Sustainability Standards Innovating to Address the Needs of Certified Small Producers?
Sustainability standards need to ensure that small producers are continuing to benefit from certification. To do that, standards systems need to understand the concerns and priorities of certified small producers and test out innovative approaches to meet those needs. Our new report ‘Understanding Certified Small Producers’ Needs’ is based on interviews with 63 producers in […]
Walking Beyond Tokenism
I am so moved by the heart wrenching impact of climate change across the globe, where women were hit first, worst and hardest. It made me question my own personal responsibility. I was, as always inspired by Mahathma Gandhi, as to what he said about “being the change you want see to in the world”. […]
Surviving Sustainability – Working In CSR Without Burning Out
This month marks my 20th year of working in sustainability. Two decades of climate change, poverty, women’s rights, biodiversity, innovation, growing livelihoods and changing lifestyles I’m so privileged to have found this career early. But over the years I’ve also had friends and colleagues burn themselves out or just become bitter about the pace of change. […]
From Produce to Profits: How Mobile Technology Is Strengthening the Livelihoods of Spinach Growers
James Kamau is the chairman of the Tana Farmers Group, an organization of smallholders in central Kenya. He knows his members face a litany of challenges, common to many smallholders across East Africa. Their farms are small and yields are low, and the intermediaries who purchase their crops pay little. The farmers struggle to access […]
Two Powerful Lessons from Mandela for Today’s Precarious World
It was a beautiful moment when Caroline Modiba, South African soprano, sang Thula Babain front of images of Nelson Mandela in the Nelson Mandela Lecture Theatre of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford this past week; a moving celebration of his centenary on 18 July. Listening to Caroline sing, and seeing those images of Nelson Mandela, […]
Why, and How, Business Needs to Change its Approach to the SDGs
Ever since they were endorsed in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals have been an increasingly hot topic for countless companies around the world. Each day, business is examining how it can best contribute to the ambitious goals and targets set out by Agenda 2030. Not all, however, are doing it right. Many are making the […]
Want More Intrapreneurs in Your Organisation? Create the Right Culture
The Intrapreneur Systems Challenge was launched in February this year with the objective of helping organisations unlock increased levels of social innovation and intrapreneurship. Co-hosted by Business Fights Poverty and The League of Intrapreneurs, and supported by DFID, CEMEX and the BMW Foundation, the objective of this Challenge is to deepen our understanding of the […]
Cultural Forces, Business and Peace: An Overview
It is true that governments sign treaties with one another or with groups within their jurisdiction to stop violence. A signal feature of government is control over weapons just as a responsibility of government is the security of its people. Determining when to use those weapons and when to stop and for what reasons is […]
Two Weeks to Go and Acumen Explore Investing in Impact
Acumen was founded in 2001 with the mission of changing the way the world tackles poverty. Our model: To raise philanthropy and invest it for up to a decade, sometimes more, in intrepid entrepreneurs building businesses to serve the poor; Early-stage companies at critical moments in their evolution, because that’s where capital is most scarce. […]
CARE Examine the Importance of Gender Equity in Business
Gender equality is high on the corporate agenda, from sales of feminist merchandise, to gender pay gap reporting, to celebrities and politicians forming coalitions; confronting institutional norms and behaviour. It feels like we are in a moment in history where putting gender equity firmly on the table and creating positive change could make lasting equality. […]
The Road of Change: Circular Economy in the Automotive Industry
To tell you the story of Kaiho Sangyo, I must first give you a short introduction to the circumstances in the very beginning. In 1969, before returning to Kanazawa, my beloved hometown in Japan, I worked at a dismantling company in Tokyo for three years. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Japan has been a world […]
What is a Refugee-Inclusive Business?
We stand #WithRefugees today on World Refugee Day and every other day of the year. A few weeks ago, the International Finance Corporation published a study revealing that the Kakuma refugee camp and surrounding neighborhoods in northern Kenya, one of the largest and long-standing refugee settlements, represents a US$56 million market opportunity. This is eye-opening […]